Thrilling Narratives by Eye-witnesses—Path of the Storm’s Fury Through
Galveston—Massive Heaps of Rubbish—Huge Buildings Swept into the Gulf.
At Galveston on that fatal Saturday night there were deaths far more
horrible than any of which even a Sienkiewicz could conceive. Mothers
and babes, fathers and husbands, were hurled headlong into the world
beyond without a chance to make peace with their Maker, with a farewell
kiss or a last fond embrace. Upon every hand the dead were piled up like
driftwood cast up by the sea, even as they were at Waterloo and
Gettysburg and behind Kitchener in the Soudan. The bodies of men that
the day before were perfect specimens of physical development were
swollen and discolored by the fierce rays of the autumn sun, and were
food for flies and maggots which buzzed or crawled hither and thither
unceasingly. In the bay the sharks were overfed, and on the prairies the
buzzards could no longer be tempted.
If those who live far from the awful scene of woe, believe that this is
over-drawn, let them ask the pale-faced nerve-racked refugees, from that
terrible place, and they will be told that it is impossible for either
pen or brush to give the picture as it is. The photographer, with all
his art, stands baffled. The artist, with all his talent, is
incompetent. The newspaper man, accustomed to the dark side of life,
shudders and turns from description to the work of reciting details,
horrible enough in themselves, but far more pleasant.
There arrived in Dallas a score or more of men who told of decomposed
bodies, and maggots and flies and starvation and distress until their
hearers rushed away in horror. Some of these heart-breaking tales are
given herewith.
Ed. A. Gebhard of The Dallas News came in from Texas City. He said:
“Among the many stories of the Galveston disaster I have seen none that
fully describe the sight that presented itself around Texas City and
Virginia Point on Monday. They all seem to lose the impressiveness that
the narrator gave them when the centre of an excited group who were
eager to know if friends or relatives were among the dead. Every word is
heard or read ravenously all over the country, and when one has seen the
ghastly faces of friends and acquaintances strewn ruthlessly among the
grass and rubbish around Texas City and along that part of the bay shore
he will not wonder that the world stands aghast.
“The corpses that had been thrown up by the cruel waters on the mainland
were for the time being neglected for the field that contained thousands
instead of hundreds. The remains of the old man of many winters, with
the determined looking face, who gazed with intentness into the now
cloudless skies, was kept silent company by a little miss whose smile
would melt the heart of the most cruel man alive. Further on were the
forms of women and children, most of which were entirely nude, the wind
having been that severe that even the shoes were torn from their feet.
THROWN TOGETHER IN UTTER CONFUSION.
“I have seen tracks of many cyclones, but never have I seen the path of
one that held the misery, the suffering and the general destruction that
were occasioned by this hurricane, assisted by the sea.
“Furniture, household articles, pianos (complete and in part) and the
carcasses of every kind of domestic animal were to be found in chaos.
Even from the mainland could be seen the dire effects of the storm on
the seaport of Texas—jagged walls, broken smokestacks, tin roofs
suspended from their proper places or lying curled up at my feet in the
bay, a distance of several miles from where they belonged. While it is
natural for a person drowning to cling to whatever comes in their reach
with that intensity that they cannot be disengaged, after death, without
much trouble, this very thing lent much grewsomeness to the scene.
Mothers with their children in their arms could not be separated from
them, even by death.
“The piling of the destroyed railroad bridges had an occasional figure
clinging to them. On nearer approach the head was seen to be thrown back
as if to keep above water, and the features were distorted with horror
as if in their last moments they realized the fatality of the attempt.
The sea, not content with drowning the living and washing them away,
desecrated the tombs of Galveston and several caskets were seen floating
on the bosom of the quiet bay that morning and two or three were found
on shore as if resentful at having their rightful rest disturbed.
“Many people from a distance moved only by a morbid curiosity, which I
consider little short of criminal, crowded to Houston in order that they
might go to the devastated city and view the misery and devastation, not
willing to alleviate suffering or help to bury the dead. As for me, I
trust I will never look on a sight as appalling, as heartrending, as
desolate, while life lasts.”
A ST. LOUIS MAN STORMBOUND.
George MacLaine, of St. Louis, arrived at Dallas from Galveston, where
he spent the time from Friday until Tuesday. “I was intending to leave
on the 1.50 train Saturday afternoon,” he said, “but I could not get
away on account of the storm, the water having risen to such an extent
that it could not cross the bridge.
“My experience was pretty much the same as a large number of others have
given. During the storm I was in a building located at the corner of
Twenty-fifth and Market streets, two or three blocks above the Santa Fe
depot. We were in the parlor of the hotel on the second floor, with
about eight feet of water in the lower story. The parlor was crowded
with guests and refugees, men and women, and from the windows I
witnessed a great many affecting and pathetic sights, particularly in
the way of appeals to the men in the hotel to assist in rescuing women
with children in the neighborhood who had become separated from their
husbands.
