USA > Texas > Galveston County > Galveston > The great Galveston disaster : containing a full and thrilling account of the most appalling calamity of modern times. > Part 10
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LABORERS' HEROIC WORK.
Under date of the 18th the condition of the city was stated to be as follows :
Slowly but surely the streets are assuming a decent appearance, and in a few days all evidence of the storm on the streets of the business district will have been removed. A large force of men are working systematically, and the beneficial result is shown in every quarter. The greatest amount of wreckage is piled high along the beach and for several blocks inland, where hundreds of homes fell victims to the rush of waters and devastating hurricane that swept that portion of the city bare. The amount of débris in the district extending from the extreme eastern end of the island to the western city limits, and even beyond that point, is incalculable, and the manner in which the storm packed this long ridge of wreckage challenges the heroic efforts of the army of laborers engaged in its removal.
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CHAPTER XXI.
Unparalleled Bombardment of Waves-Wonderful Courage Shown by the Survivors-Letter From Clara Barton.
A VISITOR to Galveston thus gives his impressions on the 12th day after the great flood :
"For two days after the great catastrophe, the people of the city of Galveston were stunned. They seem to be dazed. It is a remarkable thing that there were no signs of outward grief in the way of tears and groans to mark the misery that raged in the breasts of the people. Only when some person who was thought to have been dead, appeared to a relative living who had mourned for him or her, were there any tears. There was a callousness about all this that attracted the attention of those who had just come to the unfortunate place. There was a stoicism in it. But it was unexplainable. It indicated no lack of appreciation of what had occurred.
"It demonstrated no lack of affection for those who had gone. Nature, generous in this instance, came to their relief in a way and made them dull to the seriousness of what had occurred, to an extent which prevented them from becoming maniacs. For, if the grief which comes to a mortal when he loses a dead one, had come to this whole community, the island would have been filled with raving maniacs. In case of individual losses, there is always some one near to give consolation. Had the grief came to the whole island, there could have been no consolation, for every soul on it had lost in some way that which was dear to it.
"'The case is just like the afterthoughts of those who liave . participated in a great battle,' said an old soldier to me. ‘If a popular man was lost on the picket line, there were tears for him, but when the time came for all to be mnowed down, the horror of it dulled the sensibilities of those who survived.'
"I was talking to an estimable and bright woman on the 416
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WONDERFUL COURAGE OF SURVIVORS.
in Galveston now is capable of upbuilding the town, and building it better in every way than it ever was. Millions of dollars are invested in enterprises in the town. The men who have lost thou- sands, not to say millions, will not permit the rest to go without a struggle.
"The railroads running into the place and depending on the thirty feet of deep water, which is said now to exist in the channel, for export of the freight, will not agree to abandon the port, the only one of such depth for thousands of miles. Cotton factors in all the world, who look to this port for their supplies, will not abandon it. The monetary interest in the city of itself would save it even if the people were not so full of heart as they are. But above this, the poor people and the working classes have no where else to go. With many of them, it is too late in life to begin it anew. It is too late for them to build up acquaint- ances again. They have lost their houses, but the lots on which the houses were located are there.
EXTRAORDINARY PUBLIC CHARITY.
"Subscriptions to the amount of perhaps $2,000,000 have poured in for their relief. The well-to-do Galvestonian is deter- mined that this relief shall go to those who are poor, that they miay to some extent repair their fortunes. The rich themselves will build. In a month from now every man in the place will have all the labor he can performn. Every person will be busy. The work of up-building will in some measure rub out the recol- lection of the horrors of the storm. The Huntington estate will continue its work. Bridges of the very first class will span the waters between the island and the mainland. If great corpora- tions can risk their money, as they are determined to do, why shall not a poor man risk his labor to build another house on the lot he owned?
"Why, even behind the business and necessitous phases of the matter, there rises a sentiment among the people. That sentiment is that we will show the world the stuff that Galveston people are made of. Galveston is all right. The storm could not kill her,
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WONDERFUL COURAGE OF SURVIVORS.
Convent. When the storm rose to its height, and their humble home succumbed to the destructive elements, mother and daughter were thrown out into the surging waters.
