Two Survivors Give Harrowing Details of the Awful Disaster—Hundreds
Eager to Get Out of Galveston. Clearing up the Wreckage.
Alexander and Stanley G. Spencer, the two sons of Stanley G. Spencer, of
Philadelphia, who was killed in Galveston, reached Philadelphia Monday
afternoon, the 17th. Mrs. Spencer was to come north later when their
affairs in the stricken city are settled, and would bring the body of
Mr. Spencer, which was embalmed and placed in a metallic coffin in a
vault in Galveston.
The two boys left Galveston at 9 o’clock Friday morning. It took them
until 3.30 in the afternoon to reach Houston, which is only about fifty
miles distant from Galveston. “All the society ladies of Houston met the
train,” said Alexander, the older of the two boys. “They brought clothes
and food for the people.”
The boys told a remarkable story of their experiences during the flood.
“Storm warnings were sent out on Friday,” said Alexander, “but nobody
paid much attention to them; only a little blow was expected. This did
not come until Saturday afternoon. It first started with a chilly wind.
Things looked rather dark and hazy and black, rapidly moving clouds sped
by. Papa had finished work at the office and was getting ready to come
home, when he received a telegram from the North telling him to meet Mr.
Lord, with whom he was to conduct business relative to the buying of
property.
“Papa telephoned us that he would not be home for several hours on
account of this business. That is why we were not worried about him. He
and Mr. Lord met in Ritter’s cafe, and it was there that he was killed.
He was sitting on a desk, with his hands clasped over his head, a
favorite position of his, talking to Mr. Lord and a Greek, named
Marcleitis.
“Ritter’s cafe was in a strongly-built brick building, which was thought
to be very safe, but, unfortunately, it was at the foot of a short
street leading to the wharf. This gave the wind from the Gulf full sweep
against it. There were several other men in the cafe, and one of them
said: ‘Why, did you all know there are just thirteen people in this
room?’ Papa laughed, and remarked that he was not superstitious. Just
then the crash came, killing five out of the thirteen. In the floor
above the cafe was a large printing establishment. A beam hurled down by
the weight of the presses above struck papa, killing him instantly. His
body was dug out of the ruins Sunday afternoon by about a hundred
friends, and his was the first funeral in Galveston.”
“Were you frightened much?”
“No, we were not very scared, because we had no idea how terrible the
storm was. We were not worried about papa, thinking he was safer, even,
than we were. We secured the shutters and saw that the windows were
braced. After that we sat quietly on the first floor. The water never
did get above the basement, as the house is situated on an eminence.
After a while seven people whom we did not know came in and asked for
shelter, as their homes were flooded.
THE STORM GROWS WORSE.
“When the storm kept growing steadily worse we got a rope ready, so that
if the worst came we could all be tied together. One family whom I knew
did this. They tied loop knots around their wrists. All were drowned
together and all were buried in the same hole. All night long we could
hear cries for help. To every one who came we gave shelter. Once some
one knocked at the door; when we opened it a woman fell headlong across
the doorstep. She had fainted from exhaustion. We found a little girl in
the basement, who had been tied to a skiff. She seemed dazed, and kept
talking about a beautiful carriage she had seen.
“We did not know what she meant, but next morning we saw a neighbor’s
carriage perched high on top of a pile of wreckage. Even when we looked
out of the window we could not tell the extent of the damage. The moon
rose, giving a very clear light, by which we could see objects floating
around. It did not rain. The people were drowned by the water backing up
from the bay and the Gulf.
“At first the wind was to the northeast. This backed the water up from
the west bay. Suddenly it turned to the southeast, causing a tidal wave.
The water was from four to six feet deep. Two of the observers remained
in observatory all night. The wind gauge broke when the wind was blowing
from 115 to 125 miles an hour.
HOUSES IN FRIGHTFUL COLLISION.
“A house was washed against ours. In it the wreckers found eight bodies,
three of these and a night sergeant of police were buried in one yard.
Our house rocked dreadfully. It and the two houses on either side of it,
are old houses built over. No one thought they could stand the fury of
the gale; but they were the only three left standing in that part of the
city. Mr. Frank Groome and Mr. Hall had to swim home. The house in which
Mr. Hall spent the night was split in two, but the side he was in was
left standing. If the wind had continued for two hours longer, there
would not have been one person left to tell the tale. When the storm
first started my brother and I went to the beach to watch the water.
“Even then the water was backing up in the gutters and the little
whitecaps were dancing on the waves. The steps of our house were washed
away, but Sunday morning we found the body of a woman lodged in the
brick work. Our pet donkey was drowned, but we saved the dogs and the
cats as they were in the house. There were five big dogs and three
little puppies. Paddy, a big dog, would sit around looking at us. He
kept whining the whole time as if he knew something unusual was going
on. They say black cats are lucky. Well, we had three of them. These
would rub up against us in a frightened way.
