Galveston Calamity One of the Greatest Known to History—Many Thousands
Maimed and Wounded—Few Heeded the Threatening Hurricane—The Doomed City
Turned to Chaos.
Galveston has been the scene of one of the greatest catastrophes in the
world’s history. The story of the great storm of Saturday, Sept. 8,
1900, will never be told. Words are too weak to express the horror, the
awfulness of the storm itself, to even faintly picture the scene of
devastation, wreck and ruin, misery, suffering and grief. Even those who
were miraculously saved after terrible experiences, who were spared to
learn that their families and property had been swept away, and spared
to witness scenes as horrible as the eye of man ever looked upon—even
these can not tell the story.
There are stories of wonderful rescues and escapes, each of which at
another time would be a marvel to the rest of the world, but in a time
like this when a storm so intense in its fury, so prolonged in its work
of destruction, so wide in its scope, and so infinitely terrible in its
consequences has swept an entire city and neighboring towns for miles on
either side, the mind can not comprehend all of the horror, can not
learn or know all of the dreadful particulars.
One stands speechless and powerless to relate even that which he has
felt and knows. Gifted writers have told of storms at sea wrecking of
vessels where hundreds were at stake and lost. That task pales to
insignificance when compared with the task of telling of a storm which
threatened the lives of perhaps sixty thousand people, sent to their
death perhaps six thousand people, and left others wounded, homeless,
and destitute, and still others to cope with grave responsibility, to
relieve the stricken, to grapple with and prevent the anarchist’s reign,
to clear the water-sodden land of putrefying bodies and dead carcasses,
to perform tasks that try men’s souls and sicken their hearts.
The storm at sea is terrible, but there are no such dreadful
consequences as those which have followed the storm on the sea coast and
it is men who passed through the terrors of the storm, who faced death
for hours, men ruined in property and bereft of families, who took up
the herculean and well-nigh impossible task of bringing order out of
chaos, of caring for the living and disposing of the dead before they
made life impossible here.
The storm came not without warning, but the danger which threatened was
not realized, not even when the storm was upon the city. Friday night
the sea was angry. Saturday morning it had grown in fury, and the
wrecking of the beach resorts began. The waters of the Gulf hurried
inland. The wind came at terrific rate from the north. Still men went to
their business and about their work while hundreds went to the beach to
witness the grand spectacle which the raging sea presented.
WATERS CREPT HIGHER AND HIGHER.
As the hours rolled on the wind gained in velocity and the waters crept
higher and higher. The wind changed from the north to the northeast and
the water came in from the bay, filling the streets and running like a
millrace. Still the great danger was not realized. Men attempted to
reach home in carriages, wagons, boats, or any way possible. Others went
out in the storm for a lark. As the time wore on the water increased in
depth and the wind tore more madly over the island.
Men who had delayed starting for home, hoping for an abatement of the
storm, concluded that the storm had grown worse and went out in that
howling, raging, furious storm, wading through water almost to their
necks, dodging flying missiles swept by a wind blowing 100 miles an
hour.
Still the wind increased in velocity, when, after it seemed impossible
that it should be more swift, it changed from west to southeast, veering
constantly, calming for a second and then coming with awful terrific
jerks, so terrible in their power that no building could withstand them
and none wholly escaped injury.
Others were picked up at sea. And all during the terrible storm acts of
the greatest heroism were performed. Hundreds and hundreds of brave men,
as brave as the world ever knew, buffeted with the waves and rescued
hundreds of their fellow men. Hundreds of them went to their death, the
death that they knew they must inevitably meet in their efforts.
Hundreds of them perished after saving others. Men were exemplifying
that supreme degree of love of which the Master spoke, “Greater love
hath no man than this, that he give his life for his friend.” Many of
them who lost their lives in this storm in efforts to save their
families, many to save friends, many more to help people of whom they
had never heard. They simply knew that human beings were in danger and
they counted their own lives.
TREMENDOUS FURY OF THE GALE.
The maximum velocity of the wind will never be known. The gauge at the
Weather Bureau registered 100 miles an hour and blew away at 5.10
o’clock, but the storm at that hour was as nothing when compared with
what followed, and the maximum velocity must have been as great as 120
miles an hour. The most intense and anxious time was between 8.30 and 9
o’clock, with raging seas rolling around them, with a wind so terrific
that none could hope to escape its fury, with roofs beginning to roll
away and buildings crashing all around them, men, women and children
were huddled in buildings, caught like rats, expecting to be crushed to
death or drowned in the sea, yet cut off from escape.
Buildings were torn down, burying their hundreds, and were swept inland,
piling up great heaps of wreckage. Hundreds of people were thrown into
the water in the height of the storm, some to meet instant death, others
to struggle for a time in vain, and thousands of others to escape death
in most miraculous and marvelous ways.
