USA > Texas > Galveston County > Galveston > The great Galveston disaster : containing a full and thrilling account of the most appalling calamity of modern times. > Part 5
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"I spent the night-such a horrible one !- wet from my shoulders to my waist and from my knees down, and barefoot. Nobody had any shoes and stockings. The house was packed with people just like us. The windows were blown out, and it
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"Under the firm rule of the military authorities, affairs in Galveston are rapidly assuming a more cheerful aspect. The forces of law and order are crystallizing every hour, and now that the people realize that there is definite authority to which they can appeal they are going to work systematically to renovate the city and prevent any possibility of epidemic. The force engaged in burying the dead and clearing up the city has increased steadily until now twenty-five hundred men are pushing the work.
" Adjutant-General Scurry holds the town fast with a strong grip. He is compelling all men whose services can be spared from public business to join the forces at the work in the streets.
" The burial of the dead goes steadily on. All the corpses in the open, along the shores or near the wreckage, have been sunk in the gulf or burned in the streets. The labor of clearing away the débris in search of bodies began at Thirtieth street and avenue (), one of the worst wrecked parts of the town. Two hundred men were put at work, and in thirty minutes fifty corpses were found within a space thirty yards square. Whole families lay dead piled in indescribable confusion.
OLD AND YOUNG CRUSHED TOGETHER.
"Old and young crushed by the falling timbers, were one by one dragged from débris six to twenty feet deep. Aged fathers were clinging to more robust forms ; children clutching to mother's skirts, young girls with their arms around brothers, mothers clasp- ing babes to their bosoms. These were the melancholy sights seen by those digging among the ruins. In dozens and scores the 1 odies were turned up by pich and shovel, rake and axe. Away to the left the wreckage stretched two miles to Seventh street; to the right, a mile to Fortieth street down town.
"Popular sentiment insists that the west end be burned, but the military authorities have hesitated to give the order. Father Kerwin and Captain Morrissey urge that the wreckage be fired at once, and it will probably be done.
" Men are making ready to apply the torch. Fire engines are out on the beach. A road runs through the wreckage separating
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"All the sheds on the wharves must have been levelled to the ground, or nearly so. I do not think there is a house that has not been more or less damaged or blown to the ground. While the wind was blowing over sixty miles an hour we sent out a boat with a rescuing party to row up one of the streets. The first trip they succeeded in saving thirteen women and children, and brought them back to the vessel in safety.
" It was useless to attempt to row the boat against the terrific wind, and, as the water was at that time not over a man's head in the streets, a rope would be sent out to the nearest telegraph pole, and by that means the boat could be hauled along from pole to pole. This was accomplished only by the most herculean efforts on the part of the men who led out the rope, but between swim- mning, walking and floundering along in the teeth of the gale the rope would finally be made fast.
FACING THE FIERCE BLASTS OF THE STORM.
" Then it was all that the crew of one officer and seven men could do to pull the boat against the fierce blasts of the cyclone. By working all Saturday afternoon and evening and up to one o'clock Sunday morning the brave boys succeeded in rescuing thirty-four men, women and children, whom they put in a place of safety and provided with enough provisions for their immediate needs. Finally, on account of the darkness, the increasing vio- lence of the storm and the vast amount of wreckage in the streets, the rescuing party was reluctantly compelled to return to the vessel.
" On board the ship it was a period of intense anxiety for all hands. No one slept, and it was only by the almost superhuman efforts of the officers and crew that we rode out the hurricane in safety. With the exception of the carrying away of the port for- ward rigging and the smashing of all the windows and skylights, the vessel sustained no serious injury. Not a single person on board was injured in any way."
Under date of September II the same officer writes: "We think there have been 5000 lives lost. I cannot begin to tell the number of houses blown down or damage done. Our new distiller,
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CHAPTER X.
Details of the Overwhelming Tragedy-The Whole City Caught in the Death-Trap-Personal Experiences of Those Who Escaped-First Reports More Than Confirmed.
