Crowds of Refugees at Houston--Fed and Housed in Tents--Regular Soldiers
Drowned--Government Property Lost--Fears for Galveston's Future.
Houston was the great rendezvous for supplies sent to Galveston, and they
poured in there by the carload, beginning with Tuesday. The response to
the appeal for aid by the people of Galveston, on the part of the United
States, and, in fact, every country in the world, was prompt and generous.
That relief was an absolute necessity was made apparent from the
appearance of the refugees who began to flock into Houston as soon as the
boats began to run to Galveston after the catastrophe. In addition to
these, thousands of strangers arrived also, and the Houston authorities
were at a loss as to what to do with them. Some of these visitors were
from points far distant, who had relatives in the storm-stricken district,
and had come to learn the worst regarding them; others there were who had
come to volunteer their services in the relief work, but the greatest
number consisted of curious sight-seers, almost frantic in their efforts
to get to the stricken city and feed their eyes on the sickening,
repulsive and disease-breeding scenes. In addition there were hundreds of
the sufferers themselves, who had been brought out of their misery to be
cared for here.
The question of caring for these crowds came up at a mass meeting of the
Houston general relief committee held Monday. Every incoming train brought
scores more of people, and immediate action was necessary. It was decided
finally to pitch tents in Emancipation Park, and there as many of the
strangers as possible were cared for. The hotels could not accommodate
one-tenth of them.
First attention, naturally, was given the survivors of the storm. Mayor
Brashear sent word to Mayor Jones of Galveston that all persons, no matter
who they were, rich or poor, ill or well, should be sent to Houston as
soon as possible. They would be well provided for, he said. The urgency of
his message for the depopulation of Galveston, he explained, was that
until sanitation could be restored in the wrecked city everybody possible
should be sent away.
It was estimated that nearly 1,000 of the unfortunate survivors were sent
to Houston on Tuesday from Galveston in response to Mayor Brashear's
request. Every building in Houston at all habitable was opened to them,
and all the seriously ill comfortably housed. The others were made as
comfortable as possible, but it was not only food and clothing that was
wanted; the only relief some of them sought could not be furnished. They
were grieving for lost ones left behind--fathers, mothers, sisters, wives
and children. Nearly everybody had some relative missing, but few of them
were certain whether they were dead or alive. All, however, were satisfied
that they were dead.
Men, bareheaded and barefooted, with sunken cheeks and hollow eyes; women
and children with tattered clothing and bruised arms and faces, and mere
infants with bare feet bruised and swollen, were among the crowds seen on
the streets of Houston. Women of wealth and refinement, with hatless heads
and gowns of rich material torn into shreds, were among the refugees. At
times a man and his wife, and sometimes with one or two children, could be
seen together, but such sights were infrequent, for nearly all who went
to Houston had suffered the loss of one or more of their loved ones.
But with all this suffering there was a marvelous amount of heroism shown.
A week before most of these people had happy homes and their families were
around them. The Tuesday following the disaster they were homeless,
penniless and with nothing to look forward to. Yet there was scarcely any
whimpering or complaining. They walked about the streets as if in a
trance; they accepted the assistance offered them with heartfelt thanks,
and apparently were greatly relieved at being away from the scenes of
sorrow and woe at home. They were all made to feel at home in Houston,
that they were welcome and that everything in the power of the people of
Houston would be done for their comfort and welfare, and yet they seemed
not to understand half that was said to them.
John J. Moody, a member of the committee sent from Houston to take charge
of the relief station at Texas City, reported to the Mayor of Houston on
Tuesday as follows:
"To the Mayor--Sir: On arriving at Lamarque this morning I was informed
that the largest number of bodies was along the coast of Texas City.
Fifty-six were buried yesterday and to-day within less than two miles,
extending opposite this place and toward Virginia City. It is yet six
miles farther to Virginia City, and the bodies are thicker where we are
now than where they have been buried. A citizen inspecting in the opposite
direction reports dead bodies thick for twenty miles.
"The residents of this place have lost all--not a habitable building left,
and they have been too busy disposing of the dead to look after personal
affairs. Those who have anything left are giving it to the others, and
yet there is real suffering. I have given away nearly all the bread I
brought for our own use to hungry children.
"A number of helpless women and beggared children were landed here from
Galveston this afternoon and no place to go and not a bite to eat.