Hundreds of the dead were washed across the island and the bay many
miles inland. Hundreds of bodies were buried in the wreckage. Many who
escaped were in the water for hours, clinging to driftwood, and landed
bruised and battered and torn on the mainland.
All attempts at burying the dead has been utterly abandoned, and bodies
are now being disposed of in the swiftest manner possible. Scores of
them were burned the 12th, and hundreds were taken out to sea and thrown
overboard. The safety of the living is now the paramount question, and
nothing that will tend to prevent the outbreak of an awful pestilence is
being neglected.
This morning it was found that large numbers of the bodies which had
previously been thrown in the bay were washed back upon the shore and
the situation was rendered worse than before they were first laden in
the barges and thrown into the water.
TOO MANY ON THE COMMITTEE.
Relief committees from the interior of the State have commenced to
arrive, and, as usual, they are much too large in numbers, and to a
certain extent are in the way of the people of Galveston, and an
impediment to the prompt relief which they themselves are so desirous of
offering. Several of the relief expeditions have had committees large
enough to consume 10 per cent. of the provisions which they brought. The
relief sent here from Beaumont, Tex., arrived this morning and was
distributed as fast as possible. It consisted of two carloads of ice and
provisions, and came by way of Port Arthur.
The great trouble now seems to be that those people who are in the
greatest need are, through no fault of those in charge of the
distribution, the last to receive aid. Many of them are so badly maimed
and wounded that they are unable to apply to the relief committee, and
the committees are so overwhelmed by direct applications that they have
been unable to send out messengers.
The wounded everywhere are still needing the attention of physicians,
and despite every effort it is feared that a number will die because of
the sheer physical impossibility to afford them the aid necessary to
save their lives. Every man in Galveston who is able to walk and work is
engaged in the work of relief with all the energy of which he is
capable. But, despite their utmost endeavors, they cannot keep up with
the increase in the miserable conditions which surround them. Water can
be obtained by able-bodied men, but with great difficulty.
Dr. Wallace Shaw, of Houston, who is busily engaged in the relief work,
said that there were 200 people at St. Mary’s Infirmary without fresh
water. They had been making coffee of salt water and using that as their
only beverage. Very little stealing was reported and there were no
killings. The number of men shot down for robbing the dead proved a
salutary lesson, and it is not expected that there will be any more
occurrences of this sort. The soldiers of the regular army and of the
national guard are guarding the property, and it is impossible for
thieves to escape detection.
SOLDIERS HAVE MIRACULOUS ESCAPE.
The loss of life among the soldiers of the regular army stationed in the
barracks on the beach proves to have been largely overestimated. The
original report was that but fifteen out of the total number in the
barracks on the beach had been saved. Last night and to-day they turned
up singly and in squads, and at present there are but twenty-seven
missing, whereas the first estimate of casualties in this direction
alone was nearly two hundred. It is probable that some of the
twenty-seven will answer roll call later in the week.
One soldier reached the city this afternoon who had been blown around in
the Gulf of Mexico and had floated nearly fifty miles going and coming,
on a door. Another one who showed up to-day declared that he owed his
life to a cow. It swam with him nearly three miles. The cow then sunk
and the soldier swam the balance of the way to the mainland himself.
Efforts were made this afternoon to pick up the dead bodies that have
floated in with the tide, after having been once cast into the sea. This
is awful work, and few men are found with sufficiently strong nerves to
last it more than thirty minutes at a time. All of the bodies are badly
decomposed, swollen to enormous proportions and of so dark a hue that it
is possible to tell only by the hair, when any hair is visible, whether
the corpses are those of white people or negroes.
Gen. McKibben U. S. A., and Adjt. Gen. Scurry arrived last night and
have assumed entire charge of the city, with the result that conditions
have very much improved as far as order and method in the distribution
of supplies and the direction of the work is concerned. Gen. McKibben
represents the government in a general way, but has not assumed direct
charge of the city, which is under the command of Adjutant Gen. Scurry.
Several of the very young soldiers have been a trifle over-zealous in
the matter of guarding the property, carrying their energy to a point
which made it somewhat uncomfortable for the people whose property and
person they came to guard. Gen. Scurry repressed them promptly and
several of them have been disarmed. The service of the militia, on the
whole, however, has so far been of a most excellent character.
SIGHT-SEERS BARRED OUT.
Every effort is being made to induce people to leave Galveston, and it
is extremely difficult for anyone, no matter what his business, unless
he is in direct charge of a relief train, to gain admittance to the
place. Hundreds of people left Houston to-day for Galveston, but could
get no further than Texas City, which is on the north side of Galveston
Bay, and there they were compelled to remain until the train brought
them back to Houston. No persuasion, no sum of money, would induce the
guard to pass them into the stricken city.