CHE centre of the West Indian hurricane, which had been pre- dicted for several days, struck Galveston at 9 o'clock Satur- day morning. At that hour the wind was in the north and the waters of the bay were rising rapidly. The Gulf was also turbu- lent, and the water, forced in by the tropical storm, rolled up the beach and gradually swept inland. About 2 o'clock P. M. the wind was rising rapidly, constantly veering, but settling towards the east and coming in fitful jeiks and puffs, which loosened awnings, cornices, slated roofs and sent the fragments flying in the air.
The waters of the bay continued rising and creeping ashore, mingled with the waters from the clouds, and filled tlie down- town streets and invaded stores. Despite the danger from flying missiles, as the afternoon wore on, men ventured out in the streets in hacks, in wagons, in boats and on foot, some anxious to get home to their families, some bent on errands of mercy, and others animated by 110 purpose save bravado.
Gaining in velocity, the wind changed to the northeast, then to the east, and the waters rose until they covered the city. The wind howled frightfully around the buildings, tearing off cornices and ripping off roofs. The wooden paving blocks rose from their places in the streets and floated off in great sections, down the streets.
At 6.30 o'clock the wind had shifted to the southeast, still increasing in velocity. At that hour the wind gauge on the roof of the United States Weather Bureau registered eighty-four miles an hour then blew away. Still the wind blew harder and harder and even the most fortunate houses lost all or a part
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of their coverings. The storm reached its height at about 8. 30 o'clock, At 9 o'clock the wind began subsiding and the waters to recede.
But the fury of the storm had not been spent until well into Sunday morning. At I o'clock the water had fallen until the streets were inundated 110 more than they would be by a big rain. Sunday morning broke clear, and the sun shone brightly on a scene of wreck and ruin, which verily beggars description.
The streets were piled with debris, in many places several feet high. Buildings were shorn of roofs, cornices, chimneys and windows. Stocks of goods were damaged by floods from below and rain from above. But it was the wind which had wrought the greatest havoc in every respect. The damage from waters of the bay was inconsequential when compared with that from wind. The eastern part of the city received the full force of the storm and suffered most, although no section escaped serious injury.
FRANTIC PEOPLE HUNTING RELATIVES.
All along the beach for about four blocks back scarce., a residence was left. The beach district was shorn of habitations. Back of that houses and timbers piled up, crushing other build- ings which lay in their path. Men and women walked through the slimy mud that overspread the streets, homeless. Men and women rushed around frantic, hunting their relatives. Dead and wounded men, women and children lay around waiting the com- ing of the volunteer corps organized to remove the bodies to improvised morgues and hospitals. There was no thought of property damage ; those who had escaped with their families, los- ing all else, felt satisfied and thanked their Maker.
Mr. A. V. Kellogg, a civil engineer in the employ of the Right of Way Department of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad in Houston, went down to Galveston Saturday morning on company business, leaving on the Galveston, Houston and Henderson train which departs from Houston at 9.45. Mr. Kellogg had an interesting tale of his experiences getting into
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the storm and to give them shelter. At 5 o'clock the wind was blowing from the northeast at a velocity of about forty five miles an hour, and by 9 o'clock it had reached the climax, the velocity then being fully 100 miles. The vibration of the hotel was not unlike that of a boxcar in motion. I tried to sleep that night, but there was so much noise and confusion from the crashing of build- ings that I didn't get much rest.
STREET SIGHTS WERE APPALLING.
"I arose early Sunday morning. The sights in the streets were simply appalling. The water on Tremont street had lowered some eight feet from the high water mark, leaving the pavement clear from two blocks north and six or seven blocks south of the Tremont Hotel. The streets were full of debris, the wires were all down and the buildings were in a very much damaged condi- tion. Every building in the business district was damaged to some extent but with one or two exceptions, and those, the Levy Building, corner of Tremont and Market, and the Union Depot, both of which remained intact and went through the storm without a scratch.