To-morrow others are expected from the same place. Every ten feet along
the wreck-lined coast tells of acts of vandalism; not a trunk, valise or
tool chest but what has been rifled. We buried a woman this afternoon
whose finger bore the mark of a recently removed ring."
The United States government furnished several thousand tents for the
Houston camp, which was under the supervision of the United States Marine
Hospital authorities.
TWENTY-EIGHT REGULARS DROWNED.
General McKibbin, who was sent to Galveston by the War Department to
investigate the conditions prevailing there, made the following official
report on Wednesday, September 12:
"Houston, Texas, September 12, 1900.--Adjutant-General,
Washington.--Arrived at Galveston at 6 p. m., having been ferried
across bay in a yawl boat. It is impossible to adequately describe
the condition existing. The storm began about 9 a. m. Saturday and
continued with constantly increasing violence until after midnight.
The island was inundated; the height of the tide was from eleven to
thirteen feet. The wind was a cyclone. With few exceptions, every
building in the city is injured. Hundreds are entirely destroyed.
"All the fortifications except the rapid-fire battery at San Jacinto
are practically destroyed. At San Jacinto every building except the
quarantine station has been swept away. Battery O, First Artillery,
United States Army, lost twenty-eight men. The officers and their
families were all saved. Three members of the hospital corps lost.
Names will be sent as soon as possible. Loss of life on the island is
possibly more than 1,000. All bridges are gone, waterworks destroyed
and all telegraph lines are down.
"Colonel Roberts was in the city and made every effort to get
telegrams through. City under control of committee of citizens and
perfectly quiet.
"Every article of equipment or property pertaining to Battery O was
lost. Not a record of any kind is left. The men saved had nothing but
the clothing on their persons. Nearly all are without shoes or
clothing other than their shirts and trousers. Clothing necessary has
been purchased and temporary arrangements made for food and shelter.
There are probably 5,000 citizens homeless and absolutely destitute,
who must be clothed, sheltered and fed. Have ordered 20,000 rations
and tents for 1,000 people from Sam Houston. Have wired
Commissary-General to ship 30,000 rations by express. Lieutenant
Perry will make his way back to Houston and send this telegram.
"McKIBBIN."
CONDITION OF THE GOVERNMENT WORKS.
Captain Charles S. Riche, U. S. A., corps of engineers, when seen after he
had completed a tour of inspection of the government works around
Galveston, made the following statement:
"The jetties are sunk nearly to mean low tide level, but not seriously
breached. The channel is as good as before, perhaps better, twenty-five
feet certainly.
"Fort Crockett, fifteen-pounder implacements, concrete all right,
standing on filling; water underneath. Battery for eight mortars about
like preceding, and mortars and carriages on hand unmounted and in good
shape. Shore line at Fort Crockett has moved back about 600 feet. At Fort
San Jacinto the battery for eight twelve-inch mortars is badly wrecked,
and magazines reported fallen in. The mortars are reported safe. No piling
was under this battery. Some of the sand parapet is left. The battery for
two ten-inch guns badly wrecked. Both gun platforms are down and guns
leaning. The battery for two 4.7-inch rapid-fire guns, concrete standing
upon piling, both guns apparently all right. The battery for two
fifteen-pounder guns, concrete apparently all right, standing on piling.
"Fort Travis, Bolivar Point--Battery for three fifteen-pounder guns,
concrete intact, standing on piling. East gun down. Western gun probably
all right. The shore line has moved back about 1,000 feet on the line of
the rear of these batteries."
Under the engineers' corps are the fortifications, built at a considerable
expense; also the harbor improvements, upon which more than $8,000,000 had
been expended.
FEARED THE CITY WAS BEYOND REPAIR.
"I fear Galveston is destroyed beyond its ability to recover," is the
manner in which Quartermaster Baxter concluded his report, made September
12, to the War Department at Washington. He recommended the continuance of
his office only long enough to recover the office safes and close up
accounts, and declared all government works were wrecked so restoration
was impossible.
This gloomy prophecy for the city's future was reflected in an official
report to Governor Sayers, of Texas, by ex-State Treasurer Wortham, who
spent a day at Galveston, investigating the situation. His statement
claimed that 75 per cent of the city was demolished and gives little hope
for rebuilding.