"With one hand firmly grasping her mother, the young lady bravely struggled against the wind and sea. At last the branches of a large tree were sighted above the raging torrent, and mother and daughter exerted their fast failing energies to reach the luring tree top. As the two weary creatures neared the haven, the daughter reached with one hand to grab a swaying branch. She missed it and was carried backward by the wind. Another attempt and she secured a hold, but her mother had been torn from lier embrace by the sea, and was swept to her death beneath the waters.
LODGED IN A LARGE OAK.
"In the early hours of the morning a rescuing party found the almost lifeless form of the young lady resting in the tangled branches of the large oak. She was carried to the home of friends and recovered from the shock. But the thoughts of her mother's tragic death, and the strange feeling that she was responsible for it, weighed heavily on her heart and mind. The haunted thoughts racked her brain and slowly undermined her failing health until the end came, when the broken-hearted and weary spirit responded to death's sweet sleep. 'Mother's in heaven and I'll soon be with her,' were the last words whispered by the girl."
The work of clearing the streets and the city in general pro- gresses with surprising rapidity and systematic thoroughness. Street after street is being cleared up and the wreckage being stacked away. In accordance with an order from military head- ' quarters, a new plan has been inaugurated in removing debris. Instead of removing the debris and throwing it to one side to remove the dead, it is ordered that the ridge of wreckage along the beach be separated into two piles. The first pile removed is to be stacked out near the beach, where it can be fired and con- sumed. The bodies found are to be disposed of on pyres placed
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WONDERFUL COURAGE OF SURVIVORS.
Then when the water kept rising and the wind increasing in velocity, until it seemed that nothing could stand beforeit, it was, indeed, a time to be afraid. This condition continued for several hours, which seemed days to those whose hope was in its abate- ment, until about midnight the waters began to subside and the wind to decrease in velocity.
It was not until between 3 and 4 o'clock in the morning, how- , ever, that the water had gone down enough to allow any one to venture out. When the water had receded enough for one to go outside, it was found that the Santa Fe wing of the hospital, which was a frame building, was a mass of wreckage and had washed over against the rear of the Infirmary building proper. Knowing that there were refugees in the building when it went down, there was fear for their safety.
IMPRISONED IN THE WRECKAGE.
At once men began a search and found the frightened and maimed refugees imprisoned down among the wreckage. The work of getting them out was begin. All were found to be alive except two, a child and a crippled woman named Mary Sweeny. Although the survivors were alive, they were horribly cut up and wounded, which was proof of the terrible night they had spent and of their awful experience.
Then daylight came to present a picture such as none had ever seen and none ever cares again to cast his eyes upon. The clean sweep of the waters and their horrible destruction was in full view, and to add to the awfulness of the picture, the water had left several bodies of its victims at the door of the Infirmary. The people then left, not to go to their homes, but to go to where their homes had been. Many returned on account of having 110 place to go, and for days stopped at the Infirmary, their wants being administered to by the good Sisters. Since then, that insti- tution has been, as well as a hospital where the injured have been attended to, a house of refuge where those made destitute and homeless by the storm have stayed.
Martial law, which had been declared, was suspended at the 28
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WONDERFUL COURAGE OF SURVIVORS.
handed the baby to its mother and told her I must go, and ordered my clothes prepared for the trip. In two hours I was on the way."
"Did you have any idea what you were summoned to Gal- veston for ?"
"No; only I knew there was some disaster threatening my children. I did not know what it was, but I could not refrain from going."
Asked further about the trip to Galveston, he said the pas- sengers got into the depot, but he never saw or heard of any of the train crew, and he thought they all must have perished. "I got a negro to show me the way to where my daughter, Mrs. Chilton, lived. The water was then all over the city and rising rapidly. When we got to Eighth street, my son-in-law here, Stufflebram, called out to me across the street. He had seen and recognized mie. I went over and we started on. There was a lot of timber and driftwood floating, and some people along the way were pulling all of it in the houses they could get.
HOUSE WASHED TO FRAGMENTS.