" The refugees came pouring down into the heart of the city, many of them had but little clothing, and scores of them were almost naked.
They were homeless without food or drink, a great many had lost their all and were really in destitute circumstances. Mayor Jones issued a call for a mass meeting, which was held Sunday morning at 9 o'clock and was attended by a large number of prominent citizens. Steps were taken to furnish provisions and relieve the suffering of the refugees and to bury the dead.
"Early in the morning it was learned that the water supply had been cut off for some unknown reason. I presume that it was caused by the English ship which was blown up against the bridges, cutting the pipes. At all events, the city is without water, and something should be done by the citizens of Houston to relieve this situation. People who had depended on cisterns, of course, had their resources swept away, and there are but few
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his rescue to help save the family or perish with them. Standing on his brother's front porch Mr. Cline motioned to the neighbors on the opposite side of the street to go north, meaning to get out, for 110 voice could be heard across the street in the teeth of that terrible northeaster.
This was the last warning that was given, and then the chief of the Weather Bureau, while with his devoted brother and their loved ones disappeared within their own homes to await their doom. It was not many hours coming. Higher and higher the water rose, and they mounted the second floor till the waves mounted higher, and buildings about them crashed and fell, adding to the number of inmates of the houses others who had been driven out and were seeking safety.
Finally, the building gave way beneath the pressure of the wreckage behind it. The Cline family was in the room and had resolved to go by threes. Dr. Cline had with him Mrs. Cline and their little 6-year-old girl, Esther. His brother, Joe, took charge of the two older girls. As the house went over Mr. Joe Cline and his charges were thrown through a window which they were near and they caught on the roof. A dresser pushed Dr. Cline and his wife against the mantle and his little one was knocked from his left arni. They were all pinioned beneath the roof.
FOUND IT WAS THE FOOT OF HIS BABY.
Dr. Cline, holding to his wife, prepared for death, but throw- ing his left hand above his head, felt something strike his hand He grabbed the object and it proved to be one foot of his baby that had been knocked from liis grasp when the roof fell in. The water had driven her little body to the surface through an open- ing, which, although in an almost dying condition, he realized. By some means-he doesn't know how-he was released from the timbers that held him down, and he, too, was sent up by the rush of water to the surface. With his feet and arms he reached for his wife, who had been torn from his grasp, but he could not find her, and so she perished. Their experience in drifting on debris was that of hundreds of others. For hours they were tossed
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washed out. The agent from Alvin and the section boss met 11s and stated that Alvin was in ruins and some killed. Not being able to get through, we backed up the road, hoping to reach Eichenberg.
" The sight of seeing men, women and children wading waist deep in water over a country where we were accustomed to seeing orchards and garden patches and to hear the cries for the dear ones missing is enough to unnerve the strongest. Returning to Duke we unloaded again those we had saved at that point from the storm.
" While our train of five passenger coaches was standing on the track at this point the house in which the agent was living was literally blown to pieces. His wife and three children were with him, and soon the furious wind was tossing and rolling women and children like footballs over the earth. Men from the train faced the terrible gale and succeeded in getting all on the train in safety. This house stood within seventy-five yards of our train. About this time the depot, which was just opposite the car I was in, was unroofed and split apart in the middle.
WHOLE FAMILY SAVED BY TRAINMEN.
"Soon after a third house, 200 feet away. was blown to pieces and a man, wife and three children saved from the wreckage by those on the train. We reached the timbered section and were soon blocked by the wreckage of fallen trees across the track. Everyone who could wield an axe got one, set to work diligently to cut our way through. At the same time a large crew was working from Rosenberg down toward us. From Thompson to Duke large pecan, elni, oak and pine trees were encountered 011 an average every 100 feet.
"Arriving at Thompson, we found Slavin's store a perfect mass of ruin, the gin a partial wreck and many houses blown down. Here the first victim of the storm and train was placed on board. He had been knocked off the track the night before and had his leg broken. At Booth, Booth's store was badly wrecked, trees blown all over the land, several houses blown
CHAPTER XI.