Orders had been issued that no sightseers were to be allowed, and the
order was obeyed with the utmost rigidity. It will be at least a week
before there is full and free communication with Galveston, but matters
are now steadily progressing toward a solution of the problems that
confront the relief committee. Every effort is being made to induce
people to leave, and one train, which arrived in Houston at 5 o’clock
this evening, carried 350 women and children; another at 10 o’clock
carried twice as many more, and it is expected that fully 2,000 of the
women and children will be out of the place by to-morrow night. Mayor
Jones estimates that there are at least 10,000 of these helpless ones
who should be taken from Galveston at the earliest possible moment. They
are all apparently anxious to get away and will be handled as rapidly as
possible.
Another trainload of provisions and clothing, making the third within
the last twenty-four hours, came here from Houston to-night.
The steamer Charlotte Allen arrived at noon to-day from Houston with
1000 loaves of bread and other provisions. The amount of food which has
been sent so far has been large, but there are still in the neighborhood
of 30,000 people to be cared for on the island.
BOYS RESCUE FORTY PEOPLE.
During the storm Saturday night, the Boddinker boys, with the aid of a
hunting skiff, rescued over forty people and took them to the University
building, where they found shelter from the wind and waves. The little
skiff was pushed by hand, the boys not being able to use oars or sticks
in propelling it, and is to be set aside in the University as a relic of
the flood.
Many stories of heroism are coming out. People tell of getting out of
their houses just before the roof fell in on them. They tell of seeing
people struck by flying timbers and crushed to death before their eyes.
One man was cut off from his family just as he had them rescued, and saw
them sink beneath the water, just on the other side of the barrier. He
turned in and helped to rescue others who were about gone. One woman
carried her five month’s old baby in her arms from her house only to
have a beam strike the child on the head, killing it instantly. She
suffered a broken leg and bruised body.
The lightship, which was moored between the jetties at the point where
the harbor bar was located before it was removed, was carried to Half
Moon Shoal and grounded. There was nobody aboard except Mate Emil C.
Lundwall, the cook and two men. She broke her moorings and with a 1500
pound anchor and 600 fathoms of 2–inch cable chain, drifted to the point
where she grounded, a distance of about four miles.
The damage to the lightship was slight, consisting principally of broken
windows. The mate showed himself to be a skillful seaman and managed to
save the vessel by his skill as such.
Along the whole East Sealy avenue the oak trees have been partly dragged
up by the roots and brittle chinaberry trees are practically all gone.
All the tender plants have been washed out or broken down by debris or
blown away literally. Not a tree is standing in its natural attitude.
Not a building in the East end escaped injury. One or two, like that of
Capt. Charles Clark, suffered but the loss of a few slat shingles while
others were torn from their foundations.
TWISTED INTO ALL SORTS OF SHAPES.
They were carried around and twisted into such shapes that they can not
be occupied again although they can be entered and the sodden furniture
and bedclothing removed. This applies to buildings that are still
standing. As stated, there is a vast territory of blocks in width on
which there is not a vestige of a house standing, these having been
blown down and carried away with the other debris.
Dr. J. T. Fry, who has been an observer of the weather for years, has a
theory that the storm which visited Galveston originated in the vicinity
of Port Eads, and was not the hurricane which was reported on the
Florida coast. On Thursday a storm was reported moving in a
northeasterly direction from Key West. It moved up the Atlantic coast.
The Mallory steamer “Comal” ran into it and reported a great number of
wrecks as was reported in the “News” at the time. The supposition that
this was the same storm that reached Galveston by doubling back on its
tracks is a mistake.
The first knowledge of the Galveston storm was the report of a wind
velocity of forty-eight miles an hour at Port Eads on Saturday morning.
The “News” also reported high winds at Pass Christian. The Port Eads
storm was a distinct storm from that of Florida and was confined to the
Gulf. The proof of this is that the steamer “Comal” came in from Florida
in beautiful weather and apparently followed in the wake of the storm.
Eighteen people were caught in the Grothger grocery store, Sixteenth and
N streets, and it is presumed all were lost, as many have been reported
dead who were known to have been in the building which was swept away
entirely. The firemen buried twenty-six people south of Avenue O,
between Thirty-Third and Forty-Second streets, on Tuesday. The graves
were marked with pieces of the garments worn by the persons.
Will Love, a printer of the “Houston Post,” who formerly lived in
Galveston, swam the bay Monday to reach his family, whom he found to be
alive in Galveston. He swam from pier to pier on the railroad bridges
and at each he rested.
