Twenty Thousand People Fed Every Day at a Cost of $40,000--Incidents at
the Relief Stations--Applicants and Their Peculiarities--Great Mortality
Among the Negroes.
Twenty thousand people were fed and cared for daily in Galveston for many
days with the supplies which poured in from all parts of the country. This
number was cut at least one-half about October 1.
The estimated cost of the aid extended after the first week of suffering
was $40,000 a day. The great bulk of the aid went to the 4,000 men at work
cleaning up the wreckage, digging for bodies and cleaning the streets.
Through them it went to their families. No able-bodied laboring man was
allowed to escape the work, whether he needed aid or not, though most of
them did. The business men in position to resume were allowed to attend to
their stores, and their clerical forces were not interfered with.
On Tuesday, September 18, the debris-hunting and street-cleaning work was
put upon a cash basis, the wages being $1.50. Time had been kept from the
beginning, though the records were not complete. All were paid for the
full time they worked. This applied to those who had to be made to work at
the point of a bayonet as well as those who volunteered their services.
This aid was given in the form of orders for tools for mechanics, lumber
for those who had homes they wished to repair, etc. Heretofore practically
every able-bodied man had been made to work, and unless he worked he got
no supplies. The first few days' wages consisted entirely of rations,
which were given according to the number and needs of the laborer's
family, regardless of the amount of work he accomplished. Since other
supplies began coming in they had been added.
The work of distribution was conducted systematically and with an apparent
minimum of imposition and fraud. There was a central committee, of which
W. A. McVitie, a prominent business man, was chairman. Then there was a
committee for each one of the twelve wards. As fast as goods or provisions
arrived from the mainland they were placed in the central warehouse, from
which the different ward chairmen requisitioned them, and they were taken
to supply depots in the different wards. All day long there was a motley
crowd around every one of these depots, negroes predominating at least two
to one. Every applicant passed in review before the ward chairman.
"Ah want a dress foh ma sistah," said a big negress.
"You're 'Manda Jones, and you haven't any sister living here," replied the
chairman.
"Foh de Lord, ah has; ah ain't 'Mandy Jones at all; we done live on Avenue
N before de storm, and we los' everything."
"Go out with this woman and find out if she has a sister who needs a
dress," ordered the chairman to a committeeman. In this way check was kept
on all the applicants for aid.
At the Fifth ward distributing station clothing was given away the evening
of the 17th. A negro woman, who had been refused a supply, went outside
and by way of revenge pointed out different ones of her friends and
neighbors whom she alleged were similarly unentitled.
"Dat woman done los' nuthin' at all," she shrieked. "Ah did not los'
nuthin' mahself and doan wan' nuthin'."
"What's the trouble?" asked a bystander.
An old negress who was lined up waiting her turn replied. "Oh, she's mad
'cause de white folks won't give her nuthin'."
So far no woman had been required to work, but a strong feeling developed
to compel negro women to work cleaning up the houses. There were plenty of
people who were willing to hire them, but as long as free food and
clothing could be secured it was hard to get colored women to go in and
clean up the partially ruined homes.
"Our supply of foodstuffs is adequate," said Chairman McVitie, "but just
now we are a little short of clothing. We have no idea of the contents of
the cars on the road to us. Frequently we don't know anything is coming
until the cars reach Texas City. With the money which has been coming in
we have been augmenting our supplies by purchasing of local merchants in
lines where there was a shortage. What do we need most? Money. If we have
money we can order just what we need and probably get better value than
the people who are buying it. Many people have made the mistake of sending
money to Houston and Dallas and asking committees there to buy for us.
They do not know just what we need, and if we had the money we could do
better for ourselves. Money should be sent to us."
One of the most remarkable things attending the Galveston disaster was the
fortitude of the people. Their loss in relatives, friends and property had
been so overwhelming that it seemed too much to be expressed with outward
grief.
Two men who had not seen each other since the disaster met in the street.
"How many did you lose?" they asked by common impulse.
"I lost all my property, but my wife and I came through all right."
"I was not so fortunate. My wife and my little boy were both drowned."