Galveston Calamity One of the Greatest Known to His- tory-Many Thousands Maimed and Wounded- Few Heeded the Threatening Hurricane -- The Doomed City Turned to Chaos.
G ALVESTON has been the scene of one of the greatest catas- trophies in the world's history. The story of the great storm of Saturday, Sept. 8, 1900, will never be told. Words are too weak to express the horror, the awfulness of the storm itself, to even faintly picture the scene of devastation, wreck and ruin, misery, suffering and grief. Even those who were miraculously saved after terrible experiences, who were spared to learn that their families and property had been swept away, and spared to witness scenes as horrible as the eye of man ever looked upon-even these can not tell the story.
There are stories of wonderful rescues and escapes, each of which at another time would be a marvel to the rest of the world, but in a time like this when a storm so intense in its fury, so pro- longed in its work of destruction, so wide in its scope, and so infinitely terrible in its consequences has swept an entire city and neighboring towns for miles on either side, the mind can not com- prehend all of the horror, can not learn or know all of the dread- ful particulars.
One stands speechless and powerless to relate even that which he has felt and knows. Gifted writers have told of storms at sea wrecking of vessels where hundreds were at stake and lost. That task pales to insignificance when compared with the task of telling of a storm which threatened the lives of perhaps sixty thousand people, sent to their death perhaps six thousand people, and left others wounded, homeless, and destitute, and still others to cope with grave responsibility, to relieve the stricken, to grapple with and prevent the anarchist's reign, te clear the water-sodden land
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building could withstand them and none wholly escaped injury.
Others were picked up at sea. And all during the terrible storm acts of the greatest heroism were performed. Hundreds and hundreds of brave men, as brave as the world ever knew, buffeted with the waves and rescued hundreds of their fellow men. Hundreds of them went to their death, the death that they knew they must inevitably meet in their efforts. Hundreds of them perished after saving others. Men were exemplifying that supreme degree of love of which the Master spoke, "Greater love hath no man than this, that he give his life for his friend." Many of them who lost their lives in this storm in efforts to save their families, many to save friends, many more to help people of whom they had never heard. They simply knew that human beings were in danger and they counted their own lives
TREMENDOUS FURY OF THE GALE.
The maximum velocity of the wind will never be known. The gauge at the Weather Bureau registered 100 miles an hour and blew away at 5. 10 o'clock, but the storm at that hour was as nothing when compared with what followed, and the maximum velocity must have been as great as 120 miles an hour. The most intense and anxious time was between 8.30 and 9 o'clock, with raging seas rolling around them, with a wind so terrific that none could hope to escape its fury, with roofs beginning to roll away and buildings crashing all around them, men, women and children were huddled in buildings, caught like rats, expecting to be crushed to death or drowned in the sea, yet cut off from escape.
Buildings were torn down, burying their hundreds, and were swept inland, piling up great heaps of wreckage. Hundreds of people were thrown into the water in the height of the storm, some to meet instant death, others to struggle for a time in vain, and thousands of others to escape death in most miraculous and marvelous ways.
Hundreds of the dead were washed across the island and the bay many miles inland. Hundreds of bodies were buried in the wreckage. Many who escaped were in the water for hours, cling-
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with all the energy of which lie is capable. But, despite thei! utmnost endeavors, they cannot keep up with the increase in the miserable conditions which surround them. Water can be obtained by able-bodied men, but with great difficulty.
Dr. Wallace Shaw, of Houston, who is busily engaged in the relief work, said that there were 200 people at St. Mary's Infirin- ary without fresh water. They had been making coffee of salt 'water and using that as their only beverage. Very little stealing was reported and there were no killings. The number of inen shot down for robbing the dead proved a salutary lesson, and it is not expected that there will be any more occurrences of this sort. The soldiers of the regular army and of the national guard are guarding the property, and it is impossible for thieves to escape detection.