AWFUL NIGHT IN THE LIGHTHOUSE.
In the Bolivar lighthouse, which stands 130 feet high on Bolivar Point,
across the bay from Galveston, some one hundred and twenty-five people
sought refuge from the storm on Saturday evening. Many of the
unfortunates had deserted their homes, which were swept by the
hurricane, and other residents of Galveston, who had come to the bay
shore in their frantic endeavors to reach Galveston and their families.
Among the latter was County Road and Bridge Superintendent Kelso. Mr.
Kelso stated to a “News” reporter, when he reached Galveston on Monday
afternoon, after having been carried across the bay in a small skiff by
Mr. T. C. Moore, that the hundred and more refugees spent an awful night
in the lighthouse Saturday night during the life of the hurricane.
The supply of fresh water was soon exhausted and an effort was made to
secure drinking water by catching rain water in buckets suspended from
the top of the lighthouse. The experiment was a success in a way, but it
demonstrated a remarkable incident to show the force of the wind. The
bucket was soon filled with water, but it was salty and could not be
used. Several attempts finally resulted in a fresh water supply to
quench the thirst of the feverishly excited refugees.
The salt water was shot skyward over 130 feet and mingled with the rain
water that fell in the buckets. From the top of the light tower several
of the more venturesome storm-sufferers viewed the destructive work of
the wind on Galveston Island. Twelve dead bodies were recovered near the
lighthouse.
Mr. A. Mutti, a storekeeper, lost his life after a display of heroism
that won for him the honors of a martyr. When the storm struck the city
he hitched up a one-horse cart and started out to rescue his neighbors.
Cartload after cartload he carried in safety to fire company house No.
5. On three occasions his cartload of human beings, some half dead,
others crazed with fright, was carried for blocks by the raging
currents, but he landed all the unfortunates in the fire house, even to
his last load, when he met his death. As he attempted to pass into the
building on his last trip the firehouse succumbed to the wind and
collapsed. Some of the wreckage struck poor Mutti and he was mortally
injured. He lingered for several hours.
GENEROUS OFFER OF HELP.
Prof. Buckner, of the Buckner Orphans’ Home of Dallas, arrived in the
city and made his way at once to the gentlemen in charge of the relief
work. He offered to throw the doors of his establishment wide open for
the orphans of Galveston, who have been deprived of their shelter at the
various asylums, and announced that he was ready to care for about 100
to 150 of the children. His offer was taken under consideration for
advisement at a meeting to be held of the managers of the homes.
The official records of the United States Weather Bureau have been made
up and forwarded to Washington. The reports give some very valuable
additional information about the storm. Unfortunately the recording
instruments were destroyed or crippled beyond operation about 5.10 p. m.
on Saturday, as previously reported, and before the storm had reached
the center of severity. The wind gauge recorded a two-minute blow at the
rate of 100 miles an hour and was then demolished by the hurricane,
which continued to increase in violence. While the exact velocity of the
wind was not recorded after the destruction of the instruments, the
Weather Bureau representatives estimate the maximum velocity at between
110 and 120 miles an hour. It did not maintain this terrific rate for
any length of time, probably a half minute or minute gusts, but
sufficient to wreck anything that met the full force of the storm.
A journal of the local office of the Weather Bureau contains the report
of an apparent tidal wave of four feet which swept in from the Gulf some
time between the hours of 7 and 8 P. M., and the time the wind veered to
the southeast and attained its highest velocity of between 110 and 120
miles an hour. It should be remembered that there was a tide of about
five feet and a terrible swell in the Gulf during the storm, and that
the tidal wave of four feet rode this wall of water and increased the
force and speed of the sea that washed over the city.
VIVID DESCRIPTION OF THE CALAMITY.
Hon. Jeff McLemore, of Austin, a well known journalist and ex-member of
the Legislature, returned from Galveston and gave the following vivid
description of the horrors:
“We were five hours making the trip from the mainland, and it was not
until 7 o’clock Monday evening that we reached the wharf. When within
two miles of the city we discovered a number of human bodies floating in
the bay, and as the boat passed each it caused a shudder of horror among
the living. Soon after the sun went down the moon came up in a cloudless
sky. The bay was as a large mirror, and the scene seemed so peaceful and
serene that for a moment it was hard to realize that we were soon to
gaze upon the saddest, darkest picture in the book of time. A gentle
breeze wafted our boat lightly over the smooth waters, and as we entered
the harbor and neared the wharves, formerly the scene of busiest life, a
silence deep and awful prevailed. No one on board spoke a word and the
silence was only broken by the sound of a rifle sending some robber of
the dead into endless eternity.