Mr. Wortham, who acted as aid to Adjutant-General Scurry, Texas National
Guard, during the inquiry, said in his report:
"The situation at Galveston beggars description. I am convinced that the
city is practically wrecked for all time to come.
"Fully 75 per cent of the business of the town is irreparably wrecked, and
the same per cent of damage is to be found in the residence district.
Along the wharf front great ocean steamers have bodily bumped themselves
on the big piers and lie there, great masses of iron and wood, that even
fire cannot totally destroy. The great warehouses along the water front
are smashed in on one side, unroofed and gutted throughout their length,
their contents either piled in heaps on the wharves or along the streets.
Small tugs and sailboats have jammed themselves half into the buildings,
where they were landed by the incoming waves, and left by the receding
waters. Houses are packed and jammed in great confusing masses in all of
the streets.
"Great piles of human bodies, dead animals, rotting vegetation, household
furniture, and fragments of the houses themselves are piled in confused
heaps right in the main streets of the city. Along the gulf front human
bodies are floating around like cordwood. Intermingled with them are to be
found the carcasses of horses, chickens, dogs, and rotting vegetable
matter. Above all arises the foulest stench that ever emanated from any
cesspool, absolutely sickening in its intensity and most dangerous to
health in its effects.
"Along the Strand adjacent to the gulf front, where are located all the
big wholesale warehouses and stores, the situation is even worse. Great
stores of fresh vegetation have been invaded by the incoming waters, and
are now turned into garbage piles of most befouling odors. The gulf waters
while on the land played at will with everything, smashing in doors of
stores, depositing bodies of humans where they pleased, and then receded,
leaving the wreckage to tell its own tale of how the work had been done.
As a result, the great warehouses are tombs, wherein are to be found the
dead bodies of human beings and carcasses, almost defying the efforts of
relief parties.
"In the pile of debris along the street, in the water, and scattered
throughout the residence portion of the city, are to be found masses of
wreckage, and in these great piles are to be found more human bodies and
household furniture of every description.
"Handsome pictures are seen lying alongside of the ice-cream freezers and
resting beside the nude figure of some man or woman. These great masses of
debris are not confined to any one particular section of the city.
"The waters of the gulf and the winds spared no one who was exposed.
Whirling houses around in its grasp, the wind piled their shattered frames
high in confusing masses and dumped their contents on top.
"Men and women were thrown around like so many logs of wood and left to
rot in the withering sun.
"I believe that with the best exertions of the men it will require weeks
to secure some semblance of physical order in the city, and it is doubtful
even then if all the debris will be disposed of.
"I never saw such a wreck in my life. From the gulf front to the center of
the island, from the ocean back, the storm wave left death and destruction
in its wake.
"There is hardly a family on the island whose household is not short a
member or more, and in some instances entire families have been washed
away or killed. Hundreds who escaped from the waves did so only to become
victims of a worse death by being crushed by falling buildings.
"Down in the business portion of the city the foundations of great
buildings have given way, carrying towering structures to their ruin.
These ruins, falling across the streets, formed barricades on which
gathered all the floating debris and many human bodies. Many of these
bodies were stripped of their clothing by the force of the water and the
wind, and there was nothing to protect them from the scorching sun, the
millions of flies, and the rapid invasion of decomposition that set in.
"Many of the bodies have decayed so rapidly that they could not be handled
for burial.
"Some of the most conservative men on the island place the loss of human
beings at not less than 7,500 and possibly 10,000, while others say it
will not exceed 5,000."
COAST CITIES NOT PROPERLY CONSTRUCTED.
Chief Willis L. Moore, of the United States Weather Bureau at Washington,
being asked his opinion of the idea of rebuilding Galveston on some other
site, replied as follows:
"Weather Bureau, U. S., Washington, D. C., September 13, 1900.
"I should not advise the abandonment of the city of Galveston. It is
true that tropical hurricanes sometimes move westward across the
gulf and strike the Texas coast, but such movement is infrequent.
Within the last thirty years no storm of like severity has touched
any part of the coast of the United States. There are many points on
both the Atlantic and gulf coasts, some of them occupied by cities
the size of Galveston, that are equally exposed to the force of both
wind and water, should a hurricane move in from the ocean or gulf and
obtain the proper position relative to them. It would not be
advisable to abandon these towns and cities merely because there is a
remote probability that at some future time a hurricane may be the
cause of great loss of life and property.
