Galveston's Inhabitants Refuse to Heed the Lessons Taught by their
Experiences--Carelessness in Failing to Provide Against the Recurrence of
Catastrophes.
Although Galveston had been struck three times with floods and hurricanes
even this experience was not enough to convince the residents that it
might happen again. Only a few of the more cautious had any idea after the
last disaster of taking steps to prevent its repetition. Asked if anything
would be done to make future floods impossible they might probably quote
the old saw: "Lightning never strikes in the same place twice," and seem
to think that settled it. In the next sentence they would compare the
damage done in the floods of 1875 and 1886 with this latest disaster.
"No," said E. M. Hartrick, assistant United States engineer, "the people
of Galveston will go on living in fancied security just as they did
before. The plan to put a dike around the city is perfectly feasible and
so is a series of jetties. I think the good old Holland plan is the best.
The city doesn't need to be raised. I was six years city engineer of
Galveston, and following the storm of 1886 drew plans for a dike ten feet
high and extending all around the island except on the north side. There
the wharves were to be raised and form the dike.
"Galveston gave this plan consideration, and there is a map of the city in
existence which shows it with a dike surrounding it. The legislature gave
authority to bond the city, but it was some months after the flood when
this had been secured, and the people said, 'Oh, we'll never get another
one,' and they didn't build."
The construction by the government of two jetties, one eight miles long
extending out southeast for the purpose of making a narrower and deeper
channel for boats coming into Galveston harbor, made the necessity of
remedial work more apparent, but nothing was done. In the last storm, the
southwesterly one of the jetties pocketed the water and carried it up over
the southeastern end of the island.
This was the place where whole blocks of buildings were literally washed
away, leaving hardly enough of the foundations to indicate that buildings
ever stood there. In that part of the city the water rose to a depth of
fifteen feet in the streets. Had the houses demolished by waves and swept
away by wind not formed into a great jam similar to a log jam, but
extending along the south shore of the island for seven miles, this
enormous body of water would have swept over the entire island and the
number of dead would have been quadrupled.
"It formed a dike," said Engineer Hartrick, in calling attention to this
feature of the flood, "and had it not been for that dike we might not any
of us be here now."
According to Mr. Hartrick, Galveston had the wrong style of architecture
for a gulf town. Its newer buildings were built on the northern plan with
balloon frames, and poorly adapted to stand a blow.
"This storm was a hurricane," he said, "just such as they have in the West
Indies every summer, but which we have here perhaps once in a hundred
years. Still we never know when one may come again, and we should build
our houses accordingly."
Colonel Davidson, a member of the relief committee, had given some time in
the past to consideration of projects to prevent inundations. He favored
the jetty system, but, like Engineer Hartrick, said nothing would ever be
done.
"You never heard of a man wanting an umbrella when it wasn't raining, did
you?" he asked. "What we want is not to keep all the water out. We want
the waves to break their force before they rise on to the island. It was
the force of the great waves which wrecked the houses."
The work of extracting bodies from the mass of wreckage continued.
Tuesday, September 18, over 400 bodies were taken out of the debris which
lined the beach front. With all that had been done to recover bodies
buried beneath or pinned to the immense drift, the work had scarcely
started. There was no time to dig graves and the putrefying flesh, beaten
and bruised beyond identification, was consigned to the flames. Volunteers
for this grewsome work came in fast. Men who had avoided the dead under
ordinary conditions were working with a vigorous will and energy in
putting them away.
Under one pile of wreckage Tuesday afternoon twenty bodies were taken out
and cremated. In another pile a man pulled out the remains of two children
and for a moment gazed upon them, then mechanically cast them into the
fire. They were his own flesh and blood. As they slowly burned he watched
them until they were consumed, then resumed his work assisting others in
removing other bodies.
A large force of men was still engaged in removing the dead from Hurd's
lane, located about four miles west of the city. At this point the water
ran to a height of fourteen feet, and hung up in trees and fences were the
bodies of men, women and children, which were being collected and cremated
as fast as possible.