“One case I particularly noticed—that of a woman and five young
children, whose house fell on top of them, but, fortunately, in such a
way as to protect them from the force of the waves and wind. Several
attempts were made by various parties to rescue this family, but the
rescue parties always returned with the statement that on account of the
debris and the swift current they were unable to get near enough to the
house to render any assistance. The first attempt was made about 6
o’clock in the evening.
“They were eventually given up for lost, when, to the surprise of
everyone, cries for help were heard from the ruins about 5 o’clock in
the morning. Appeals were again made to some of the white men in the
house to go to their relief, but, I am very sorry to say, they were in
vain until finally two colored men who worked in the kitchen and one of
the whites volunteered their services and succeeded in bringing the
party to the hotel. They had practically nothing on them when they came,
but they were taken in hand and the best done with them in the way of
giving them clothing and food that was possible. There were so many
cases of this kind that, as I say, it is simply a repetition of the
experience of others.
DRUNKEN REVELRY IN THE STREETS.
“On Sunday morning, immediately after the storm and as soon as daylight
appeared, the scene on the streets was one I shall never forget. There
were drunken women, almost nude, with their male companions, also under
the influence of liquor, parading the streets and laughing and singing
as if returning from a prolonged spree. There were some of the best
citizens of Galveston hurrying to and fro, asking this one and that one
if they had heard anything of their sisters, wives or some other member
of their families.
“There were others who had been present when their families had
perished, weeping and wailing over their losses, young children crying
for their parents who had perished, parents crying for the loss of their
children, and others walking aimlessly about or standing around as if
they were stunned. Everyone appeared so thoroughly unnerved that there
was a total lack of organized effort to search for the missing or to
collect food.
“Almost immediately after the waters receded sufficiently to permit
people to wade or walk in safety men and women could be seen with their
long poles and baskets, whose principal aim and object seemed to be to
profit by the misfortunes of the poor people who had lost their lives or
their homes. On Sunday afternoon I took a walk out Tremont avenue to
inquire as to the safety of some of my friends who lived on that street,
and after making a few visits proceeded to the beach to witness the
destruction that had taken place in that neighborhood.
“Of course it has been told by several how everything had been swept off
the face of the land in that direction, but I could not help noticing
the large number of colored people with their baskets and shawls
searching through the ruins of what had been the finest homes in
Galveston for bric-a-brac, silver and other articles of value. I stood
for some time, amazed that they could have the audacity to do what they
were doing, but as nobody seemed to interfere with them or question
their right, I passed on as every one else did, simply feeling astounded
that people could be so inhuman at such a time. I saw one colored woman
who had filled her basket and was returning to the city when she met one
of the unfortunate owners of the property, who, by the merest chance,
noticed sticking out of the woman’s basket some article that she was
able to identify as her property.
CURSED FOR INTERFERENCE.
“She called upon the darkey to give up the article, but she declined to
do so, taking the position that in such times it was anybody’s property.
Fortunately for the rightful owner a gentleman friend happened to come
along during the controversy, and, hearing the nature of it, forcibly
took the basket from the woman, who was even then bold enough to stand
cursing the man for his interference. I did not see any parties
mutilating or robbing the dead, but I met several others in Galveston
who had.
“I left on Tuesday morning, being fortunate enough to get passage on a
schooner that carried me to Texas City. From there I caught a train to
Houston. All day Monday in Galveston it seemed to be one continual
procession of bodies, which were being carried in wagons, drays, fire
ladders, and every other imaginable conveyance. Some of the bodies were
minus heads, arms or feet, which, added to the advanced stage of
decomposition, not only made the scene particularly horrible to witness,
but extremely nauseating on account of the smell from the bodies.
Particularly toward the close of Monday the bodies were found so rapidly
that any effort to carry them to any special point for burial had about
ceased and they were covered up in the sand, laid down on the wharf or
left where they were found. Even after I was fortunate enough to get a
schooner to carry me to Texas City it seemed that there were almost as
many floating in the bay and being carried off or lying around on the
mainland as I had seen in Galveston itself.
“It was a horrible experience which I passed through, which I hope will
never occur again in my lifetime, and I feel that I cannot too strongly
call attention to the urgent needs, both in food and clothing, not only
of the poor classes, but of the best people in Galveston, who up to the
time of this terrible calamity had not known what want was, and who even
now seem ill at ease in knowing how to make their wants known.”
STORM OF INDESCRIBABLE FURY.
Rudolph Daniels, Assistant General Passenger Agent of the Missouri,
Kansas and Texas Railway, was in Galveston during the storm, and
returned to Dallas on the 12th. Mr. Daniels said: “I can only give you
my experience and what I saw. The storm was indescribable in its fury,
and it was hard to realize the extent of the devastation and destruction
even when on the scene. It does not seem real or possible.
“I was in a restaurant near the Tremont Hotel when the storm broke. It
began blowing a gale about 2 o’clock in the afternoon, but the wind did
not reach an alarming height until about 4 o’clock. Myself and friends
saw that it was going to be a storm of more than ordinary fury and
started for the Tremont. The street was three feet deep in water and we
got a carriage. We had to draw our feet up on the seats to keep out of
the water.