“Sunday morning, Mr. Groome came out to tell us about papa. Mrs. Brown,
a friend of mamma’s, sent for us to come to her house. Nearly all the
furniture of her house was ruined by the water. The surrender of the
city of Galveston to the Union troops was written in her house and the
table on which it was written is still there. We had a hard time getting
to Mrs. Brown’s. We walked part of the way. A colored man with a bony
horse hitched to a rickety little delivery wagon—‘dago carts,’ we call
them—hauled us the rest of the way for a dollar a piece. All through the
streets we met hysterical women and dazed-looking men.
“The wife of Dr. Longino, an army surgeon, was at a friend’s house, with
her little baby, when the storm commenced. During the storm, from fright
or something else, the baby lost its breath. Everybody thought the child
was dead and tried to persuade Mrs. Longino to leave it and try to save
herself but she would not do so. She caught hold of the baby’s tongue
and held it so it could not retard the passage of air in the windpipe.
TRYING TO SAVE THE CHILD’S LIFE.
“She blew her own breath into the baby’s body. After working for a long
time, during the most terrible part of the storm, the baby was revived
and is still living. She kept her invalid aunt alive by pinching her
cheeks. The next day she reached a place of safety in the city. She said
she could hardly walk along the beach for the bodies of children. There
was a Catholic orphanage about five miles down the beach, in which were
a hundred children and ten nuns. All of these but three boys were
killed.
“One woman who was trying to save a child was pinned down by a piano.
She was just about to give herself up for lost when a big wave came and
washed the piano off of her. She and the child were both rescued. We
kept a little pet lamb alive, which afterwards we thought we would have
to kill for food. But Mrs. Brown got a calf somewhere. It was killed and
cleaned, but the ladies themselves had to cut it up. This served for
food for two days. The two big cisterns in the cellar were full of salt
water; there was a small one on the roof which furnished us with water
for a little while. After that we had to beg it from the neighbors.
“The only clothes we have are what we have on and one change of
underclothes, which we took with us when we went to Mrs. Brown’s. All
the rest of our clothes are mildewed.
“We did not see any of the negroes stealing, as mother kept us in the
house all the time, but we could hear the shots. They commenced this
dastardly work Sunday night. The ghouls are composed of negroes and
foreigners. We did not get very frightened when people kept coming to us
for help the night of the storm. All we could do was to thank God that
He had given us a place of shelter which we could share with those less
fortunate.”
THREATENED WITH PESTILENCE.
A visitor to the stricken city made the following report:
“Galveston’s stress and desolation grows with each recurring hour.
Pestilence, famine, fire, thirst and rapine menace the stricken city.
Each refugee from the storm-lashed island brings tidings which add to
the tale of the city’s woe.
“Of the dead that lie in piles in the desolated streets and dot the
waters that girdle the city, the true number will never be known. All
estimates of the total of the victims of Saturday’s night’s tempest must
be qualified with the mark of interrogation. It is not conjecture to say
that the death roll in Galveston alone will hardly fall short of 5000.
Sober-sensed men, who have brought to the outer world conservative
accounts of sights and scenes in the hapless city, say that there are
10,000 dead people within a half dozen miles of Galveston’s centre. No
one disputes that the storm victims number the half of 10,000.
“Men who have lived through the yellow fever scourge in New Orleans and
other Southern cities, where the dead in the streets were more numerous
than the living, hold those horrors lightly in comparison with the
conditions that exist in Galveston.
“In devious ways news of the situation that confronts the living in
Galveston comes to this city. There is no telegraphic communication with
the island. There is no train service. Boats are plying at irregular
intervals across the bay. No one in the city has time to send forth to
the world more than meagre accounts of the situation in the city. The
bulk of the news is gleaned from refugees who are fleeing to Houston. A
few railroad men have penetrated into the desolated city and returned
with fragmentary accounts of the perils that menace the living, and the
gruesome work that is being carried on day and night to ward off the
contagion that is threatened by the hundreds of corpses that lie
corrupting under the hot sun.
“It will be days before a fairly accurate estimate of the loss of life
can be made. Arrivals from Galveston to-night tell that citizens are
laboring unceasingly at disposing of the dead in order that the living
may not suffer.
“To graves beneath the blue waters of the Gulf the dead are being
consigned as fast as they can be loaded upon barges and towed to sea.
There is no other way. The city must be rid of them. No more than a
tithe of the bodies can be interred. So soaked is the ground that
trenches fill with water as fast as the shovel can lift the earth.