" We had to push it apart to get through in places, and some of them laughed and said push it to them, and I did so, and they began hauling it in. Nobody thought how serious it was, but looked on it as merely high water. A little later all those build- ings along there were destroyed and all the people there drowned. Stufflebram had taken his wife up to Chilton's and Clarkson also, because it was a litle higher ground there. We finally reached it, on Twenty-second street, just opposite Harmony Hall. We were all in the house together when Prof. Smith sent word over from Harmony Hall that we had better get out at once.
" We went to the hall, and the last of the party had hardly cleared the sidewalk when a large brick building gave way and mlaslied Chilton's house to fragments. We staid in Harmony Hall until the cyclone ceased, though it looked once as if the hall would go when the roof blew off. It was the awfulest time I ever saw. My daughters and their families were saved, and I amll truly thankful for it. They said at Galveston that we were the
CHAPTER XXII.
Galveston Storm Stories-Fierce Battles With Surging Waves-Vivid Accounts from Fortunate Survivors-A City of Sorrow.
A RESIDENT of the stricken city gave the following graphic narrative of his experiences, which help to make up the dark picture of Galveston's agony and desolation :
"Some people asked, 'How did you feel when your house went down in the storm?' It is a question easier asked than answered. I was among the few who lost their houses early in the storm and before darkness set in. Up to fifteen minutes or less before the house went down I had hopes that it might survive the storm. For three hours before it went I watched the waters patiently, mostly from the south windows, but of course had the restlessness natural to people who are waiting for a great crisis in the lives of themselves or those dear to them. To sit perfectly still under the circumstances was impossible.
"A few moment's rest by a south window was followed by an uncontrollable desire to go to some other part of the house to see how matters were looking. Wandering from one point to another, the round of the house was made, and once more I found myself back of the south windows to watch the waters from the main danger point. I do not think that I or any of my family could have been called excited. There was a restless, uneasy feeling among us all, but actually no fear. When my wife left the house she fully expected to return to it when the storm was over. My boys were with her and my little girl, and for probably half an hour I was alone.
"During that time I was partly engaged in keeping the north and east doors closed. The wind blew then open several times, but did not break the hinges. When one was blown open torrents of rain poured in, and I remember thinking of the task the women would have in drying the floors and disposing of articles
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GALVESTON STORM STORIES.
"Did you ever feel the thrilling experience of being on a ship as she was just in the act of sinking ?" said a sunburnt sailor to a citizen. He was one of the survivors of the ill-fated dredge boat which sank near Texas City.
"The night of the terrible hurricane at Galveston," he con- tinued, "it was predicted by several of us on board the dredge boat that a destructive storm was approaching, and it was deemed best to put out all anchors. We had no more than done so when the wind veered to the southeast. We had not put out all of the anchors any too soon, for of all the high winds and waves, those that lashed our boat were the worst I have ever seen.
"I have been in many a shipwreck, and realized that it was only a short time before I would be in another world, for I felt the boat dragging her anchors and drifting inland at a terrific speed. We were then some eight or ten miles from shore.
BOAT PASSING OVER TREE TOPS.
"It seemed to me only fifteen or twenty minutes before the fury of the storm struck us. I saw our boat passing over tree tops. I knew we were then approaching the bay shore, and pos- sessing that knowledge as to when to leave a sinking ship, I pro- cured some fifteen life preservers and gave one each to the crew, and told each man how to put them on and to follow me to the upper deck. and be ready to dive off when I gave the word.
"They were all frightened nearly to death, and only two succeeded in getting their life preservers on and reaching the top deck with me. When the fearful moment came for man to battle with the winds and water, I gave command to jump. In an instant three of us made a plunge into an immense breaker, which .carried us high into the air.
"I looked back and could see nothing of the boat that I had just abandoned. I have been informed that she went ashore about a mile and a half west of Texas City. If the other ten poor souls were saved, I have not heard of them.
"Do you know there is something thrilling and exciting about being shipwrecked when you are near the shores. I pre-
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GALVESTON STORM STORIES.
convicts out on the prairie and the next morning all of them voluntarily reported for duty except six, and they worked like trojans assisting in the work of cleaning up. The cane crop suffered considerably, but is by no means a loss. It is recuperating nicely. Very little corn was lost, because most of it was gathered."