“At 5 o’clock the wind was blowing a hurricane, and the water came over
the sidewalk in front of the Tremont.
“The water in the street was full of telegraph poles, beer kegs, boxes
and debris of all sorts. The wind was carrying all sorts of missiles. On
a great many roofs in Galveston oyster shells were used instead of
gravel. The wind tore them off and hurled them through the air with
great force, injuring people and breaking windows. The air was full of
flying glass and every imaginable thing that could be blown away. Mixed
with the roaring of the hurricane was a bedlam of strange noises, the
crash of breaking glass, rumble of falling walls and rattle of tin roofs
making an infernal sound.
“The people for blocks around endeavored to make their way to the
Tremont. Rescuers stood on the sidewalk to assist those who were trying
to cross the street, which was over waist-deep in water. The water was
lashed to foam by the wind and the air was thick with spume and spray.
When a person, man, woman or child, would get in reach, those on the
sidewalk would seize them and drag them into the hotel.
“Soon there were about 1000 people in the hotel. Women with hardly
clothing enough to cover them, and that wet, were crowded along the
halls and stairways. They were moaning and babies were crying. Outside
in the storm all seemed a sort of haze. No definite shapes could be seen
across the street.
WINDOWS BROKEN AND ROOMS FLOODED.
“The wind reached its strongest about 6 o’clock. Then the water was in
the rotunda of the hotel. Part of the skylight had blown off and the
rain was pouring in. Many of the windows were broken by flying pieces of
debris and the rooms were flooded. My room was among those flooded. Joe
Morrow had a room that was dry, and he and Harry Archer and myself
crowded into it. Morrow got four inches of candle somewhere, and we had
half a dozen dry matches. We burned the candle from time to time during
the night to cheer us up. All of us were scared and did not know what
minute everything would go. After midnight the storm began to go down,
and at 5 o’clock in the morning the water had gone out of the hotel and
part of Tremont street was above it.
“We set out to find W. H. McClure, who had had an awful experience. He
came to the hotel and offered a hackman any price to go to his house
after his family, but could not induce him to go. Failing in that, he
started back home to his wife. That was 7 o’clock, and he did not manage
to reach home, one-half mile away, until 2.30 in the morning. We found
them all safe. We saw several bodies on Tremont street on the way there.
“The organization of relief work began at once. It was soon seen that
there was no time for the identification of bodies, and the work of
taking them to sea for burial began. Along the Gulf front for three
blocks back there is not a house standing, and I could see only one or
two on the Denver resurvey.
“There was a meeting of all the railroad men in Galveston at 9 o’clock
Tuesday morning, at which it was arranged that freight would be handled
through Houston and the Clinton tap to Clinton and by barge to
Galveston. The Galveston, Houston and Henderson to handle passengers to
Texas City and then to Galveston by the steamer Lawrence.”
W. H. McGrath, general manager of the Dallas Electric Company, returned
from Galveston yesterday. He said:
HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE STREWN FOR MILES.
“No words can express the scenes of death and desolation. Nothing can be
said that will convey the full meaning. I went over to Galveston in a
schooner and came away as soon as possible. What they need there is not
people, but ice, water and supplies. All along the shore of the bay for
twelve miles inland are strewn pianos, sofas, chairs, tables, paving
blocks and all sorts of broken lumber and debris from Galveston.
“General Scurry detailed my party to bury the dead on a stretch of beach
about two-and-one-half miles long. In that space we found fourteen
bodies, all women and children but two. The hot sun beating down and the
action of the water had caused decomposition to set in at once. They
were horribly bloated, and the eyes and tongues protruding and the
bosoms of the women bursting open.
“None of the corpses had any clothing upon them. One man had a leather
belt about his waist and the shreds of his trousers. The women were nude
except that corsets and shoes still remained on some of them. All the
lighter portions of the clothing had been beaten off by the water. There
was no time for identification. We simply pulled them up on the beach
and buried them where they lay.
“It is frightful to think of. The bay is still full of floating bodies.
Forty-three were counted from the schooner I was on as we went down.
Gangs of men are at work all the time under martial law burying as fast
as they are cast up.
“The city of Galveston is a wreck. Not a building in the town escaped
injury. The people there who went through the storm seemed dazed and in
a sort of stupor. All they know is that they want to get away from the
spot, and when they get on the mainland they go wild with joy. They are
utterly bewildered and demoralized.
ARRESTED FOR ROBBING THE DEAD.
“General McKibben had just arrived when I was there and martial law
reigned. I was told that seventy ghouls had been arrested for robbing
bodies and that they would be court-martialed and shot. The tramp
steamer Kendal Castle is lying high and dry 200 feet from the water’s
edge. She is standing on an even keel, just as though she was at sea.
General Scurry wanted a boat to go across to Galveston and informed the
captain he was under martial law and his boats would be required. The
boats were sent and General Scurry went across the bay in the captain’s
gig.
“The stench along the wharves in Galveston is something terrible, but
the people are making every effort to dispose of everything that is
putrifying.