FIERCE HEAT ADDS TO THE HORROR.
“There is need of laborers in the city. The remnants of the fire
department and police force, both of which organizations contributed
many victims to the storm, are doing heroic work. Their efforts are
supplemented by the citizens. Hordes of negroes, kin, many of them, to
the unspeakable creatures who preyed upon the dead in their hunger for
loot, have been commandeered and forced to lend their strength in
delving in the ruins for corpses. Stern-faced men with shot guns and
rifles stand over them and keep them to their toil. It is heart-breaking
work but it is necessary.
“Since the storm blew itself away the weather has been semi-tropical.
For four days the sun has sent down its fiercest darts. The result may
be imagined. Over the city hangs the nauseating stench of decomposing
flesh. Besides the humans there are thousands of carcasses of domestic
animals scattered through the devastated portions of the city. Galveston
is in need of everything that charity and compassion can suggest. But
above all the city requires disinfectants.
“Heroic measures were adopted by the citizens in charge of the work of
policing and rehabilitating the city. It was determined to fire the
ruins and purify the city by flame. This must be done. Hundreds of
bodies will be cremated in the pyres. Fire is the best disinfectant that
the city has at its command. People from the vicinity of Galveston
report to-night that heavy clouds of smoke have shrouded the city all
the afternoon. It is evident that the ordeal by fire has begun. This
adds a fresh menace to the city’s safety. The fire department is unable
to cope with the flames, should they spread to the undamaged sections of
the city.
“It was the weakest members of the community that suffered the greatest
in the dark hours of Saturday night, when the seas leaped upon the city.
Two-thirds of the corpses that are seen are those of women and children.
The number of the negro dead exceed the white victims.
“A water famine has added its quota to the perils of the situation. The
water works are still disabled. There are few wells in the city, and the
bulk of the available water supply consists of the stores in the
reservoirs. This is not sufficient to last more than a day or two.
Strenuous efforts are being put forth to repair the pumps and start the
water works.”
ROBBERS DRIVEN FROM THEIR WORK.
Since Adjutant-General Scurry has assumed police direction of affairs,
looting and plundering have ceased. No one has been shot, and order
prevails throughout the city. The lawless know that they will be shot
down on the spot when caught depredating, and this has had a very
wholesome effect. The large force of men employed in burying and
cremating the exposed dead scattered throughout the city have completed
that portion of their work and are now engaged in searching for the
bodies of unfortunates lying crushed and bruised beneath the immense
mass of debris and wrecked buildings scattered throughout the city.
Where the debris lies in detached masses it is fired and the bodies
therein are consumed.
When adjacent property is endangered by fire the mass of debris is
removed, the bodies taken out, removed to a safe distance and around
them is piled the removed debris, the whole saturated with oil and
fired. Identification is impossible. The bodies being in all stages of
putrefaction and giving a horrible stench, it is a most sad and gruesome
task. Perhaps some of the men engaged in this work are unknowingly
aiding in destroying all that is mortal of some loved one.
In gathering remains for interment a nephew of Alderman John Wagner, a
youth 18 years old, was found lodged in the forks of a tall cedar tree,
two miles from his wrecked home, and tightly clenched with a death grip
in his right hand $200, which his father gave him, with two $20 gold
pieces, to hold while the father attempted to close a blown open door,
when the house went down and the whole family perished in the raging
storm and flood.
THE LOSSES OUTSIDE OF GALVESTON.
While the loss of life in this city will not fall below 5000 and may be
many more, every little town within a radius of seventy-five miles of
Galveston was wrecked and people killed and wounded, while the damage to
property will aggregate over $2,000,000. The damage to property in and
around Alvin, a thriving town of 2000 people, where eleven people were
killed and quite a number wounded, is estimated at $300,000, and they
send out an urgent appeal for aid and relief supplies.
Fifty-four houses were wrecked in Quintana and the debris piled up in
the streets. Fortunately, no lives were lost. The town of Velasco, three
miles above, on the east side of the river, was completely wrecked and
nine killed, three being killed in the hotel, which was badly
demolished. Angleton, the county seat of Brazoria, ten miles north of
Velasco, was completely destroyed and several lives lost and a number
badly injured. The property loss in these three towns and country
adjacent thereto will be beyond the ability of the people to repair.
Supplies for the relief of Galveston’s sufferers are coming in from
every quarter as rapidly as the limited means of transportation here
will admit. Its distribution here has not yet gotten on a systematic
basis, and needs to be radically revised, or it will fail of its purpose
and defeat the object of those who are so generously contributing.
Medical relief is much better organized.