"We have just passed through a summer that for sustained high
temperature has no parallel within the last thirty years. Records of
low temperature, torrential rains, and other meteorological phenomena
that have stood for twenty and thirty years are not infrequently
broken. There does not appear to be, so far as we know, any law
governing the occurrence or recurrence of storms. The vortex of a
hurricane is comparatively narrow, at most not more than twenty or
thirty miles in width. It is only within the vortex that such a great
calamity as has befallen Galveston can occur.
"It would seem that, rather than abandon the city, means should be
adopted at Galveston and other similarly exposed cities on the
Atlantic and gulf coasts to erect buildings only on heavy stone
foundations that should have solid interiors of masonry to a height
of ten feet above mean sea level. Rigid building regulations should
allow no other structures erected for habitations in the future in
any city located at sea level and that is exposed to the direct sweep
of the sea.
"But Galveston should take heart, as the chances are that not once
in a thousand years would she be so terribly stricken, and high,
solid foundations would doubtless make her impregnable to loss of
life by all future storms.
"WILLIS L. MOORE,
"Chief U. S. Weather Bureau."
COURAGE OF GALVESTON'S BUSINESS MEN.
The courage of Galveston's business men under the distressing conditions
was shown by the utterances of Mr. Eustace Taylor, one of the best-known
residents of that city, a cotton buyer known to the trade in all parts of
the country. Mr. Taylor was asked on Thursday succeeding the flood for an
opinion as to the future of Galveston.
"I think," he said, "that what we have done here for the four days which
have passed since the storm has been wonderful. It will take us two weeks
before we can ascertain the actual commercial loss. But we are going to
straighten out everything. We are going to stay here and work it out. We
will have a temporary wharf within thirty days, and with that we can
resume business and handle the traffic through Galveston.
"I think that within thirty or forty days business will be carried on in
no less volume than before. I am going to stand right up to Galveston.
"If it costs me the last cent, I will stand up for Galveston. With our
temporary wharf we shall put from 1,000 to 2,000 men at work loading
vessels while we are waiting for the railroads to restore bridges and
terminals on the island. We shall bring business by barges from Virginia
Point and load in midstream. In this way we shall not only resume our
commercial relations, but we shall be able to put the labor of the city at
work.
"This port holds the advantage over every other port of this country for
accommodating 10,000,000 producers, and will accommodate millions of tons,
and in inviting these millions, as we have, to continue their business
through this port we must in our construction do it on the same lines
employed by the communities of Boston, New York, Buffalo and Chicago, the
stability of which was plainly illustrated in some structures recently
erected in our community.
"The port is all right. The ever-alert engineers in charge of the harbor
here have already taken their soundings. The fullest depth of water
remains. The jetties, with slight repair, are intact, and because of these
conditions, which exist nowhere else for the territory and people it
serves, the restoration will be more rapid than may be thought, and the
flow of commerce will be as great, and for the courage and fortitude and
foresight to look beyond the unhappy events of to-day, as prosperous and
secure as in any part of our prosperous country."
ELEVATORS AND GRAIN NOT BADLY DAMAGED.
J. C. Stewart, a well-known grain elevator builder, arrived at Galveston
on Thursday, in response to a telegram from General Manager M. E. Bailey,
of the Galveston Wharf Company. He at once made an inspection of the grain
elevators and their contents, and then said not 2 per cent of the
elevators had been damaged. The spouts were intact, and elevator "A" would
be ready to deliver grain to ships the following Sunday.
The wheat in elevator "A" was loaded into vessels just as rapidly as they
arrived at the elevator to take it. As soon as the elevator was emptied of
its grain the wheat from elevator "Q" was transferred to it and loaded
into ships. Very little of the wheat in elevator "B" had been injured,
but the conveyors were swept away, and it was necessary to transfer the
grain to elevator "A" in order to get it to the ships. Mr. Bailey put a
large force of men to work clearing up each of the wharves, and the
company was ready for new business all along the line within eight days.
BURNING BODIES BY THE HUNDREDS.