Mr. Fred. Erickson, who returned from Galveston, says he saw a lady, who was drowned among the many others on a burial barge, who had on a fine watch, diamond earrings, several dia- mond finger rings ; besides, he noticed that she wore gold clasp garters with her name upon them.
He asked the party in charge why these valuables were not removed and the garters removed as a means of identification, and he was told that they were not allowed to remove anything from the bodies, no inatter how valuable and how it might ald in future identification.
JEWELS ON THE DEAD.
He noticed a woman floating in the water, and he and a policeman turned her over, and attached to her boson was a very fine gold watch with her name upon it. He called the police- man's attention to the importance of securing the watch for future identification, and was given the same information.
Mrs. John P. Smart returned from Galveston on board the steamer "Lawrence," along with about 400 women and children. Mrs. Smart had been in Galveston for some three weeks, and came away on the first trip made by the "Lawrence." She said .of her experience during the storm :
"At 3 o'clock Saturday afternoon, in spite of the efforts of the lady of the house to persuade us all to remain at home, we set out for a place of safety, the Atlanta Hotel. The water was then three feet deep on avenue P. On the way to the hotel I saw three women drowned. They were making their way down the street and were blown down by the wind and lost. We left the house none too soon. After the storm not a trace of it could be found.
"The wind was then blowing at the rate of about sixty miles
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GALVESTON STORM STORIES.
A correspondent furnishes the following account of a well- known family :
"One of the saddest cases which has come to light is that of the Jalonick brothers of Dallas. No man is better known than Isaac Jalonick, of Dallas, who was so long the secretary of the Texas rating bureau, and he and his brothers have hosts of friends all over the State. There were three of them, George, Ed and Isaac. The family of Ed Jalonick, consisting of his wife, son and daughter, the children being young, came to Galveston several weeks ago to spend the latter part of the summer on the Gulf coast. They had taken a house on the southern part of the island, west of the Denver resurvey.
ONE OF THE SADDEST CASES.
"It was far removed from the city, and was in a section which was so badly storm swept that not a house remains. Mr. . Jalonick came last week to take his family home, but the bad weather interfered and the trip home was postponed. Saturday the storm came, and when the two brothers, George and Ike, in Dallas, heard of the disaster they came here at once, to ascertain the condition of their brother and his family. They went to the former home and buta vacant spot met their anxious search for the house which had sheltered their loved ones. They decided to make a search among the dead on the island, in the hope that they could find the bodies and give them decent burial.
"For three days they were on the hunt. Mounted and accompanied by a team, with burial boxes, they moved across the island in every direction, examining every body they found. During their journey they viewed not less than 150 corpses. Now and again they had found him or her whom they sought. Here it would be a piece of clothing, there a feature, and again the form, but each time only disappointment repaid them for the task of love, devotion and duty they had undertaken. It was an anxious search with hope deferred.
"They had no idea that they would be successful, but so anxious were they to have their relatives given decent burial, so
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GALVESTON STORM STORIES.
station. The sails blew away and the boat capsized with all on board, but the mast broke in the water and she righted herself. She drifted all night and landed in the bayou near the Nichols place Sunday morning with all safe.
The son of Mrs. Nichols got a horse in Galveston at 2 o'clock and managed to get to them, saving their lives. Their home was wrecked, but the young man built a rude shanty of the wreckage on the shore and they secured enough food in the ruins of their home to give the people on the "Wasp " a Sunday dinner. Mr. Nichols was in town. His home was completely wrecked and the clothes were torn from his back by the wind and wreckage. He is a little disfigured, but still able to be about.
MAN CARRIED THIRTY MILES.
Mr. A. A. Van Alstyne had a large quantity of provisions, such as rice, canned goods, etc., stored with him. He and his family escaped unhurt, and every since have been using their house as a basis of supplies for the needy in their immediate neighborhood.
Mr. Henry R. Decie, who lives eight and one-half miles down Galveston island, was in Houston, and reports that he was at his home when the storm began, but took his wife and children to the house of Mr. Willie Raine, a close neighbor. After reaching there he says the water, with one bound, raised four or five feet which took the house off the blocks.