“After landing we made our way over huge heaps of wreckage that were
piled almost mountain high and emerged into an open space only to be
hailed by armed sentries who were guarding the town against ghouls,
vandals and looters. After explaining who we were the sentries permitted
us to pass, and directed us to the Tremont Hotel, the chief place of
rendezvous for the stricken people.
GHOSTLY SCENES OF NIGHT.
“As we made our way to the hotel, a thing we did with difficulty,
because of the wreckage that covered the streets, we saw only desolation
and ruin on every hand. The pale of the moon added weirdness to the
chaos and look where we might there was nothing to gladden the searching
eye. We passed several small groups of men who spoke in whispers and
those we addressed looked at us strangely and wondered what we came for.
“At last the hotel was reached and here most of us found friends and
acquaintances who inquired after those we left behind. The city being
under martial law, most of our party, after doing all in their power to
relieve the anxiety of anxious men and women, disposed themselves about
the hotel until morning, it being unsafe to roam about the city at night
for fear of being mistaken for vandals and ghouls that have infested the
city ever since the storm. To some of us it seemed that morning would
never come, but it did come at last, and it came bright and fair.
“I then started out to view the stricken city by daylight and such a
scene as I witnessed is beyond the power of words to tell. The wildest
flight of imagination can never paint the picture that lay before my
view, and if none can imagine it, then there is no way to give one even
a faint conception of it in words. The horror of it is beyond the pale
of exaggeration, and the worst that may be said cannot even approach it.
Acres and acres of houses were scattered in ruins over the earth and
beneath the broken and shivered timbers were the decaying bodies of
human beings, who suffered tortures worse than death.
“Along the pebbled beach, once the most beautiful in the world, and a
scene of wonted gayety, now all is desolation and awe. Human bodies,
swollen and unrecognizable, were mingled with those of dead animals and
reptiles, and the whole formed a scene so gruesome and so misshapen that
the thought of it even sends a sickening thrill coursing through one’s
veins.
“To add to the horror of the situation, human hyenas moved stealthily
among the dead, robbing those who were powerless to resist, but these
ghouls in human guise are meeting with just retribution, for armed
sentinels are now on guard and have orders to shoot them down as they
would mad dogs.
“If the situation along the East Side was more horrible than that along
the West, it was only because more people dwelt there and there were
more houses to be destroyed. Along either beach gaunt destruction held
full sway, and each wave seemed more cruel than that which it succeeded.
Nor were the waves alone in their cruelty, for the winds reveled in
maddened fury and seemed to vie with them in spreading ruin and
desolation.
HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE CARRIED OUT TO SEA.
“The loss of life at Galveston will never be known. The storm came first
from the northwest and hundreds, perhaps thousands, were carried far out
to sea never more to return. At 10 o’clock at night the wind suddenly
veered to the southeast and hundreds more were swept into the bay and
caught by the current and also carried out to the sea before daylight
Sunday morning. That is the opinion of old seamen with whom I conversed,
and if they do not know the actions of the ocean, then no one does.
“Monday evening and Tuesday morning I myself saw more than a hundred
bodies floating out to sea and these were scarcely one per cent of those
who perished. Responsible men with whom I talked and who had been from
one end of the island to the other, estimated the loss at from 5,000 to
10,000; and all thought it would come nearer the last named figures than
the first. Day by day as the debris is cleared away bodies will be found
and many are buried beneath the ruins that will never be removed.
[Illustration:
IMPROVISED KITCHEN FOR FEEDING THE GALVESTON SUFFERERS]
[Illustration:
HON. WALTER C. JONES
MAYOR OF GALVESTON]
[Illustration:
PHOTOGRAPH BY MORRIS, GALVESTON
INMATES OF THE HOME FOR HOMELESS CHILDREN, GALVESTON—ALL OF THESE
LITTLE ONES WERE LOST IN THE FLOOD]
[Illustration:
TREMONT STREET, LOOKING NORTH FROM AVENUE O ½]
[Illustration:
WRECK OF FORT CROCKET]
[Illustration:
RUINS OF THE GALVESTON CITY WATER WORKS AND POWER HOUSE
The city water works and power house was badly damaged, but
fortunately no one was killed when it fell, although some two
hundred people had taken refuge in the building early in the
evening. This was on account of the thoughtfulness and
coolheadedness of Mr. W. H. Reynolds, chief engineer at the works.
Keeping an ever watchful eye upon the storm and the building, he
managed to fill the stand pipe and thus anchor it down, to draw his
fires and cool his boilers and get the people out into a nearby coal
shed in time to save them from the fearful death of being buried
under the building. After the building fell they stayed in the coal
shed until the storm had subsided enough to get out and look among
the ruins for their loved ones and friends who were less fortunate
in securing shelter from the terrible storm.]