On the mainland the searching for and cremating of bodies that either
perished or found lodgment there was being prosecuted vigorously.
The situation throughout the country extending from Bolivar to High island
was possibly worse than in any other section of the mainland.
Clara Barton, president of the Red Cross Society, issued an appeal on
September 18 to the American people for money and supplies for the sick
and wounded. Her idea was to spend some of the money with local merchants
wherever practicable.
Chairman Davidson of the relief committee stated that the greatest
sufferers from the storm were the people of limited means who owned homes
near the beach. There were hundreds of these people who owned mortgaged
lots and had homes constructed by the loan companies and though their
property was swept away the loan companies were protected by liens.
Mr. Davidson advised that a fund be raised for people who had suffered in
this way, that they might be able to restore what took them years to
accumulate and was taken from them in a single night.
The resources of the numerous sub-relief stations scattered throughout the
city were taxed to their utmost capacity, and long lines of people awaited
their turns for provisions and clothing.
At Texas City a force of deputy United States marshals under Marshal Grant
was guarding the entrance to Galveston and keeping back all people who
could show no good reason for desiring to go there. People were daily
leaving the city, a majority being women and children. The city was still
under martial law, and remained so for weeks. Idlers and sight-seers who
eluded the guards on the mainland upon their arrival were pressed into the
street service. There was no place for a man who would not work. It was
work or go to jail, and they generally went to jail.
GOVERNOR SAYERS IN A HOPEFUL MOOD.
"I look for the rebuilding of Galveston to be well under way by the latter
part of this week," said Governor Sayers, of Texas, on September 18, at
Austin, the state capital. "The work of cleaning the city of unhealthful
refuse and burying the dead will have been completed by that time, and all
the available labor in the city can be applied to its rebuilding.
"If the laboring people of Galveston will only get to work in earnest
prosperity will soon again smile on the city. Arrangements have been made
to pay all the laborers working under the direction of the military
authorities $1.50 and rations for every day they have worked or will work.
An account has been kept of all work done and no laborer will lose one
day's pay.
"The money and food contributions coming from a generous people have been
a great help to the people of Galveston, as it has relieved them of the
necessity of spending their money to support the needy, and it can now be
applied to the improvement of their own property and putting again on foot
their business enterprises.
"Five dollars a day is being offered to the mechanics who will come to
Galveston, and, with the assurance from reputable physicians that there is
no extraordinary danger of sickness, outside laborers will flock to
Galveston and before many days a new city will rise on the storm-swept
island.
"The telegraph and telephone companies and railroads have been exceedingly
generous since the great calamity. They have not only given money, but
everything has been transported to that city free of charge, while those
desiring to get away from the harrowing scenes of Galveston have been
transported free. The people of Texas will long remember with grateful
hearts the kindness of these companies.
"It is now an assured fact that trains will be running into Galveston this
week, and with uninterrupted communication with the outside world
Galveston should soon assume her normal condition."
SAD SIGHTS AT VIRGINIA POINT.
When the relief train reached Virginia Point, which is on the mainland,
opposite Galveston, it was found that of those who survived the flood and
hurricane the majority was severely injured. Most of them were bruised and
maimed, presenting a pitiful sight, their limbs lacerated and bleeding.
All bemoaned the fate of those dear to them.
Many of the dead--and the beach was strewn with corpses--had their faces
and heads mutilated so that it was almost impossible to learn the names of
those who found their last resting-place in the crude graves hurriedly
dug. A headboard was placed on the grave in every instance, giving as
nearly as possible age and accurate description.
It was found necessary in many instances to bury three and four in one
grave.
Those who survived the wreck were homeless and had had nothing to eat
since Saturday. As most of them were injured it was not possible for them
to organize a movement on their part. Life sustenance was furnished these
survivors in order that they might not swell the list of dead.
Most of the bodies found in and around the vicinity of Virginia Point were
supposed to have been washed inland from Galveston.