" My wife and I were sitting on the foot of one of the beds at that time, which was 6 o'clock. We felt the house quiver, and my wife threw her arms around my neck and kissed me and said, 'Good-bye, we are gone.'
"Just then the house crushed in and we struggled hard to get out. My baby boy was in my arms a corpse, having been killed by a falling timber. Another wave came and swept the overhang- ing house off my head. I looked around and discovered that my wife was gone and the remaining part of the house was drifting apart. Catching a piece of scantling I was carried thirty miles across the bay, landing near the mouth of Cow bayou."
1
CHAPTER XXIII
Heroic Incidents-Arrival of Relief Trains-Hospitals for the Injured-Loud Call for Skilled Labor.
A LADY correspondent who went from Houston to view the wreck of Galveston reported as follows :
"We are only just beginning to find out what this awful calamity has been to the people in this vicinity. The first shock is wearing off, the long lists of dead and missing are getting to be an old story now, and the sick and suffering are crawling into our places of refuge. Some of them have been sleeping on the open prairies ever since the storm, most of them, in fact, men with broken arms and legs, sick women and ailing children.
"They crawl out of the wreck of their homes and lie down on the bare ground to die. Our relief corps are finding them and bringing them in as fast as they can. Dr. Jolinson and his party came in from the Galveston district and reported that they found over 5,000 people and attended medically about 200 patients.
" While we were standing at the door of the hospital talking things over a man rode up on horseback. He threw his arms up to attract our attention.
"'Is this the relief hospital ? ' he said.
"Dr. Johnson told him that it was."
"'Ive come in from the Brazos bottomis," he said. 'The folks there are starving. There is not a pound of flour left and the children are crying for milk. There are so many sick people there that we don't know what to do. Can you send some one down ?'
"Dr. Johnson had not slept for twenty-four hours. He had not had time to get a full meal for thirty-six hours. He was worn out and travel stained, but he heard what the man told him.
"'All right,' he said. He picked up his coat, put on his hat and turned to his assistants. 'Come on, boys,' he said. 'Let 11s 461
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RELIEF TRAINS AND HOSPITALS.
Houston on the ISth. Mrs. R. Qualtrough and Mrs. Will Glass were at the International and Great Northern depot Monday intent on the relief of any who needed, when they saw a little woman with a baby of about eight months in her arms. The mother was weeping bitterly, so the two kindhearted friends went up to see what was the matter. The stranger said she had just arrived from New Orleans to find Galveston shut off from the world, and her husband, mother and sister were there, and she feared they were all lost. Mrs. Glass finally prevailed over the little woman to go home with her, where she could care for her.
Tuesday Mrs. Qualtrough was busy at the market house helping to distribute the clothing and food to the sufferers, when her son came to her and told her there was a man from Galveston in the room1, and he wished she would go to him. The man, who was bruised and beaten in his fight with waves, was in great dis- tress. He wanted to get to New Orleans, but had no money, his wife and child were there, and he had to tell her that her mother and sisters were drowned.
WOMAN DRIFTED NEARLY THREE DAYS.
An instinct told Mrs. Qualtrough the truth. She asked what was the size and complexion of his wife, and how old was the baby. Looking at her strangely, the man described exactly the woman and child found at the International and Great Northern station. "I believe your wife is here," was the extraordinary comment on his story. Calling to Mrs. Ward, the fish merchant, Mrs. Qualtrough asked her to take the man to Mrs. Glass' home, and the husband and wife met. It was a pitiful scene, for while she had got her husband back, the poor woman learned of the loss of mother and sisters.
A woman was brought into Houston who was two days and a night drifting about in Galveston bay, bringing with her a par- rot which she had held above the waters all that time. The par- rot and a bag of money was all she had left.
Mr. A. C. Fonda, a patient at the Houston infirmary, was a clerk in the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe freight office at Galves-
CHAPTER XXIV.
One Hero Rescues Over Two Hundred-Traveler Caught
1 in the Rush of Water-Report of a Government Official-How the Great Storm Started.
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