“The railroad and telegraphic companies are making tremendous efforts to
get into Galveston. The Postal Telegraph Company has two wires strung
down the Galveston, Houston and Henderson to the junction of the Texas
Terminal. Below that not a pole was left. The Western Union is making
rapid progress and will lay a cable across the bay.”
George Hall, a traveling man who lives at 133 Thomas avenue, this city,
returned from Galveston yesterday morning, having passed through the
terrible scenes enacted there during and after the storm. To a News
representative he said last night:
“I arrived at Galveston Friday afternoon, and my wife and little girl
were to come down Saturday. At noon Saturday I noticed that the storm,
which had been blowing all the morning, was getting worse. At that time
I went to the tower of the Tremont Hotel and saw the waves rolling in
toward the land. I took just one look over the city and came down. The
wind increased in violence from that on and the rain fell in sheets, and
I sent a telegram to my wife and advised her to stop in Houston. I think
that was the last telegram that was sent from the island, as a few
moments afterwards the girl told me the wires had snapped. The storm was
accompanied by no thunder or lightning.
CHILDREN CRYING AND WOMEN PRAYING.
“About 4 o’clock the people who were able to get conveyances began to
come in from the residence districts. The hotel did not serve any
supper. From 6 to 10 o’clock was the worst of the storm, and during that
time there was about 1200 people in the house. We were just as nearly
like rats in a wire cage as anything could be. At 10 o’clock the water
was four feet deep in the office, and it was certain death to go out
doors. We were in pitch darkness all the time, although some one had
secured one candle and set it up in the dining-room. Children were
crying and women praying and throwing their arms around the men’s knees
and asking them to save them. It was certainly as horrible a night as
any one ever put on earth. I have been on the road thirty years, have
been in all parts of the world, have had many hairbreadth escapes, but
they did not amount to a snap of the fingers besides this.
“We had one particularly hard gust that lasted about five minutes, and
on looking at my watch I saw that was a little after 10 o’clock. At 12
o’clock it had died down considerably, and the water fell two feet in
about twenty minutes.
“In the early morning we ventured out, although it rained most of the
forenoon. In the afternoon I took a walk down to the beach which is
ordinarily ten minutes’ walk, but it took me an hour and one-half on
this occasion. Once I slipped and twisted my ankle slightly. My foot
came down on something soft, and I found that it was the breast of an
old man with long whiskers.
“As I returned to the hotel I counted thirty-five bodies, five in one
bunch. I saw a negro go out of a house with a load of bedclothes and
other stuff and a soldier stopped him. The man claimed that he had been
sent there by the owners of the property. I personally saw no looting.
“I stayed there over Sunday night, and on Monday morning seven of us
bunched together and paid a man $100 to take us over the bay. On the way
over we counted more than ninety bodies passing close to us, and on
Sunday forenoon I believe there were about as many bodies in the bay as
there were fish. I am certain in my own mind that I saw over 1000
bodies.
STRONG MAN FAINTS.
“Early Sunday morning Jack Frost, of this city, walked into the Tremont
Hotel, nearly naked and broken and bruised from head to foot. He fainted
and was carried to a room and a doctor sent for. The doctors said that
the bones of his right hand were broken, one clavicle broken and his
left shoulder dislocated, besides being horribly bruised and mangled.
Several inquiries from the doctors elicited the information that it was
a close question of life and death when I left. He was caught at
Murdock’s pavilion when the storm came up, and could not get away. No
one knows just where he landed.”
[Illustration:
VIEW OF CENTRAL PARK, SHOWING DAMAGED HIGH SCHOOL IN THE CENTER,
TRINITY CHURCH IN THE REAR AND TREMONT HOTEL AT THE RIGHT]
[Illustration:
THE CITY HALL, GALVESTON—SHOWING DAMAGE DONE BY THE STORM]
M. F. Smith, of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad was in
Galveston during the hurricane and got home to Dallas yesterday. He said
that nothing he could say would convey an adequate idea of the storm. “I
was in the Tremont Hotel Saturday when the hurricane began,” he
continued. “The water came up into the rotunda and the wind blew with
fearful force. Eight hundred or a thousand people took refuge in the
hotel. It was a scene of pathos to see the women and children with
hardly any clothing, not knowing where relatives or children were
scattered about the corridors in deepest distress. It was remarkable
that so few of them gave any outward sign or cry. Sunday morning the
water was gone out of the rotunda and it was ankle deep in mud. I went
out Tremont street to Avenue N ½, where I came to water. People were
coming in toward the higher ground sick, wounded and homeless. One
hundred men were sworn in by the Mayor Sunday morning as a guard and
relief work began at once. I came out Monday morning on the Charlotte M.
Allen. From her I saw a barge loaded with corpses going to sea for
burial and an other at the dock was being loaded. A passenger on the
Allen counted fifty floating bodies in the bay on the way up to Virginia
Point. We had to walk to Texas City Junction and I saw Galveston paving
blocks on the prairie north of Texas City.”