Pestilence could only be avoided here by cremation. That was the order of
the day. Human corpses, dead animals and all debris were therefore to be
submitted to the flames. On Thursday upwards of 400 bodies, mostly women
and children, were cremated, and the work went rapidly on. They were
gathered in heaps of twenty and forty bodies, saturated with kerosene and
the torch applied.
CONFLICT OF AUTHORITY BREEDS TROUBLE.
A conflict of authority, due to a misunderstanding, precipitated a
temporary disorganization of the policing of the city of Galveston on
Thursday. When General Scurry, Adjutant-General of the Texas National
Guard, arrived at Galveston on Tuesday night, with about 200 militia, from
Houston, he at once conferred with the Chief of Police as to the plans for
guarding property, protecting the lives of citizens and preserving law and
order. An order was then issued by the Chief of Police to the effect that
the soldiers should arrest all persons found carrying arms, unless they
showed a written order, signed by the Chief of Police or Mayor of the
city, giving them permission to go armed.
Sheriff Thomas had, meantime, appointed and sworn in 150 special deputy
sheriffs. These deputies were supplied with a ribboned badge of authority,
but were not given any written or printed commission. Acting under the
order issued by the Chief of Police, Major Hunt McCaleb, of Galveston, who
was appointed as aide to General Scurry, issued an order to the militia to
arrest all persons carrying arms without the proper authority. The result
was that about fifty citizens wearing deputy sheriff badges were taken
into custody by the soldiers and taken to police headquarters.
The soldiers had no way of knowing by what authority the men were acting
with these badges, and would listen to no excuses.
General Scurry and Sheriff Thomas, hearing of the wholesale arrests,
called at police headquarters and consulted with Acting Chief Amundsen.
The latter referred General Scurry to Mayor Jones. Then General Scurry and
Sheriff Thomas held a conference at the City Hall. These two officers soon
arrived at an understanding, and an agreement was decided upon to the
effect that all persons deputized as deputy sheriffs and all persons
appointed as special officers should be permitted to carry arms and pass
in and out of the guard lines. General Scurry suggested that the deputy
sheriffs and special police--and the regular police, for that
matter--guard the city during the daytime and that the militia take charge
of the city at night.
General Scurry was acting for and by authority granted by Mayor Jones, and
promptly said he was there to work in harmony with the city and county
authorities, and that there would be no conflict. When General Scurry and
Sheriff Thomas called upon the Mayor, the Mayor said that he knew that if
the Adjutant-General, the Chief of Police and the Sheriff would get
together they could take care of the police work.
It was known that people were coming to Galveston by the score; that many
of them had no business there, and that the city had enough to do to watch
the lawless element of Galveston, without being burdened with the care of
outsiders.
All deputy sheriffs wearing the badge issued by the Sheriff carried arms
thereafter and made arrests, and were not interfered with in any way by
the military guards.
INADEQUATE TRANSPORTATION PREVENTS SUPPLIES FROM REACHING THE
FAMINE-STRICKEN PEOPLE.
On Thursday, September 13, train load after train load of provisions,
clothing, disinfectants and medicines were lined up at Texas City, six
miles from Galveston, all sent to the suffering survivors of the
storm-swept city. Across the bay were thousands of people, friends of the
dead and living, waiting for news of the missing ones and an opportunity
to help, but only a meager amount of relief had at that time reached the
stricken town. Two telegraph wires had been put up and partial
communication restored to let the outside world know that conditions there
were far more horrible than was at first supposed. That was about all. It
was not that which was needed; it was a more practicable connection with
the mainland. True, more boats had been pressed into service to carry
succor to the suffering and the suffering to succor, but they were few and
small, and although working diligently night and day the service was
inadequate in the extreme. And the people were still suffering--the sick
dying for want of medicine and care; the well growing desperate and in
many cases gradually losing their reason.
While there were many who could not be provided for because the necessary
articles for them could not be carried in, there were hundreds who were
being benefited. Those supplies which had arrived had been of great
assistance, but they were far from ample to provide for even a small
percentage of the sufferers, estimated at 30,000. Even the rich were
hungry. An effort was being made on the part of the authorities to provide
for those in the greatest need, but this was found to be difficult work,
so many were there in sad condition. A rigid system of issuing supplies
was established, and the regular soldiers and a number of citizens were
sworn in as policemen. These attended to the issuing of rations as soon as
the boats arrived.