There was an expression of sympathy from the other, but nothing
approaching a tear from either.
"They are making good progress cleaning up," remarked the one whose losses
were heaviest, with a pleasant smile. The other one made a light answer
and they passed on.
The people of Galveston had seen so much death that they were temporarily
hardened to it. The announcement of the loss of another friend meant
little to a man who had seen the dead bodies of his neighbors and
towns-people hauled to the wharf by the drayload.
No services were attempted for the dead until nearly a month had passed.
Neither were there memorial services.
The Rev. J. M. K. Kerwin, priest in charge of St. Mary's Catholic
cathedral, said: "It was impossible. Priest and layman had to join in the
work of cleaning the city of dead bodies. I don't expect there will be
memorial services for a month."
Father Kerwin's church was among the few which was comparatively little
damaged. He set the value of Catholic property destroyed in the city at
$300,000. Included in this loss was the Ursula convent and academy, which
was badly damaged. It covered four blocks between Twenty-fifth and
Twenty-seventh streets and Avenues N and O. It was the finest in the
South.
The city rapidly improved in its sanitary conditions. The smell from the
ooze and mud with which most of the streets were filled was stronger ten
days after the tragedy than that which came from the debris heaps
containing undiscovered bodies. When these heaps were being burned and the
wind carried the smoke over the city the odor was very similar to that
which afflicts Chicago at night when refuse is being burned at the stock
yards, and no worse. Soon even the odor of the slime was gone. Every
dumpcart in the city was at work.
Every Galveston business man talked confidently of the future of the city,
though many of the clerks announced their intention of going away as soon
as they can accumulate money enough.
"I am not afraid of another storm," said a clerk in one of the principal
stores. "But I'm sick and tired of the whole business."
The Southwestern Telephone and Telegraph Company, which is a branch of the
Erie system, early began to rebuild its telephone system there.
"This will take us three months, and in the meantime we will give no
service save long-distance," said D. McReynolds, superintendent of
construction. "We will install a central emergency system the same as that
in Chicago and put all wires under ground. We will employ 500 men if
necessary to do the work in ninety days. The company's losses in Texas are
$300,000--$200,000 here, $60,000 at Houston and the rest at other points."
Residents were greatly pleased at this announcement, as it showed the
confidence of a foreign company in the future of Galveston.
FIFTEEN HUNDRED NEGROES PERISHED AT GALVESTON.
William Guest, a Pullman car porter, returned to Chicago from the
storm-stricken district Monday, September 17. He said:
"I left Harrisburg night before last, and things then in the neighborhood
were in a dreadful state. Galveston is about twenty miles distant, and the
refugees were pouring in the direction of Houston in great numbers. Many
well-to-do colored people have lost all they had. The Rev. W. H. Cain, a
colored Episcopal minister, and his entire family were killed, and it was
reported to me that Mrs. Cuney, the widow of Wright Cuney, was also lost,
as well as a number of colored teachers employed in the public schools. At
Houston relief committees have been organized."
The Rev. Mr. Cain was well known in Chicago, having preached several times
from the pulpit of the St. Thomas Episcopal church on Dearborn near
Thirtieth street.
Cyrus Field Adams, publisher of the Appeal, Chicago, received a letter
from Galveston from W. H. Noble, Jr., saying that about 1,500
Afro-Americans lost their lives in the storm, and that fully 10,000 were
homeless.
Cooped up in a house that collapsed after being carried along by a deluge
of water, John Elford, brother of A. B. Elford, No. 269 South Lincoln
street, Chicago, his wife and little grandson, met death in the flood
during the Galveston storm. Milton, son of John Elford, was in the
building with the family at the time, and was the only one of the many
occupants including fifteen women known to have escaped.
A. B. Elford, bookkeeper for A. M. Foster & Co., No. 120 Lake street, was
dumfounded when he received the first information of the disaster, for he
had no idea of his brother being in Texas. John Elford was a retired
farmer and merchant of Langdon, N. D. He had taken his family on a trip to
old and New Mexico.