[Illustration:
CLARA BARTON]
[Illustration:
LUCAS TERRACE
WHERE TWENTY-SEVEN PERSONS WERE SAVED IN ONE LITTLE ROOM THAT REMAINED
STANDING]
“Every portion of the island was submerged and it seems a miracle that
the entire city was not swept away. At least two-fifths of the houses on
the island have been razed to the ground. Of the remaining three-fifths,
at least half are damaged beyond repair, while the others are all
damaged to greater or less extent. No house escaped without some damage
and to have some idea of the cyclonic nature of the storm it will be
only necessary to state that steel shutters on large business buildings
were twisted around as one would twist a small piece of copper wire.
“Large splinters were whirled about in the air like darts, and many
found lodgment in human bodies, no doubt producing instant death. Oh,
the horror and terror of that dismal night! The wind howling, the sea
roaring and lashing, houses falling and crashing, men, women and
children screaming; the shrieks of dying animals; imagine it, if you
can, and you may form a faint idea of the situation at Galveston last
Saturday night.
HUMAN VULTURES PILFERING AND LOOTING.
“Tuesday morning I passed a partially wrecked home, in the door of which
stood a young face and snow-white hair.
“‘Saturday morning,’ said the man who accompanied me, ‘that woman’s hair
was dark brown; Sunday morning it had turned to snow.’ I did not doubt
him, for he told me of the woman’s experience and how she had been saved
as if by a miracle.
“But the woeful part of the terrible disaster has not yet been told.
Hundreds of human vultures, almost before the storm had abated, began
the work of pilfering and looting. Dead bodies were robbed and in some
instances fingers were cut off to secure the rings that were on them.
Most of these vultures were negroes, and they kept up their horrible
work all day Sunday and Sunday night. Monday morning martial law was
declared, and those placed on guard had strict orders to shoot all
pilferers and looters. Many met their just fate, and by Tuesday morning
the looting had almost ceased.
“Sunday the negroes refused to help bury the dead for either love or
money. But when martial law was declared they were forced at the point
of the bayonet and made to do their share of the gruesome work. Up to
Monday noon many of the dead were identified, but after that
identification was impossible because of the swollen and decomposed
condition of the bodies.
“Monday afternoon several hundred were loaded on barges and carried far
out into the Gulf, where they were thrown over to become the food of
sharks and fishes. Sunday and Monday morning many were buried down the
island in the shallow sand, but by Tuesday morning these, as well as
other bodies gathered along the beach, were piled on wood and burned.
“There is still great danger to Galveston from sickness and pestilence.
The streets are filled with sediment from the Gulf and bay, and this is
beginning to smell almost as bad as the dead bodies. Because of the
immense heaps of wreckage it will be impossible to flood the streets for
weeks to come, even if there were plenty of water.”
BURYING THE VICTIMS IN TRENCHES.
Four days after the disaster the following account was an accurate
picture of the condition of Galveston: This evening the committees in
charge of clearing up the city, caring for the destitute and arranging
for transportation feel much encouraged. Something like order has been
brought out of chaos. There is organized effort and the day’s work has
been big. It was impossible to handle the dead bodies of human beings or
the carcasses of animals to get them to sea, because of putrefaction.
Hundreds were buried in trenches and many were cremated. It was
necessary to handle fire with great caution, as there is no water supply
as yet.
The city is not suffering much for drinking water, but water is needed
in the mains, that fire may be controlled. The water has been flowing
steadily from the Alta Loma supply pipe into the tank. Unfortunately
there was no connection from the rig tank to the mains, except through
the pumps, and it is impossible to get the water through by that route.
Alderman McMaster, who has been directing the work to-day, is getting
out the connection from the pumps to the mains and is making a
connection from rig tank to mains.
Some of the large pipe needed was not available, but carpenters are
making a wooden section which will stand the slight pressures. It is
expected that water will be turned into the mains from the rig tank
before morning. This will give a supply in yard hydrants and fill plugs
from which the steamers can work. The men at work on the pumps and pipes
are well along with their work, but the boilermakers are not so far
along. Mr. McMaster thinks the pumps can be started by to-morrow, and
that they will give the usual pressure in the mains.
VISITORS DO NOBLE WORK.
In addition to the arrangements made for handling people from here to
Texas City and thence via the Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad
to Houston, the prospect is that the Southern Pacific will be ready for
passengers within the next few days. Mr. W. S. Keenan, general passenger
agent of the Santa Fe, said this evening that he expected that their
track would be completed to both ends of the bridges by to-morrow
evening. The company has chartered three boats and will take passengers
by train from Galveston to the bridge and there transfer by boat to the
mainland.