CAST UP BY THE HEAVY WAVES.
Officers Williams and Curly Smith stated that the body of a woman that
had been buried at sea on the east end was washed ashore on the beach
near the foot of Tremont street. Attached to the body was a large rock
weighing about 200 pounds. The body was carried to a place back from the
water’s edge and placed in a grave.
While working with a gang of men clearing the wreckage of a large number
of houses on Avenue O and Centre street to-day Mr. John Vincent found a
live prairie dog locked in a drawer of a bureau. It was impossible to
identify the house or the name of its former occupants, as several
houses were piled together in a mass of brick and timber. The bureau was
pulled out of the wreckage a few feet from the ground, where it had been
buried beneath about ten feet of debris. The little animal seemed not to
be worse for his experience of four days locked up in a drawer beneath a
mountain of wreckage. It was taken home and fed by Mr. Vincent, who will
hold the pet for its owner if the owner survived the storm.
Some idea of the extent of the destructive path of the hurricane can be
got from a view of the beach front east of Tremont street. Standing on
the high ridge of debris that marks the line of devastation extending
from the extreme west end to Tremont street an unobstructed view of the
awful wreckage is presented.
Drawing a line on the map of the city from the centre of Tremont street
and Avenue P straight to Broadway and Thirteenth street where stands the
partly demolished Sacred Heart Church, all the territory south and east
of this line is leveled to the ground. The ridge of wreckage of the
several hundred buildings that graced this section before the storm
marks this line as accurately as if staked out by a surveying
instrument. Every building within the large area was razed by the wind
or force of the raging waters, or both.
This territory embraces sixty-seven blocks and was a thickly populated
district. Not a house withstood the storm and those that might have held
together if dependent upon their own construction and foundations were
buried beneath the stream of buildings and wreckage that swept like a
wild sea from the east to the west, demolishing hundreds of homes and
carrying the unfortunate inmates to their death either by drowning or
from blows of the flying timbers and wreckage that filled the air.
WIND A HUNDRED MILES AN HOUR.
The strongest wind blew later in the evening, when it shifted to the
southeast and attained a velocity of from 110 to 120 miles an hour. The
exact velocity was not recorded, owing to the destruction of the wind
gauge of the United States Weather Bureau after it had registered a
100–miles-an-hour blow for two minutes. This terrific southeast wind
blew the sea of debris inland and piled it up in a hill ranging from ten
to twenty feet high and marking the line of the storm’s path along the
southeastern edge of the island.
In one place near Tremont street and Avenue P four roofs and remnants of
four houses are jammed within a space of about twenty-five feet square.
Beneath this long ridge many hundred men, women and children were
buried, and cattle, horses and dogs and other animals were piled
together in one confused mass. While every house in the city or suburbs
suffered more or less from the hurricane and encroachment of the Gulf
waters, the above section suffered the most in being swept as clean as a
desert. Another area extending east to Thirteenth street and south of
Broadway to the Gulf suffered greatly, and few of the buildings
withstood the storm, none without being damaged to a more or less
extent. From Tremont street and Avenue P½ wind came northward for about
two blocks and then cut across westward to the extreme limits of the
city; in fact, swept clear on down the island for many miles. The path
of the levelled ground west from Avenue P cleared the several blocks,
extending south to the beach and west to Twenty-seventh street. It cut
diagonally southwest on a straight line within three blocks of the beach
and down west on the beach many miles beyond the city limits. This does
not mean that the path of the storm was confined to this stretch of
territory—not by any means. There were many blocks in the centre of the
city almost totally demolished by the fury of the wind and sea, but the
above long line of about four miles of the city proper and many miles of
country land were swept clean of buildings and all other obstructions.
NO VESTIGE LEFT OF BUILDINGS.
A few of the piles that once supported the street-railway trestle
extending from Centre street to Tremont street on the beach are all that
remains to mark the curved line of right-of-way. Not a vestige of the
three large bath-houses of Keef’s Pagoda and Murdock is to be seen.
The Midway, with its many old shacks and frame houses, concert halls and
other resorts, was swept to the sea, and the Gulf now plays twenty feet
north of where the Midway marked the beach line. The Olympia-by-the Sea
likewise fell an early prey to the storm, and the surf which formerly
kissed the elevated floor of the Olympia now sweeps across the electric
railway track about fifteen feet north of the big circular building. On
Tremont street and Avenue P½ two buildings stand, or rather two
structures mark where two frame buildings battled with the raging
elements. The two houses were occupied by Mr. Joseph Magilavaca and
family and Mr. C. Nicolini and family. Both houses were stripped of
every piece of furniture, wall-paper, window-frames and doors on the
first floor and second floor remained intact. The houses were blown from
their elevated foundations and dropped down on the ground and the sea
washed the interior of the first floors almost up to the ceilings. The
families took refuge in a house across the street, which gave way and
was leveled almost to the ground, but all the inmates escaped with their
lives. These two dwellings stand like charmed structures in the centre
of the hurricane’s track.
