ports as are available. The agencies for gathering information could not be, in the very nature of things, thoroughly efficient. It is necessary to cite only one instance in proof of this opinion. Moore Haven was a town of about 1200 persons. The exact population was not known, and it is necessary to rely upon speculation to arrive at an estimate of the number lost.
The Everglades News, edited by Howard Sharp, the most painstaking journalist that ever I knew, states that at least 300, probably more, lives at Moore Haven were taken by the storm. The official report accounts for only 150.
It is certain that the population of that great territory bordering the southern shores of Lake Okeechobee was not definitely known though it is placed doubtfully at several thousand. "Several" is a very nebulous word. Generally it is accepted to mean more than two, which also is indefinite. So far as reports show the greatest loss of life was at Moore Haven, but there was no loss of life north or east of the lake. Many persons scattered through a broad area south of the lake lived in the veriest shacks that could not have withstood a storm of such violence, and it is easy to imagine that scores might have been killed without any record being made of their deaths. The hazards that persons take who live in such sparsely settled regions are emphasized, if not magnified, by such occurrences. It was difficult to reach or get out of some of the centers that were known to have been severely damaged, such as Moore Haven and Miami. The first intelligent accounts of the damage at Miami reached the outside world Saturday night and the manner in which the news was carried has been made the subject of a heroic story, so there is no cause to wonder if many in small communities and isolated places perished where they were, or while seeking the shelter and succor that their more substantially housed neighbors might have given. I have no doubt that the future will reveal that many died thus, and it is possible that there were others, self-effacing beings, intent only upon making a living in some remote place, without friends or relatives, who also were victims of the storm. Only slight mention has been made of those who were lost at sea and in the turbulent waters of Florida's great lake. In spite of the admirable service of the Weather Bureau, there were those who received no warning and had no means of being advised of the approaching storm. There were probably hundreds of fishermen who farmed the waters of Lake