There is not a house of any character in the city but what is foul and
ill-smelling. The water failed to materialize to-day as promised, and
this aggravates the situation. With a completely crippled fire
department, fire apparatus all gone, nine horses drowned, five engines
useless and no water supply, should a fire break out, fanned by a stiff
breeze, what’s remaining of the city would be speedily wiped out.
MILITARY RULE NEEDED.
Major Lloyd P. Fayling, who was so prominent in the organization of the
first relief effort, was asked what solution of the present
disorganization of the policing powers he would suggest. The Major
dictated the following:
“The situation demands Federal aid. It demanded it from the very first.
An experienced United States army officer of high rank should be put in
command here, preferably one who has seen years of active service. A
regiment of regular soldiers would absolutely control the situation
where any number of militia might meet with difficulties. The disaster
is so great and so terrible no municipal authority in the country could
be expected to handle it unaided.”
The first real attempt to clear away the great mass of debris piled
along the beach front for a distance of several miles was begun on the
14th. Advertisements were printed in the papers, which appeared this
morning, asking for hundreds of men and boys to do this work. A
multitude responded. They were formed into squads and promptly put to
work, with police and deputy sheriffs in charge. It is hoped that a
vigorous prosecution of this work will lead to the early recovery of
bodies still in the debris. That there are many of them there is no
shadow of a doubt. It is difficult, indeed, to imagine how half the
people who did escape got free from this fearful flotsam and jetsam.
An Associated Press representative traversed the beach for some
distance, and the stench at different points was absolutely sickening.
Everywhere little groups of men, women and children, some of them poorly
provided with raiment, were digging in the ruins of their homes for what
little household property they could save. In many cases those seeking
their former residences were utterly unable to find a single remnant of
them, so hopeless is the confusion of timber and household furniture.
EXODUS FROM THE CITY.
The exodus from the city was heavy, and hundreds more were eager to go
who were unable to secure transportation. Along the bay front there were
scores of families with dejected faces, pleading to be taken from the
stricken city, where, in spite of every effort to restore confidence,
there is a universal feeling of depression.
Shipping men say that the damage to the wharves is by no means as
serious as at first supposed. The chief damage has been in the tearing
open of sheds and ripping of planking. The sheds, however, can be
quickly replaced. The piling for a considerable distance along the bay
front successfully withstood the pounding it got from the wind and
waves, and business men find a measure of consolation in this.
More hopeful reports were received touching the water supply. C. H.
McMasters, of the Chamber of Commerce, has charge of the water relief
work. The company is placing men all along the mains, plugging the
broken places, and thereby assisting the flow. It was serving some of
its customers to-day, and hopes gradually to increase the service. The
water continues to run by gravity pressure. The only difficulty the
people are having is in carrying supplies to their homes or places of
business. The ice supply continues bountiful, and at many corners
lemonade is being served at five cents for as many glasses as you can
drink at one time.
More effective measures were taken to keep undesirable people off the
island. Soldiers patrolled the water front, and challenged all who could
not show a proper reason for their landing, or who were unwilling to
work for the privilege of coming into town.
Assurances have been received by the railroads that they will do all in
their power to reopen communication, and their present plan seems to be
to concentrate all forces on the work of the reconstruction of one
bridge. Crews are coming down the Santa Fe Railroad from Arkansas and
St. Louis with full equipments to restore the line. Local
representatives of the Southern Pacific have had advices from
headquarters to proceed with repair work without delay.
Telegraph communication has been partially restored, the Western Union
and Postal Companies having reached the city with one wire. Large forces
have been at work along the lines of both companies, and connection with
Galveston has been attended with many difficulties.
BUSINESS BEING RESUMED.
A larger number of business houses than on yesterday are open, and
advertising their wares at no advance in the prices. Carts with
disinfectants are going through the streets. The gutters are being
covered with lime. Carpenters are having all the work they can do. The
storm tore hundreds of roofs off, and the people who are living in
topless houses are eager to obtain coverings so as to prevent the
destruction of what they have saved if a rain storm comes along. Thus
far, however, the weather has been clear.
The relief committees are steadily broadening the scope of their work.
They have established bureaus for the issuance of orders and rations in
every ward, and though there is a multitude surrounding every bureau,
applicants are rapidly being taken care of. There seems no present
likelihood of inability on the part of the committee to furnish all the
rations that are asked for. There is of course, a scarcity of fresh beef
and of milk, but bread is being provided in abundance, as well as hams,
potatoes, rice and other articles.
One of the most remarkable escapes recorded during the flood was
reported to-day, when news came that a United States Battery man, on
duty at the forts last week, had been picked up on Morgan’s Point
wounded, but alive. He had buffeted the waves for five days and lived
through a terrible experience.