The Rosenburg School-house suffered severely on the east side of the
building. The roof of this wing fell in and carried the second floor and
nearly all of the south wall with it. It was reported that a number of
people sought refuge in this building and that all of them escaped
without serious injury.
TO HASTEN ONE BRIDGE.
The indications this morning are that there will be reasonably free
intercourse with the outside world within ten days at the most, although
those in charge of transportation lines are rapidly finding that the
storm did more damage than they had at first calculated upon. At another
conference the question of utilizing one of the railroad bridges across
the bay and repairing that for the use of all lines prior to the
repairing of the other bridges or the building of a steel bridge was
practically settled. Colonel L. J. Polk, general manager of the Gulf,
Colorado and Santa Fe, said that it was reasonably certain that this
would be done, all the roads concentrating all their efforts to the
completion of one bridge. In regard to his own line he said:
“I do not know when the wrecking gangs will get to Virginia Point. The
statement I made to you yesterday that I expected we would have a train
to the point to-day was based on information from the other side, but it
appears that they did not know the amount of work there was before them.
Practically they have to build a new track from Lamarque to the Point.
“We shall probably not reach the bay on the island side before Saturday,
as the same conditions prevail, and we did not realize the immense
damage the storm had done.
“We have practically decided to unite in the repairing of one bridge for
the use of all lines for the present. Our chief engineer, Mr. Felt, and
Mr. Boschke, of the Southern Pacific, went to the mainland this morning
to establish communication with the parties at interest who are on that
side. J. M. Barr, third vice-president of the Santa Fe system, and James
Dun, chief engineer of the system, both of Chicago, are on the mainland.
They came down here to assist in any way they could in the
re-establishment of the business.”
DAMAGE TO THE WHARVES.
The wharf company did not suffer badly so far as the actual wharves are
concerned, and it comes from General Manager Bailey that they will be
ready to handle the business within seven or eight days. Of course a
good deal of wharf flooring is torn up. The most serious damage was to
the sheds, some of which are complete wrecks. Business can be done
without sheds, and as long as the wharves themselves are in shape
business can be done. With the rail lines established and running again,
freight can move over the wharves. As a matter of fact coal was being
discharged at the coal elevator at pier 34 yesterday. The West End
wharves are all right, and some of these sheds are standing. Of course
there is an immense amount of repair work to be done, but this need not
interfere with the movement of freight.
Secretary S. O. Young, of the Galveston Cotton Exchange and Board of
Trade, said this morning that it would be three or four weeks before
quotations could be actually received here, owing to the condition of
the exchange building and the lack of wires over which to do business.
The exchange building is pretty badly wrecked, the slate shingles having
been carried away on one side early in the afternoon, which let in great
floods of water and ruined the ceilings and walls.
Dr. Young suffered several severe bruises as a result of the storm and
some of his employes are gone. His janitors are employed in the public
work of relieving the general situation. A good many cotton men who had
interests in the market left a day or so ago for Houston and New
Orleans, where they could look out for their interests.
The Masons started early Monday to furnish relief to their brethren.
They established headquarters in the Masonic Temple, which was partly
wrecked, and have furnished food and the necessaries of life. All Masons
in distress are asked to go to them. They bought provisions to the
amount of $500 and have been distributing what they had. A meeting this
morning was held at the temple to organize a central relief committee
for more systematic work, now that the first distress has been relieved.
LOSSES REPORTED EVERYWHERE.
The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Company notified Chairman Sealy of the
relief committee that there was $5000 there for its use. The Santa Fe
has suffered great loss itself and is a flood sufferer of great
proportions in dollars and cents. Thomas Taylor, a cotton man, on Monday
bought $500 worth of men’s clothing, which he immediately distributed to
the needy. The other men of means are coming forward with donations for
permanent relief.
The Galveston Brewing Company suffered comparatively slight property
loss, although it will amount into the thousands. Their utility was not
impaired in the least, however, and they are making ice as fast as they
can, and selling it at the regular Galveston rate 30c. per 100 pounds.
During the storm the brewery building was the haven of between 300 and
500 people. The men employed at the establishment were instrumental in
saving between seventy-five and 100 people during the storm by going out
in it and swimming and wading as best they could, dragging the people
into safety in the brewery.
Captain Owens stated this morning that in the jumble of confusion
mention of the practical destruction of the towns of Arcadia and Alta
Loma had been omitted. At Arcadia there are about 150 people living.
Arthur Boddeker lost his life during the storm and two or three were
hurt. At Alta Loma two children of Mr. Steele were killed. There are six
houses standing. All the groceries at both places were damaged by water
and these people are in great need of provisions, medicines and food for
stock.
One old man was found this morning who stated that he had one hundred
kinfolks in Galveston and he is the only survivor.
Galveston was a place where there were large families by intermarriage,
many of which had been established when the city was but a village,
fifty or more years ago. These had lived here and increased until a
family of 100 was not improbable in the least. The case of this old man
is probably an extreme one in the line of annihilation, but others have
lost almost as heavily.