On September 17 Mr. Elford received the following letter from Langdon,
N. D.:
"We have just received a letter from Milton. Father, mother, Dwight
and Milton went to Galveston from Mineral Springs, Tex., where they
had previously been stopping. They were so delighted with Galveston
on reaching there that they sold their return tickets and decided to
remain about two months. They were at first in a house near the
beach, but moved farther away and to a larger and stronger house when
the water began to rise.
"All at once the water came down the street bringing houses and
debris. They started to build a raft, but before it could be got
together the house started to float. It had gone but a short distance
when it went to pieces. Milton was struck with something and knocked
out into the water. He came up, caught a timber and climbed to a
roof, and thus managed to make his escape. He saw no one escape from
the building as it collapsed. We do not believe the bodies have yet
been recovered.
"We have wired for more definite news regarding the bodies, but have
heard nothing more.
"EDGAR ELFORD."
Dwight Elford, one of the drowned, was only five years old. He was the son
of George Elford of Langdon.
THE TAIL-END OF THE WEST INDIAN HURRICANE.
On September 18 a tropical cyclone was central near these islands. The
storm set in Monday morning, September 17, and was raging with increased
severity the next day. Heavy cyclone rollers were sweeping in upon the
coast and a strong northeast gale was blowing.
All of the telegraph wires were blown down.
Southeast rollers began to wash the shores Sunday, but the barometer
continued high. During the night, however, it commenced falling, showing
29.91 inches. At 7 o'clock in the morning the wind was rising. By noon it
had reached gale force from the northeast and rain was falling. The
barometer then recorded 29.71 inches. The storm continued to increase
during the afternoon, and at 4 o'clock the wind was blowing more than
sixty miles an hour, carrying away the telegraph wires. Heavy seas were
rushing in upon the coast. The barometer continued to fall, recording only
29.32 inches, but the wind veered to the north, although it was still
blowing with some violence.
A correspondent at St. John's, N. F., telegraphed as follows the same day:
"From all quarters of Newfoundland come reports of devastation wrought by
the gale of last Wednesday and Thursday, the outcome of the Texas
hurricane sweeping north. So far sixty-five schooners are reported ashore
or foundered, over 100 more being damaged.
"Thirty-one lives have been reported lost so far. This small list of
fatalities is due to the fact that most of the vessels have been in harbor
latterly, as the fishing was poor. Several vessels are still missing,
however, and it is feared the death roll may be enlarged. Labrador has
suffered severely, fishing craft having been driven on the rocks by the
shore, which fact, added to the bad fishing season, makes the condition of
the coast folk pitiable in the extreme.
"In Belle Isle strait the whole of the fishing premises has been
destroyed. On the French shore over fifty vessels have been battered, ten
being a total loss. The steamer Francis has been wrecked at St. George's.
The bark Mary Hendry anthracite laden from New York is dismasted and
derelict off St. Mary's.
"On the Grand Banks the gale raged with the greatest fury.
"Twenty-four men from Provincetown fishing schooner Willie McKay were
landed at Bay Bulls Monday morning, their ship having foundered from
buffeting in the storm Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The men drifted
about on the sinking hulk, without food, water or shelter, and only by
incessant pumping kept her afloat.
"The seas were constantly sweeping the decks and the entire crew were
lashed about the rigging or bulwarks. They were ultimately rescued by the
schooner Talisman of Gloucester, which landed them. One man perished from
the exposure. The crew say the storm must have done awful damage on the
banks. It seems certain many vessels could not escape the disaster when
theirs, the finest of the fleet, succumbed."
CLARA BARTON'S VIEW OF THE SITUATION.
Miss Clara Barton, head of the Red Cross Society, wrote of the situation
at Galveston on September 18:
"It would be difficult to exaggerate the awful scene that meets the
visitors everywhere. The situation could not be exaggerated. Probably the
loss of life will exceed any estimate that has been made.
"In those parts of the city where destruction was the greatest there still
must be hundreds of bodies under the debris. At the end of the island
first struck by the storm, and which was swept clean of every vestige of
the splendid residences that covered it, the ruin is inclosed by a
towering wall of debris, under which many bodies are buried. The removal
of this has scarcely even begun.