SURGEON GENERAL WYMAN MAKES A STATEMENT.
The following statement from Surgeon-General Wyman is dated Washington,
D. C., Friday, Sept. 14:
“In response to the request concerning the situation in Galveston, I
have a report from Passed Assistant Surgeon Wertenbaker, who was
directed to go from his station in New Orleans to Galveston, practically
confirming the press reports as to the effect of the storm and
conditions existing. He says:
“‘City is wrecked. Press reports not exaggerated. Deaths estimated at
5,000. Bodies being cremated as fast as found. Many bodies under debris
not yet removed. Water supply limited. Very scarce now, but supplies
coming in rapidly. The only means of communication is by railroad to
Texas City, thence by boat, or by boat from Houston.’
“Dr. Wertenbaker is at Houston, and Surgeon Peckham and Acting Assistant
Surgeon Lea Hume are giving all the aid possible in Galveston. I do not
apprehend an outbreak of any epidemic of disease as a result of the
storm. The law and regulations are ample to meet the emergency.
“There is danger of sickness caused by unusual exposure and deprivation
of food and water, but the people of Galveston and Governor and other
officials of the city and State are thoroughly alive to the necessities
of the situation. Their disposal of bodies by cremation is certainly a
wise measure, and I am convinced that the native energy of the people,
supplemented by the tents and rations furnished by the War Department
and the contributions which have been and are flowing in from all parts
of the country, will obviate the outbreak of widespread disease.
“WALTER WYMAN,
“Supervising Surgeon-General Marine Hospital Service.”
As already stated, the first estimates of the number lost were much too
low, and all the facts show that probably 8000 is not too high an
estimate.
Austin, Tex., Sept. 14.—The fund for the relief of the Galveston
sufferers now aggregates nearly $1,000,000 and it will probably reach
$1,500,000 by to-morrow night. Most of this amount is in the hands of
Governor Sayres, who will direct the work of expending it for food,
supplies and other relief measures. The Governor will not give out for
publication an itemized list of the contributions for several days.
Numerous inquiries from the East have been received as to the best way
to send subscriptions to the Governor for the Galveston Relief Fund. The
Austin National Bank, of this city, which is the United States
depository for Texas, has notified the Governor that it will make
transfers of all contributions for Galveston free of charge by wire or
draft. Remittances may be sent direct for transfer to Governor Sayres.
The House of Representatives has sanctioned a motion to send a cablegram
to the President of the United States expressing the condolence of the
Government and people of Peru over the catastrophe at Galveston.
APPEAL TO DRUGGISTS IN HOUSTON.
To all druggists: The storm stricken district is very much in need of
the following drugs: Iodoform, chloride of lime, gum camphor,
assafetida, crude carbolic acid, phenol sodique, gauze bandages, quinine
and iodoform gauze. Contributions should be sent to the Houston Relief
Committee.
“A. E. KESLING,
“Houston Relief Committee.”
“Chicago’s first offering of food and clothing for the Texas sufferers
left here last night (Thursday, the 13th), over the Rock Island Road on
a special train of six cars that has the right of way over all trains as
far as Fort Worth, Texas. Other cars packed at Rock Island, Davenport,
Muscatine, Topeka, Kansas City, St. Joseph and Wichita will be picked up
on the way, and it is expected the train will consist of twenty-three
cars when it reaches its destination. The train is expected to reach
Fort Worth on Saturday, from where it will be taken to Houston, over the
Houston and Texas route on a special train schedule.”
The banking house of Munroe & Company, New York, received from its Paris
branch advices to draw on that bank for $10,000 for the aid of the
Galveston sufferers.
Vice-President and General Manager Trice, of the International and Great
Northern Railroad, spent several hours at Bryan on the 13th. Mr. Trice
has just come from Galveston, where he had been in touch with the
situation since the great storm. He said the railroad losses will
aggregate $5,000,000 or $6,000,000.
“We are now operating trains to Texas City, and carrying on traffic from
that point to Galveston by boat,” he said. “Better shipping facilities
will be established at Galveston than ever as fast as men and money can
place them there. Negotiations are now going on to the end that all
railroads entering the city join forces and materials and establish a
temporary bridge across the bay, and if the plan succeeds it is hoped
that trains can be run into Galveston in thirty days. The negotiations
going on also contemplate the construction of a permanent double track
steel bridge, to be used by all the railroads entering the city.”
PLANS FOR A NEW BRIDGE.
W. Boscheke, assistant engineer of the Southern Pacific Railroad at
Galveston, has received orders by wire from New York to prepare plans at
once for a double-track steel bridge across Galveston Bay, ten feet
higher than the old one, and to proceed with all the force possible.