STEAMERS TORN FROM THEIR MOORINGS.
General Agent Denison was unable to give any definite information about
the movements of steamers out of Galveston. There are now three here.
The Alamo is aground on the north side of the channel, having been torn
from her moorings at the wharf during the storm and swept to her present
position.
Mr. Denison expressed the opinion that it might be possible that
dredging would be necessary to relieve the steamer. The Comal arrived in
port Monday and berthed at pier 26, but was unable to discharge much
cargo. She moved down into the roads Wednesday afternoon, driven there
because of the stench at the wharves and the impossibility of doing any
business. The Sabine arrived this morning and also anchored in the roads
to await an opportunity to discharge. The wharf is in bad shape for the
handling of cargo, being wet and muddy and torn up in a good many
places.
There was talk of urging Governor Sayers to call a special session of
the Legislature to take action to relieve the situation at Galveston.
This was done by Governor Culberson in 1897 in the case of El Paso, and
is said to be sanctioned by the State Constitution. Representative Dudly
G. Wooten, of Dallas, said:
“In regard to the necessity for a specially called session of the
Legislature, it is difficult to speak intelligently unless we know all
the conditions. So far as the immediate physical wants of the
flood-stricken district are concerned, the liberal contributions of
private charity will readily meet the emergency, as has been
demonstrated by the generous manner in which the people every where,
both in Texas and outside, have responded to the appeals for help. Food,
money and all the necessaries to alleviate the present distresses of
Galveston and the adjacent coast are already in sight and being rapidly
utilized.
“But I think the most serious problem is the one of sanitation. It must
be borne in mind that the results of this flood are such as to create a
condition that will inevitably produce a pestilence unless it is dealt
with promptly, intelligently and firmly. Not only Galveston Island, but
all the towns on the mainland and all the coast for many miles have been
subjected to an overflow that has left the country in a deplorable
unsanitary condition. This is the season of the year when yellow fever,
cholera and other epidemic diseases have usually originated and done
their worst ravages. If a plague were to add its horrors to the fearful
havoc of the winds and waves, then indeed would the coast be ruined, and
the spread of the disease would speedily involve the whole State and the
South generally, resulting in a paralysis of commerce and a state of
terror and helplessness, the cost of which cannot be even approximated
or imagined.
CALL FOR MILITARY GUARDS.
“The strictest police and sanitary discipline and vigilance will be
required to prevent something of this kind, and that is where the
possible necessity of a legislative appropriation may become imperative.
There is practically no fund at the command of the State authorities for
those purposes. If the volunteer militia is to be used to police the
stricken districts, there is only a nominal sum at the disposal of the
Governor and Adjutant-General. That fund would not last a week.
“Besides, it is likely that a horde of vandals and vagabonds will
congregate at the seat of the calamity to prey on the provisions and
supplies that a generous public has contributed to the relief of the
real sufferers.
[Illustration:
MEMBERS OF THE GALVESTON CENTRAL RELIEF COMMITTEE
JUDGE NOAH ALLEN WILLIAM A. McVITIE RABBI HENRY COHEN
CHAIRMAN
I. H. KEMPNER CLARENCE OUSLEY
REV. J. M. K. KIRWIN B. ADOUE WILLIAM V. McCONN
OF ST. MARY’S CATHEDRAL]
[Illustration:
THE BALL HIGH SCHOOL, GALVESTON—AFTER THE FLOOD]
“To establish and enforce proper sanitary regulations, remove the debris
and sources of infection and maintain an effective police protection
will require rigorous and intelligent organization under State control
and adequately supported by public funds. It is not to be expected that
the local authorities will be equal to these demands, for they are
completely demoralized by the terrible calamity that has so recently
swept over their country. They are exhausted, unnerved and broken in
body, mind and spirit by the strain through which they have passed, and
are in no condition to meet these after perils. This, in my judgment, is
the phase of the problem that is most serious and may require
legislative aid.
HOW TO MEET THE EMERGENCY.
“The cost of a special session, if the necessity exists, is not to be
considered, for it is insignificant compared with the inestimable cost
of the failure of the State to do its duty in the premises. Besides, the
expense of a called session and of an adequate appropriation would be
distributed over the entire taxpaying population of the State and would
be inappreciable on each taxpayer. It is an emergency in which the
responsibility for a mistake makes it a very troublesome question for
the Governor.
“If there is the danger that I speak of, and I think no doubt can be
entertained as to that, delay may be fatal to any action to be hereafter
taken, for if the plague should once take root and begin its work, no
amount of outlay and vigilance can ever compensate the loss caused by a
hesitating or dilatory policy. On the other hand, the contributions made
and to be made and the agencies already at the command of the
authorities may be adequate for the necessities. I do not personally
know just what the conditions and resources may be, but if anything is
to be done it must be done speedily, and the responsibility for errors
is not a light one. I do not doubt that the Governor is in touch with
the situation and will do his duty.”