A large number of people reached here to-day from Houston and other
points. Some of them came to lend helping hands, and are doing noble
work; others came to look for relatives. But there are many who come out
of sheer curiosity and who do nothing but eat provisions and drink the
water. They are taking up room in the boats returning to mainland which
women and children ought to have. People who are not coming to help, or
on other urgent missions, ought to remain away; sightseers are not
wanted, and those who have no higher purpose in coming will do Galveston
the greatest service within their power by staying away.
The police and soldiers have orders not to permit the landing of
strangers, and the order is being carried out as far as possible. The
committee on transportation purposes to see that women and children get
a chance to leave here first, and able-bodied men will not be permitted
to leave during the first few days. If sightseers come anyway they will
find it difficult to get in and still more difficult to get out of the
city.
Mayor Jones received a telegram to-day from President McKinley,
expressing his sorrow that Texas had been visited by such a dreadful
calamity, and advising that he had instructed the Secretary of War to
render all the assistance possible.
The Mayor also received a telegram from the Kansas City Chamber of
Commerce, saying that body stood ready to help, and asking what it could
do.
The steamer “George Hudson” arrived from Beaumont this afternoon with a
carload of ice, 5000 barrels of water, and provisions. Mr. John F.
Keith, who came with the tug, said he would take 100 passengers with him
in the morning, and he would bring the tug on another trip with lime and
provisions. Fortunately, Galveston has not been entirely without ice.
The Red Snapper Company had a large supply on hand, and it has been
letting people have it at wholesale prices. This supply will last a day
or two, and ice will then be gladly received. Three of the schooners of
the Red Snapper Company reached here from Campechy banks to-day, filled
with fish.
DEAD ANIMALS CARRIED ACROSS THE BAY.
The fish were given away by the thousands to all who came for them.
Animals are being dumped into the bay, which go out with the tide and
coming ashore by the hundreds at Bolivar peninsula. Parties started to
bury them, but the few people on the peninsula found it impossible. They
came to the city to implore the authorities to send men there to bury
these animals and to quit throwing them into the bay. The dumping into
the bay had already been stopped, as there was little wind and the
carcasses were cremated.
Between Fifteenth street and Avenue C, running on a line parallel with
the island, a great mass of wreckage is piled as high as a man’s head at
any point and from that to the height of three-story houses. This line
extends as far along as there were houses to wreck and consists of all
kinds of buildings. A half of the section mentioned was traversed by a
“News” man this morning. Names of fully 400 people were found who lived
in that section. The debris is so high above these bodies that it may be
days before all will be removed.
There were a great many injured by the storm, and these are being cared
for at the hospitals, both of which are located at the east end of the
St. Mary’s University building at Fourteenth and Sealy avenue. This is a
building quite well suited to the purpose, but of course it is lacking
in conveniences. A large number of people with broken bones and badly
torn limbs are confined there, and nearly every one of them has lost
either whole families or some member. Drs. Starley and Ruhl are in
charge and have been working night and day tending to those rescued from
the wrecks of their homes.
SCHOOL BUILDING CARRIED A BLOCK AWAY.
The tower of the Rosenberg school fell in and killed about eleven people
during the height of the storm. It was a place of refuge for all the
people driven from their homes by the high water and terrific winds.
The parochial school situated on the corner of Eleventh and Sealy
avenue, was taken from its foundations and carried by wind and water a
full block to Twelfth street and Sealy avenue, landing on the north side
of the street, whereas it was located on the south side previously. This
stands amidst a great pile of driftwood, and having been carried to that
location undoubtedly formed a barrier for the collection of great piles
of drift that were brought in from gulf-ward. It shoved some smaller
buildings out of their former locations, but did not wreck many of them.
The drift is something terrible. It includes every kind of house used by
men, and represents all the city south of the line described to the
beach in which it is reported that large numbers of dead bodies, which
floated to sea yesterday, have been washed during the day. The houses
are sometimes to be found quite intact, but turned bottom up like an
upturned dry goods box. Others are but so much kindling wood.
The greatest wreck is possibly the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, at
Fourteenth and Broadway. The front wall is nearly all standing, with the
steeples on either side, and the curved wall that surrounds the chancel
seemed in pretty good shape, but the two side walls are gone beyond
repair. The east side is standing about half way up, and the west side
was thrown to the ground. Sand covers the campus in that neighborhood.
The University building suffered a good deal from the blow, but it was
the haven of rest for all the people in that neighborhood, as it is now
the hospital for the injured and the place of succor for the women and
children.
GREAT WRECK OF ST. MARY’S INFIRMARY.