Every effort was put forth to reach the dying first, but all sorts of
obstacles were encountered, because many of them were so badly maimed and
wounded that they were unable to apply to the relief committees, and the
latter were so burdened by the great number of direct applications that
they were unable to send out messengers.
The situation grew worse every minute; everything was needed for man and
beast--disinfectants, prepared foods, hay, grain, and especially water and
ice. Scores more of people died that day as a result of inattention and
many more were on the verge of dissolution, for at best it was to be many
days before a train could be run into the city, and the only hope was the
arrival of more boats to transport the goods.
The relief committee held a meeting and decided that armed men were needed
to assist in burying the dead and clear the wreckage, and arrangements
were made to fill this demand. There were plenty of volunteers for this
work but an insufficiency of arms. The proposition of trying to pay for
work was rejected by the committee, and it was decided to go ahead
impressing men into service, issuing orders for rations only to those who
worked or were unable to work.
Word was received that refugees would be carried from the city to Houston
free of charge. An effort was made to induce all who are able to leave to
go, because the danger of pestilence was frightfully apparent.
There was any number willing to depart, and each outgoing boat, after
having unloaded its provisions, was filled with people. The safety of the
living was a paramount consideration, and the action of the railroads in
offering to carry refugees free of charge greatly relieved the situation.
The workers had their hands full in any event, and the nurses and
physicians also, for neglect, although unavoidable, often resulted in the
death of many.
It was estimated $2,500,000 would be needed for the relief work. The banks
of Galveston subscribed $10,000, but personal losses of the citizens of
Galveston had been so large that very few were able to subscribe anything.
The confiscation of all foodstuffs held by wholesale grocers and others
was decided upon early in the day by the relief committee. Starvation
would inevitably ensue unless the supply was dealt out with great care.
All kerosene oil was gone, and the gas works and electric lights were
destroyed. The committee asked for a shipload of kerosene oil, a shipload
of drinking water and tons of disinfectants, such as lime and
formaldehyde, for immediate use, and money and food next. Not a tallow
candle could be bought for gold, or light of any kind procured.
No baker was making bread, and milk was remembered as a past luxury only.
What was there to do with?
Everything was gone in the way of ovens and utensils.
It was absolutely necessary to let the outside world know the true state
of things.
The city was unable to help itself.
In fact, a great part of the mighty, noble state of Texas was prostrate.
Even the country at large was paralyzed at the sense of the magnitude of
the disaster, and was for the time being powerless to do anything.
The entire world was thrilled with alarm, it being instinctively felt that
the worst had not yet been made known.
Twenty-five thousand people had to be clothed and fed for many weeks, and
many thousands supplied with household goods as well. Much money was
required to make their residences even fit to live in.
During the first few days after the disaster it was almost beyond
possibility to make any estimate of the amount of money necessary to even
temporarily relieve the sufferings of the unfortunate people.
As a means of enlightenment, Major R. G. Lowe, business manager of the
Galveston News, was asked to send out a statement to the Associated Press,
for dissemination throughout the globe, and he accordingly dispatched the
following to Colonel Charles S. Diehl, General Manager of the Associated
Press at the headquarters in Chicago:
"Galveston, Texas, Sept. 12.--Charles S. Diehl, General Manager the
Associated Press, Chicago: A summary of the conditions prevailing at
Galveston is more than human intellect can master. Briefly stated,
the damage to property is anywhere between $15,000,000 and
$20,000,000. The loss of life cannot be computed. No lists could be
kept and all is simply guesswork. Those thrown out to sea and buried
on the ground wherever found will reach the horrible total of at
least 3,000 souls.
"My estimate of the loss on the island of the City of Galveston and
the immediate surrounding district is between 4,000 and 5,000 deaths.
I do not make this statement in fright or excitement. The whole story
will never be told, because it cannot be told. The necessities of
those living are total. Not a single individual escaped property
loss. The property on the island is wrecked; fully one-half totally
swept out of existence. What our needs are can be computed by the
world at large by the statement herewith submitted much better than I
could possibly summarize them. The help must be immediate.
"R. G. LOWE,
"Manager Galveston News."
Thursday evening at the Tremont Hotel, in Galveston, occurred a wedding
that was not attended with music and flowers and a gathering of
merrymaking friends and relatives. On the contrary, it was peculiarly sad.