General H. B. Stoddard, deputy grand master of the grand encampment of
Knights Templars of the United States, one of the most exalted positions
in America, returned to Houston from a visit to Galveston and made his
headquarters there. He went down to size up the situation for the grand
order of which he is the head. He was there two days, all of which time
he used to get accurately at the facts. He moved about through the city
to see for himself, and also talked to the prominent business men in
order to reach a nearly accurate conclusion. He met prominent officials
of his own and other orders, together with distinguished physicians.
“I agree with statements that it is a terrible disaster, but I think
some of the estimates have been made too high,” said he. “I want you to
bear in mind if my investigation would indicate it, I would put the loss
of life at any figure, no matter how great.”
MACHINERY A COMPLETE LOSS.
Major R. B. Baer, receiver of the Galveston City Street Railway, who is
in this city now, says that to-day he telegraphed the Guarantee Trust
Company, the owners of the property, that it would take $200,000 to
$250,000 to repair the damage to the street railway. The powerhouse and
machinery are a complete loss and seven miles of track is gone, as well
as all of the trestle work.
“After the storm and until I left Galveston yesterday I walked an
average of ten miles a day,” said Major Baer, “and I know there is
hardly a building in the city that is not damaged, while the stocks of
merchandise are damaged from 25 to 90 per cent. The Galveston, Houston
and Northern and the Santa Fe both expect their roads to be open to
Virginia Point by Saturday, and then some light draught steamboats will
be put on to ply between Virginia Point and Galveston. Both of these
roads will commence work on their bridges across the bay as soon as
material can be gotten on the ground. The Santa Fe has now a force of
400 men working toward Virginia Point and a large force on the island
repairing their track. The Southern Pacific is putting to work all the
men they can get.”
One of the Texas journals made editorial comment as follows: “Duty is
still all that all can do. Many of the survivors of the storm are ill,
others bruised, wounded, broken, hungry and breadless, others hapless
orphans, too young to realize their sad condition. There has never been
in this country any other disaster to be compared with this. Where
others have had to battle against wind or water, here the man and the
woman and the child have found a dual foe—both wind and wave.
Considering all the conditions and forces and dangers and dreadful
results, it may be asserted without any word to modify the statement
that this is the most grievous calamity of modern times.
TOO AWFUL FOR WORDS.
“It is a stunning blow to every Texan whose heart is in the right place.
It is a calamity so dread that no one can afford to stop to consider
himself or his own wounds. The duty which one owes to others comes
first. Many are too far away from the scene of desolation and death to
do anything; but they are not too far away to give something, and thus
to help along the heartrending work which is now going on in Galveston
and in other places along the coast. The work of uncovering bodies, of
burying the dead, of supplying the needs of those who require
assistance, is going on, and a beginning has been made in cleaning and
clearing the city to prevent a general spread of sickness, which is sure
to come unless this work is thoroughly done. This task will require a
week more, possibly many weeks more.
“The removal of huge masses of bricks, stones, timber and decaying stock
in large houses which have gone down is necessarily a slow business, yet
this difficult task must be performed before even the work of burying
the dead can be completed. From the ruins of some houses of this kind
scores of bodies are yet to be taken. Unless ample help is procurable
this task is almost a hopeless undertaking. It is in order to repeat
that it is a duty which must be performed without delay. So far Texans
have responded nobly. The same may be said of people the country over.
The main purpose is to keep before all the fact that the service of
sympathy and mercy must be continued for a little while if the victims
of the storm are to be saved and succored.
“As an exchange says, the elements seem to have been wreaking vengeance
on Texas this year. In April the Colorado and Brazos Valleys were swept
by floods, entailing great loss in life and property. Austin suffered
severely. This flood followed a more disastrous one of last year, which
laid waste some of the best farms in the State, destroyed crops too late
for replanting, drowned thousands of cattle, horses, mules and hogs, and
many people. With all these recent disasters Texas is in a more
prosperous condition than the State has ever been in before, taking the
whole country over.
“While certain of the river valleys have been swept by flood, the rich
uplands, particularly those of north Texas, the orchard and garden lands
of east Texas and of the coast country and the small grain and pasture
lands of the west have brought forth abundant crops, and, speaking
generally, the people are in a good way. The high prices for wheat,
corn, cotton and other products of the field or ranch have told a
hopeful story, and a wise change from the old-time one-crop habit has
done much to help along. In spite of the disasters of this and of last
year, barring the victims of the floods alluded to, the people of this
State are in good condition and quite ready to do all in their power to
help along their less fortunate fellow citizens.
TEXAS HAS IMMENSE TERRITORY.
“Texas is a vast State, and this fact might make it appear that more
storms or other direful visitations fell to the lot of this people than
residents of other parts of the country find it necessary to endure. The
fact is that many States have been visited by floods this season, and in
some places floods are feared year after year. So it is of other
destructive visitations. They must be expected now and then anywhere
from Maine to California, or, for that matter, at any place the world
around. There is only one thing to do about it.
“People must prepare in advance for such troubles as far as possible and
must stand ready to take the consequences and make the best of them. So
it is now. So it will continue to be, here and elsewhere.”