"The story that will be told when this mountain of ruins is removed may
multiply the horrors of the fearful situation. As usual in great
calamities, the people are dazed and speak of their losses with an
unnatural calmness that would astonish those who do not understand it.
[Illustration: DESTRUCTION OF HOMES BY THE GALVESTON STORM]
[Illustration: GALVESTON SUFFERERS AFLOAT ALL NIGHT]
[Illustration: BODIES OF THE DEAD ALONG THE SHORE AFTER THE GALVESTON
STORM]
[Illustration: A DESPERATE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE IN THE GALVESTON STORM]
[Illustration: A HERO SAVING HIS WIFE AND MOTHER IN THE STORM]
[Illustration: THE WATER FROM THE GULF DESTROYING GALVESTON]
[Illustration: GALVESTON NEW COURT HOUSE, BUILT 1899]
[Illustration: LOCOMOTIVE AND TRAIN DASHED INTO FRAGMENTS BY TEXAS STORM,
GALVESTON]
[Illustration: CHILDREN THAT WERE NOT HURT BY THE STORM]
[Illustration: BURNING THE BODIES OF GALVESTON VICTIMS]
[Illustration: JESUIT COLLEGE AND CHURCH, GALVESTON]
[Illustration: SHOOTING VANDALS AT WORK ON THE DEAD BODIES IN GALVESTON
AFTER THE DISASTER]
[Illustration: EXODUS FROM GALVESTON]
[Illustration: A SURVIVOR'S DREAM OF THE AWFUL GALVESTON NIGHT]
[Illustration: HEROIC MEN TRYING TO SAVE WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN THE
GALVESTON STORM]
[Illustration: SURVIVORS INSANE OVER THE LOSS OF HOMES AND DEAR ONES]
"I do believe there is danger of an epidemic. But the nervous strain upon
the people, as they come to realize their condition, may be nearly as
fatal. They talk of friends that are gone with tearless eyes, making no
allusion to the loss of property.
"A professional gentleman who called upon me this afternoon, a gentleman
of splendid human sympathies and refinement, wore a soiled black flannel
shirt, without a coat, and in apologizing for his appearance said in the
most casual, light-hearted way: 'Excuse my appearance; I have just come in
from burying the dead.'
"But these people will break down under this strain, and the Red Cross is
glad of the force of strong, competent workers which it has brought to
their relief.
"Portions of the business part of the city escaped the greatest severity
of the storm and are left partially intact. Thus it is possible to
purchase here nearly all the supplies that may be wanting. Still, the
Galveston merchants should be given the benefit of home demands.
"Mayor Jones has offered to the Red Cross as headquarters the best
building at his disposal.
"Relief is coming as rapidly as the crippled transportation facilities
will admit. No one need fear, after seeing the brave and manly way in
which these people are helping themselves, that too much outside aid will
be given.
"In reply to the question, 'What is most needed?' I would say: The most
immediate needs are surgical dressings, the ordinary medical remedies, and
delicacies for the sick."
THEY READ THEIR OWN OBITUARIES.
Reported dead several times, their obituaries printed in Galveston and
Houston papers, Peter Boss, wife and son, formerly of Chicago, were found
on the afternoon of September 18, after having passed through a most
thrilling experience.
Mr. and Mrs. Boss were the persons in search of whom Mrs. M. C. McDonald,
No. 4501 Drexel boulevard, Chicago, went to Houston.
Mrs. Boss' story of her experience in the disaster was a thrilling one.
With her husband and son she was seated at supper in her home on Twelfth
street when the storm broke. She seized a handkerchief containing $2,000
from a bureau, and, placing it in her bosom, went with her husband and son
to the second story.
There they remained until the water reached them and they leaped into the
darkness and the storm. They alighted on a wooden cistern upon which they
rode the entire night, clinging with one hand to the top of the cistern.
Several times Mrs. Boss lost her hold, and fell backward into the water
only to be drawn up again by her son. Timbers crashed against their queer
boat, people on all sides of them were crushed to death or drawn into the
whirling waters, but with grim perseverance the Boss family held on and
rode the night out.