The next greatest wreck is the St. Mary’s Infirmary on Market and Eighth
streets. Practically everything there is gone but the new part, which
was completed about two years ago. This is badly damaged, but is being
used. It does not cover more than a quarter of the floor space of the
entire building when intact. This is used to support injured and is the
place of refuge. Sealy Hospital, between Ninth and Tenth streets,
escaped serious injury, beyond damage to the roof.
The colored school, on the corner of Broadway and Tenth streets, is a
mass of wreckage, piled up with the debris along the mountain chain
previously described. This was a large two-story frame building of eight
rooms, and stood high in the air. A little Episcopal mission, located on
the corner of Fifteenth and Avenue L, was carried northwest along
Fifteenth street and broke up a block away. The gentleman who was in
charge of the mission, Henry Hirsinger, was lost.
This great line of wreckage forms the division point between a mass of
houses unroofed and partly damaged and a great prairie, which up to
Saturday was the location of the homes of thousands of Galveston’s
people. This was generally known as the colored section of the city, but
the colored people as a rule lived close to the beach. As a consequence
they got scared early in the day and moved into town.
The result is that the death list is not as great proportionately among
the colored people as it is among the whites, although a great many of
them are missing. Prominent among the colored people missing are S. C.
Cuney, a nephew of Wright Cuney, formerly collector of customs at this
port. The rector of the colored Episcopal church, Rev. Thomas Cain, and
his wife are lost.
The poles of the East Broadway street railway line are standing erect to
Fourteenth street, beyond which there is but one pole. The wires are all
down, as a matter of course, and the track is filled with wreckage. The
line of wreckage crosses Broadway, between Thirteenth and Fourteenth
streets, and in it at that point are several bodies which cannot be
reached on account of the high pile of lumber.
HOUSES PLACED BACK TO BACK.
The great bulk of this debris is unbroken and sides and roofs of houses
still intact, and the vast amount of loose boards can be used for
rebuilding, so that there will be lessened cost in that direction. In
some places whole houses have been moved from their foundations and
carried around back of others, thus forming a barrier which caught the
floating debris and prevented the whole north side of town being swept
from Gulf to bay and carried into the bay.
The roof of the elevator is gone and the wheat there is exposed, but if
fresh water can be obtained soon it is expected the wheat can be saved
by drying. The sheds on the wharves are practically all gone, but the
wharves are supposed to be in such shape that they can be repaired at a
nominal expense and can be resumed.
The following letter was received at Fort Worth from C. H. Fewell, who
is night yardmaster of the Santa Fe Railway Company, at Galveston:
“The only means of sending mail or anything is by water to Houston. All
bridges and wires are gone, and it will be weeks before they can
possibly get a train out of here. The city is a complete wreck. Very few
buildings are standing that have not in some way been wrecked by the
storm. The loss of life will never be known; it will run into thousands.
You can’t imagine what a terrible shape this place is in. We are
thankful to be alive, but cannot help but feel sad when we think of the
many friends we have lost, and the hundreds that are left without homes
and without a mouthful of anything to eat. Relief must come soon or many
will starve to death.
“Our rooming house stood the storm well, with the exception of a corner
blown off and part of the roof. I got up about 4 o’clock Saturday. It
was then raining and blowing hard. I left the house and started for the
Tremont hotel and came near not making it. We stayed there all night.
For four hours I thought every minute that the building would certainly
go with the many that were going to pieces around it. We would have been
as well off had we stayed at home, but was afraid our house would not
stand the storm.
HORRIBLE BEYOND DESCRIPTION.
“Wagons have been passing all day piled full of dead bodies. Many of
them will never be identified, and they are now taking them right to the
Gulf for burial. This seems terrible, but it must be done, as it is
impossible to bury them on the island. Hundreds of bodies are floating
in the bay and outskirts of what was once the city. I cannot describe
how horrible it is. I have been over most of the city since Sunday
morning and know exactly how everything is situated. From the beach for
at least four blocks in there is not a sign of anything left to show for
what was once fine residences.
“Not one thing is left to show that there ever was anything at the
beach. Everything is piled up; all rubbish for about four blocks from
the beach beyond which it looks as clear as the prairie. The east and
west end of the town is entirely gone. At the east end not a thing
remains standing to Twelfth street. Dead bodies can be seen every place
except in the business part of the city, to-day, two days after the
storm. They are bringing them in by the wagon loads every hour. Nearly
every one you meet has lost some friend and is looking for them. I
visited three places where they have been taking the bodies to-day with
a friend looking for relatives, and I know there could not have been
less than 200 bodies in each place, lying cold in death. The general
offices are a complete wreck; the wharves, elevators and everything
connected with the railroads are more or less racked and many of them a
total loss. Not a splinter is left of our yard office. You might say
hundreds of cars are turned over and can be found nearly a block from
where they were left before the storm.”