Engineers are at work making a survey and running lines preparatory to
the resumption of work.
J. W. Maywell, General Superintendent, and J. W. Allen, General Freight
agent of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, have arrived here for the
purpose of conferring with General Manager Polk, of the Gulf, Colorado
and Santa Fe, and Manager Hill, of the Galveston, Houston and Henderson
Railway, with the object of combining their efforts on the
reconstruction of one bridge for all railways entering Galveston for the
time being, and thus secure an early resumption of traffic and the
partial restoration of business in Galveston. Such a plan, it is
believed, will be adopted.
What Galveston needs now is money and disinfectants. Next to these two
things, she needs forage. There are now, as near as can be estimated,
three hundred cars of provisions on the way, and it is thought that,
with what is already here, that amount will suffice for a time at least.
No more doctors are needed. Galveston has begun to emerge from the
Valley of the Shadow of Death into which she has been plunged for nearly
a week, and to-day for the first time actual progress was made toward
clearing up the city.
The bodies of those killed in the storm have for the most part been
disposed of. A large number may be found when the debris is removed from
some of the buildings, but at present there are none to be seen, save
those occasionally cast up by the sea. As far as sight, at least, is
concerned, the city is cleared of its dead.
A CONFLICT OF AUTHORITY.
A conflict of authority due to a misunderstanding precipitated a
temporary disorganization of the policing of the city yesterday. It
seemed that when General Scurry, Adjutant-General of the Texas Volunteer
Guard, arrived in the city with about 200 militia from Houston, he
conferred with the Chief of Police as to the plans for preserving law
and order. An order was issued by the Chief of Police to the effect that
the soldiers should arrest all persons carrying arms unless they showed
a written order, signed by the Chief of Police or Mayor, giving them
permission to go armed.
The result was that about fifty citizens wearing Deputy Sheriff badges
were arrested by the soldiers and taken to police headquarters. The
soldiers had no way of knowing by what authority the men were acting
with these badges, and would listen to no excuses. After a hurried
conference between General Scurry and Sheriff Thomas, it was decided
that all Deputy Sheriffs and special officers shall be permitted to
carry arms and pass in and out of the guard lines. The Deputy Sheriffs
and special and regular police now police the city during the day time
and the militia take charge of the city at night.
At a meeting of the General Committee last night, a committee of
representative citizens of Galveston was appointed to go to Austin at
once to confer with Governor Sayres in regard to the situation here.
The need of sprinkling the streets with a strong bichloride solution and
taking other sanitary precautions was discussed, and after adjournment
of the General Committee the Committee on Correspondence sent the
following telegram:
“Galveston, Texas, Sept. 13.—To the Associated Press: Our most urgent
present needs now are disinfectants—lime, cement, gasoline stoves,
gasoline, charcoal furnaces and charcoal. Nearby towns also may send
bread. For the remainder of our wants money will be most available,
because we can make purchases from time to time with more discretion
than miscellaneous contributors would exercise. We are bringing order
out of chaos, and again offer our profound gratitude for the assistance
so far received.”
A CAMP AT HOUSTON.
At a conference held at the office of City Health Officer Wilkinson, it
was decided to accept the offer of the United States Marine Hospital
Service, and establish a camp at Houston, where the destitute and sick
can be sent and be properly cared for. The physicians agreed that there
were many indigent sick in the city who could be removed from Galveston,
and Houston was selected, because that city had very thoughtfully
suggested the idea and tendered a site for the camp.
Acting upon the suggestion to establish a camp and care for the sick and
needy, a message was sent to the Surgeon-General, at the head of the
Marine Hospital Corps, asking for 1000 tents of four berth capacity
each, also several hundred barrels of disinfecting fluid.
Congressman R. B. Hawley, who was in Washington at the time of the
storm, has arrived in the city. “Work of a vast importance is to be
undertaken here,” said he. “Work on different lines from that which has
been our habit heretofore. There are storms elsewhere. If the people in
other parts of the country built as we build, their cities would be down
and out nearly every year. But they build structures to stay, and we
must rebuild our city on different lines and in a different manner that
will resist the gales as they do. The port is all right. The fullest
depth of water remains. The jetties with slight repair, are intact, and
because of these conditions the restoration will be more rapid than may
be thought.”
OFFICIAL REPORTS TO THE WAR DEPARTMENT.
Washington, Sept. 14.—The War Department has received several telegrams
relating to the conditions at Galveston. The following is from Governor
Sayres:
“Austin, Tex., Sept. 13.—Will wire you if any further aid be necessary.
Please express to the Department my most grateful acknowledgment for its
prompt and generous assistance.
“JOSEPH D. SAYRES,
“Governor.”