Mrs. Boss was pushed off the cistern several times by her excited husband,
but young Boss' presence of mind always saved her. With her feet crushed
and bleeding, her clothing torn from her body and nearly exhausted, the
woman was finally taken from her perilous position several hours after the
hurricane started.
Her companions were without clothing and were delirious. They were the
only persons saved in the entire block in which they lived. They were
taken to emergency hospitals, where they all tossed in delirium until
Sunday. Mrs. Boss lost her money, and the family, wealthy a week before,
was penniless. They had to appeal to the city authorities for aid, and got
but little.
TERRIBLE SCENES WITNESSED AT HOUSTON.
The terrible scenes and happenings in Houston, Tex., the great amount of
damage done and the intense suffering of the people there as a result of
the recent storm were vividly portrayed in a letter from Walter Scott of
that city to his sister in Chicago, received September 15.
"Much has been written about the damage done to Galveston," Mr. Scott
wrote, "and I suppose things there are so terrible that little thought is
given to other places. But right here in this city the damage is so great
that one would not believe even time could repair it. Furthermore, the
suffering here is indeed the greatest I ever heard of. Thousands of
refugees are here from Galveston and other places and the city is being
taxed to the limit to find places for all of them.
"Wednesday morning the first contingent arrived. There were about eight
hundred, and a more forlorn, dejected and suffering lot of people never
were brought together. The sick were cared for in hospitals and private
homes, and the greater number of the others were assigned to places. But
they apparently could not quiet themselves unless so fatigued and weak
from loss of sleep and want of food that they practically fell down
exhausted.
"They roamed the streets with scarcely any clothing on them, men, women
and children; all were hollow-eyed and sunken-cheeked and on the verge of
despair. It is terrible to realize how many families have been broken up.
"I have listened to harrowing tales until I am actually sick. The
newspaper reports have not been exaggerated one iota. There is really
nothing one can say which will express the situation. When I arrived at
home from New Orleans at 10:30 o'clock Sunday night there wasn't a light
in the city. Everything was in total darkness. It had been reported on the
train that 7,000 lives had been lost at Galveston, but this we believed to
be a gross exaggeration.
"But I have changed my mind. I think now it is a conservative figure. I
groped my way through the darkness, stumbling over piles of debris, to my
boarding place, and after no little difficulty succeeded in reaching my
room. Upon lighting a match I found the place denuded of everything; the
paper was stripped from the ceiling and was hanging in shreds from the
walls. It was damp and cold. My landlady, hearing me, soon came in, and
standing there in the darkness she gave me a harrowing account of what
they passed through, the details of which the newspapers already have
described. All the other people in the house had gone elsewhere, and she,
her husband and myself were alone in the house.
"That night I slept in a fairly dry bed in a tolerably dry room, but all
the windows in the house had been blown out, and the building was so damp
and cold that we were almost afraid to sleep there. Some of the rooms in
the lower part of the building were still flooded. There wasn't a room in
the entire house that had not been damaged, and the servants' house in the
yard was almost completely wrecked. The ruins were toppled over and
leaning against our next-door neighbor's house.
"There is scarcely a structure in Houston which escaped the fury of the
storm. With the exception of the First Presbyterian, every church lost its
steeple, and all were damaged to some extent. The streets for two or three
days and even longer afterward were filled with debris--telephone and
telegraph poles and wires, huge piles of bricks and timber, tin roofs and
all kinds of miscellaneous things, such as furniture, trees, etc.
"At Seabrook, a little seaside resort near here, only two homes were left
standing."
Walter S. Keenan, general passenger agent of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa
Fe Railroad, arrived in Chicago September 17 from Galveston. He was in the
general office, which is connected with the Union station at Galveston,
during the great storm and escaped without injury. He said the accounts of
the Galveston disaster were in no way exaggerated. The debris, in some of
the streets, he declared, was thirty feet high. He went to his office in
the station Saturday morning and was compelled to remain there until
Sunday afternoon without a bite to eat.