Mrs. Brice Roberts expected some day to marry Earnest Mayo; the storm
which desolated so many homes deprived her of almost everything on
earth--father, mother, sister and brother. She was left destitute. Her
sweetheart, too, was a sufferer. He lost much of his possessions in
Dickinson, but he stepped bravely forward and took his sweetheart to his
home.
Galveston began, September 14, to emerge from the valley of the shadow of
death into which she had been plunged for nearly a week, and on that day,
for the first time, actual progress was made toward clearing up the city.
The bodies of those killed and drowned in the storm had for the most part
been disposed of. A large number was found when the debris was removed
from wrecked buildings, but on that date there were no corpses to be seen
save those occasionally cast up by the sea. As far as sight, at least, was
concerned, the city was cleared of its dead.
They had been burned, thrown into the water, buried--anything to get them
quickly out of sight. The chief danger of pestilence was due almost
entirely to the large number of unburied cattle lying upon the island,
whose decomposing carcasses polluted the air to an almost unbearable
extent. This, however, was not in the city proper, but was a condition
prevailing on the outskirts of Galveston. One great trouble heretofore had
been the inability to organize gangs of laborers for the purpose of
clearing the streets.
THE SAD SITUATION FOUR DAYS AFTER THE CATASTROPHE.
The situation in the stricken city on Wednesday, September 12, was
horrible indeed. Men, women and children were dying for want of food and
scores went insane from the terrible strain to which they had been
subjected.
In his appeal to the country for aid, issued on Tuesday, September 11,
Mayor Walter J. Jones said fully 5,000 people had lost their lives during
the hurricane, this estimate being based upon personal information.
Captain Charles Clarke, a vessel-owner of Galveston, and a reliable man,
said the death list would be even greater than that, and he was backed in
his opinion by several other conservative men who had no desire to
exaggerate the losses, but felt that they are justified in letting the
country know the full extent of the disaster in order that the necessary
relief might be supplied.
It was the general opinion that to hide any of the facts would be
criminal.
Captain Clarke was not a sensationalist, but he well knew that the truth
was what the people of the United States wanted at that time.
If the people of the country at large felt they were being deceived in
anything they would be apt to close their pocketbooks and refuse to give
anything.
If told the truth they would respond to the appeal for aid generously.
When relief finally began to pour in it was remarkable how soon the women
of the city plucked up courage, and went to work with the men.
They had suffered frightfully, but they refused to give up hope.
Many called upon the mayor and offered their services as nurses.
Others prepared bandages for the wounded and aided the physicians in
procuring medicines for the sick.
They went among the men who were engaged in burying and otherwise
disposing of the dead and cheered them with bright faces and soothing
words.
They were everywhere, and their presence was as rays of sunshine after the
black clouds of the storm.
A regular fleet of steamers and barges was plying between Galveston and
Texas City, only six miles distant, and which had railway communication
with all parts of the United States. As the railroad line to Texas City
had been repaired, trains were sent in there as close together as
possible, but this did not prevent many hundreds in Galveston from dying
of starvation and lack of medical attendance.
A CITY OFFICIAL'S VERSION OF THE REIGN OF TERROR
A leading city official of Galveston gave the following version of the
Reign of Terror, as the regime of the thugs and ghouls was called:
"Galveston suffered in every conceivable way since the catastrophe of
Saturday. Hurricane and flood came first; then famine, and then vandalism.
Scores of reckless criminals flocked to the city by the first boats that
landed there, and were unchecked in their work of robbery of the helpless
dead Monday and Tuesday.
"Wednesday, however, Captain Rafferty, commanding the regulars at the
beach barracks, sent seventy men of an artillery company there to do guard
duty in the streets, and, being ordered to promptly shoot all those found
looting, carried out their instructions to the letter.
"Over 100 ghouls were shot Wednesday afternoon and evening, and no mercy
was shown vandals. If they were not killed at the first volley the
troops--regulars of the United States army and those of the Texas National
Guard--saw that the coup de grace was administered.
"Most of the robbers were negroes, and when executed were found loaded
with spoil--jewelry wrenched from the bodies of women, money and watches
and silverware and other articles taken from residences and business
houses.