General McKibbin, September 12th, reports generally upon the condition
at Galveston as follows:
“General conditions are improving every hour. Repairs to water works
will by to-morrow insure water supply for fire protection. Provisions of
all kinds are being received in large quantities; enough are now en
route and at Houston to feed all destitute for thirty days. There is no
danger of suffering from lack of food or shelter. City under perfect
control, under charge of Committee of Safety. Loss of life is probably
greater than my conservative estate of yesterday. Property loss
enormous; not an individual in the city has escaped some loss; in
thousands of instances total loss.
“To-day, in company with Colonel Roberts and Captain Riche, made an
inspection at Fort Crockett, and by tug of the fortifications at Forts
San Jacinto and Travis, with the exception of battery for two four
seven-tenths rapid fire guns batteries may be considered non-existent.
Captain Riche has forwarded by wire this evening full report of
conditions to chief engineer. I coincide in recommendation that all
fortifications and ordnance property be transferred to engineer officer
here for salvage. Earnestly recommend that Battery O, First Artillery,
be ordered to Fort Sam Houston for recuperation and equipment; officers
and men are entirely destitute. At present a large number are injured
and unfit for duty. Impossible at present to furnish them with ordinary
camp equipage, clothing, as all transportation facilities are being
utilized to bring in food supplies.
“McKIBBIN, Commanding.”
In a previous report General McKibbin praises the conduct of the
regulars. Acting upon the recommendation of General McKibbin, Adjutant
General Corbin to-day ordered Battery O, First Artillery, from Galveston
to Fort Sam Houston.
CAPTAIN RICHE’S REPORT.
General John M. Wilson, Chief of Engineers, received the following
comprehensive report from Captain Riche as to the condition of
Government property at Galveston:
“Jetties sunk nearly to mean low tide level, but not seriously breached.
Channel at least as good as before, perhaps better. Twenty-five feet
certainly. Forts as follows: Fort Crocket—Two fifteen-pounder
emplacement, concrete all right, standing on piling, water underneath.
Battery for eight mortars about like preceding, mortars and carriages on
hand unmounted. Battery for two ten-inch guns about like preceding, both
guns mounted and in good shape. Shore line at Fort Crocket has moved
back about 600 feet. Fort San Jacinto—Battery for eight twelve-inch
mortars badly wrecked, magazines reported fallen in; mortars reported
safe. No piling was under this battery; some of the sand parapet left.
Battery for two ten-inch guns badly wrecked. Central portion level, both
gun platforms down, guns leaning; no piling was under this battery.
“Battery for two four seven-tenths rapid-fire guns, concrete standing
upon piling; both guns apparently all right. Battery for two
fifteen-pounder guns, concrete apparently all right, standing on piling.
Fort San Jacinto battery could not be reached by land; inspection was
from a distance. Sand around these batteries seemed pretty well leveled
off to about two to three feet above mean low. Torpedo casements,
nothing but concrete left and badly wrecked. Concrete portion of cable
tank left; cable in it probably safe. Part of coal wharf still standing.
Everything else in vicinity gone. Some of the mine cases are down the
beach as far as Fort Crockett.
BATTERIES UNDERMINED.
“Fort Travis—Battery for three fifteen-pounder guns, concrete intact,
standing on piling. Water underneath. Battery for two eight-inch guns,
concrete intact, except eastern emplacement, which has cracked off;
eastern gun down and twenty feet from battery; western one all right;
concrete standing on piling; water underneath middle of battery. These
batteries were inspected from the channel. Shore line has moved back
about 1,000 feet, about on the line of the rear of these batteries. All
buildings and other structures gone. Inspection was made with General
McKibben.
“Recommendation is made that all fortifications and property be
transferred to the Engineer Department. That for the present batteries
be considered non-existent so that future work may be chargeable as
original construction. Much ordnance can be saved if given prompt
attention. Unless otherwise instructed, I will take charge of these
works at once and save all possible. New projects for jetties and forts
cannot be submitted for several weeks until definite detailed
information is had. Further recommendations will then be submitted as
soon as possible. Galveston is still a deep water port, and such a storm
is not likely to reoccur for years.
“RICHE, Engineer.”
Notwithstanding the fact that the number of boats carrying passengers
between Texas City and Galveston has been largely increased, it was
impossible on Thursday, the 13th, to leave the city after the early
morning hours, and hundreds of men, women and children, all anxious to
depart, suffered great inconvenience and hardship, and were, after all,
compelled to sleep upon the beach at Texas City, waiting for the
morning. There is but one steamboat plying across Galveston Bay, which
is able to carry passengers in any number, and even this boat is able to
make the trip only with extreme caution, on account of the shallowness
of the bay.
Yesterday morning somebody lacked something of being cautious in the
extreme, and the “Lawrence,” after jamming her nose into the mud,
remained aground all day. Her passengers were taken off in small boats.
This compelled all those who were unable to come on the first trip of
the “Lawrence” to trust themselves to sailboats, and by noon a dozen of
them, heavily loaded, started from Galveston to Texas City, where the
fleet was scattered over Galveston Bay by a distance of anywhere between
one mile and three miles. The wind died away utterly.
URGED TO HURRY A TRAIN.
The boats could neither go on to Texas City nor return to Galveston.
None of them had more than a meagre supply of water and no food, as the
trip ordinarily does not require above an hour. Great suffering
resulted. All afternoon they were becalmed, and, a slight breeze arising
in the evening, at 9 o’clock at night the sailing craft which had left
Galveston at noon began to dump their passengers upon the beach at Texas
City. This place is now among the things that once were. There are no
houses, no tents, no accommodations of any kind save a few passenger
coaches standing upon the railroad track. These were speedily filled,
and the rest of the women and children, all hungry and the latter crying
for food, were compelled to remain on the beach.
An urgent message was sent to the railway people at Houston, saying that
women and children were suffering, and asking them to hurry a train to
Texas City for the purpose of conveying the refugees to Houston. No
reply was received, and when a train, whose crew knew nothing of the
existing conditions at Texas City, finally appeared, the announcement
was made that it would not go before morning. The crowd at Texas City
was more than enough to fill the train to the limit, but,
notwithstanding, determined to allow the “Lawrence” to attempt once more
the perils of the mud and await another consignment of refugees.
It was fully twenty hours after their start from Galveston that the
people who left there yesterday noon were able to move out from Texas
City, which is only eight miles away, and by the time the train had made
a start for Houston, every woman in the crowd was ill through lack of
food, exposure and insufficient sleep.
NO RED TAPE TO STAND IN THE WAY.
Washington, Sept. 14—General Spaulding, Acting Secretary of the
Treasury, took further measures to-day for the relief of the distressed
citizens of Galveston by arranging for their transportation by foreign
vessels to New Orleans or other gulf ports. The law provides that
American vessels only can carry passengers between American ports, but
during the present conditions the Treasury Department will remit the
penalties to which foreign vessels would be liable, for the relief of
Galveston.
The Rev. J. F. McCarthy, of Newark, N. J., assistant pastor of St.
Patrick’s Cathedral, to-day received a special despatch from Galveston
to the effect that all of the twenty-four Newark nuns at the Catholic
Convent of the Sacred Heart at that place had been saved from the
general destruction of life and property by the terrible cyclone of
Saturday. Father McCarthy at once despatched a special message to the
homes of the nuns’ relatives with this information. They were reported
lost in an account contained in a preceding chapter of this volume.
A prominent newspaper called attention to the necessities of the
situation as follows:
“As later news is received from Texas the full extent of the destruction
of life and property is revealed. No such visitation of nature’s force
has ever before descended upon a community in this country. There is no
longer any doubt that the death list will run into the thousands. It
will probably never be known accurately how many perished in the track
of last Sunday’s storm. Many bodies have been washed out to sea, and of
the hundreds of corpses that lay exposed in the streets and buried under
fallen buildings only a fraction will be identified.
“For the sanitary protection of the living it has been found necessary
to deny the dead an ordinary burial. A great city full of prosperous
people has been suddenly left without food, water, clothing and all the
daily necessaries of life. Worst of all, the survivors are absolutely
without means of recuperation from the awful disaster that has overtaken
them. They are totally dependent upon the outside world for assistance.
RELIEF FOR TEXAS SUFFERERS.
“In the first steps of relief for those who have been stricken our
northern cities made a generous response to the call for aid. The hearts
of our citizens have been profoundly stirred, and they have given out of
hand without questioning or hesitancy. Everything that would contribute
to the care of the suffering and the succor of the needy has been
offered without stint. All alike have come forward with their donations,
rich and poor, according to their means.
“From Philadelphia was dispatched a train of four cars loaded with a
quarter of million pounds of supplies furnished by the people of that
city for the relief of the distressed at Galveston and along the Gulf
coast. With the train went eight volunteer nurses to care for the sick
and injured. They will arrive on the ground none too soon, for the local
resources of Texas are being greatly overtaxed.
“The supplies have been selected with judgment, so that they will not
suffer in transit and in distribution, and only non-perishable goods
have been chosen, for it will be weeks before the stricken district will
have strength to provide for itself. But there will be time enough for
future measures. It is the first aid that counts. Our people have been
doubly generous, because they have not stood upon the order of their
giving.”