"Not only had these fiends robbed the dead, but they mutilated the bodies
as well, in many instances fingers and ears of dead women being amputated
in order to secure the jewelry. Some of the business organizations of the
city also furnished guards to assist in patroling the streets, and fully
1,000 men are now on duty.
Wednesday evening the regulars shot forty-nine ghouls after they had been
tried by court-martial, having found them in possession of large
quantities of plunder. The vandals begged for mercy, but none was shown
them and they were speedily put out of the way. The bandits, as a rule,
obtained transportation to the city by representing themselves as having
been engaged to do relief work and to aid in burying the dead. Shortly
after the first bunch of thieves was executed another party of twenty was
shot. The outlaws were afterward put out of the way by twos and threes, it
being their habit to travel in gangs and never alone. In every instance
the pockets of these bandits were found filled with plunder.
More than 2,000 bodies had been thrown into the sea up to Wednesday night,
this having been decided upon by the authorities as the only way of
preventing a visitation of pestilence, which, they felt, should not be
added to the horrors the city had already experienced. Tuesday evening,
shortly before darkness set in, three barges, containing 700 bodies, were
sent out to sea, the corpses being thrown into the water after being
heavily weighted to prevent the possibility of their afterwards coming to
the surface. As there were few volunteers for this ghastly work, troops
and police officers were sent out to impress men for the service, but
while these unwilling laborers, after being filled with liquor, agreed to
handle the bodies of white men, women and children, nothing could induce
them to touch the negro dead. Finally city firemen came forward and
attended to the disposal of the corpses of the colored victims. These were
badly decomposed, and it was absolutely necessary to get them out of the
way to prevent infection.
No attempt had been made so far to gather up the dead at night because the
gas and electric light plants were so badly damaged that they could
furnish no illumination whatever. By Thursday night, however, some of the
arc lights were ready for use. Since Wednesday morning no efforts at
identification were made by the searchers after the dead, it being
imperative that the bodies be disposed of as soon as possible. While the
barges containing the bodies were on their way out to sea lists were made,
but that was the only care taken in regard to the victims, many of whom
were among the most prominent people of the city. Of the hundreds buried
at Virginia Point and other places along the coast not 10 per cent were
identified, the stakes at the heads of the hastily dug graves simply being
marked, "White woman, aged 30," "White man, aged 45," or "Male" or "Female
child."
Ninety-six bodies were buried at Texas City, all but eight of which
floated to that place from Galveston. Some were identified, but the great
majority were not. State troops were stationed at Texas City and Virginia
Point to prevent those who could not give a satisfactory account of
themselves from boarding boats bound for Galveston. In burying the dead
along the shore of the gulf no coffins were used, the supply being
exhausted. There was no time to knock even an ordinary pine box together.
Cases were known where people have buried their dead in their yards.
As soon as possible the work of cremating the bodies of the dead began.
Vast funeral pyres were erected and the corpses placed thereon, the
incineration being under the supervision of the fire department. Matters
had come to such a pass that even the casting of bodies into the sea was
not only dangerous to those who handled them, but there was the utmost
danger in carrying the decomposed, putrefying masses of human flesh
through the streets to the barges on the beach. The cemeteries were not
fit for burial purposes, and no attempt whatever was made to reach them
until the ground was thoroughly dried out. Then the bodies of those buried
in private grounds, yards and in the sands along the beach, not only on
Galveston Island, but at Virginia Point and Texas City, were removed to
the public places of interment, where suitable memorials were set up to
mark their last resting places. It might have been deemed unfeeling and
even brutal, but the fact was that the bodies of the unidentified victims
received small consideration, being handled roughly by the workmen, and
thrown into the temporary graves along the beach as though they were
animals and not the remains of human beings. No prayers were uttered save
in isolated instances, and the poor mangled bodies were consigned to the
trench as hurriedly as possible. The burying parties had no time for
sentiment, and so accustomed had the workers in the "dead gangs," as they
were named, become to their grewsome task that they even laughed and joked
when laying away the corpses.
Special attention was given the wounded. Physicians were on duty all the
time, some of them not having been to bed since Friday night longer than
an hour at a time. Victims not badly hurt were put aside for those
suffering and actually requiring the services of surgeons. There were
thousands of them. There were few in Galveston who did not bear the marks
of wounds of some sort.