SOLDIERS HAVE MIRACULOUS ESCAPE.
The loss of life among the soldiers of the regular army sta- tioned in the barracks on the beach proves to have been largely overestimated. The original report was that but fifteen out of the total number in the barracks on the beach had been saved. Last night and to-day they turned up singly and in squads, and at present there are but twenty-seven missing, whereas the first estimate of casualties in this direction alone was nearly two huli- dred. It it probable that some of the twenty-seven will answer roll call later in the week.
One soldier reached the city this afternoon who had been blown around in the Gulf of Mexico and had floated nearly fifty miles going and coming, on a door. Another one who showed up to-day declared that lie owed his life to a cow. It swam with him nearly three miles. The cow then sunk and the soldier swam the balance of the way to the mainland himself.
Efforts were made this afternoon to pick up the dead bodies that have floated in with the tide, after having been once cast into the sea. This is awful work, and few men are found with suffi- ciently strong nerves to last it more than thirty minutes at a time. All of the bodies are badly decomposed, swollen to enormous pro-
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more, and it is expected that fully 2,000 of the women and chil- cren will be out of the place by to-morrow night. Mayor Jones estimates that there are at least 10,000 of these helpless ones who should be taken from Galveston at the earliest possible monient. They are all apparently anxious to get away and will be handled as rapidly as possible.
Another trainload of provisions and clothing, making the third within the last twenty-four hours, came here from Houston to-night.
The steamer Charlotte Allen arrived at noon to-day from Houston with 1000 loaves of bread and other provisions. The amount of food which has been sent so far has been large, but there are still in the neighborhood of 30,000 people to be cared for on the island.
BOYS RESCUE FORTY PEOPLE.
During the storm Saturday night, the Boddinker boys, with the aid of a hunting skiff, rescued over forty people and took them to the University building, where they found shelter from the wind and waves. The little skiff was pushed by hand, the boys not being able to use oars or sticks in propelling it, and is to be set aside in the University as a relic of the flood.
Many stories of heroismn are coming out. People tell of get- ting out of their houses just before the roof fell in on them. They tell of seeing people struck by flying timbers and crushed to death before their eyes. One man was cut off from his family just as he had them rescued, and saw them sink beneath the water, just on the other side of the barrier. He turned in and helped to rescue others who were about gone. One woman car- ried her five month's old baby in her arms from her house only to have a beam strike the child on the head, killing it instantly. She suffered a broken leg and bruised body.
The lightship, which was moored between the jetties at the point where the harbor bar was located before it was removed, was carried to Half Moon Shoal and grounded. There was nobody aboard except Mate Emil C. Lundwall, the cook and two men.
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urday morning. The "News" also reported high winds at Pas , Christian. The Port Eads storm was a distinct storin from that of Florida and was confined to the Gulf. The proof of this is that the steamer "Comal " came in from Florida in beautiful weather and apparently followed in the wake of the storm.
Eighteen people were caught in the Grothger grocery store, Sixteenth and N streets, and it is presumed all were lost, as many have been reported dead who were known to have been in the building which was swept away entirely. The firemen buried twenty-six people south of Avenue O, between Thirty-Third and and Forty-Second streets, on Tuesday. The graves were marked with pieces of the garments worn by the persons.
Will Love, a printer of the "Houston Post," whoformerly lived in Galveston, swam the bay Monday to reach his family, whom he found to be alive in Galveston. He swam from pier to pier on the railroad bridges and at each he rested.
AWFUL NIGHT IN THE LIGHTHOUSE.
In the Bolivar lighthouse, which stands 130 feet high on Bolivar Point, across the bay from Galveston, some one hundred and twenty-five people sought refuge from the storm on Saturday evening. Many of the unfortunates had deserted their homes, which were swept by the hurricane, and other residents of Gal- veston, who had come to the bay shore in their frantic endeavors to reach Galveston and their families. Among the latter was County Road and Bridge Superintendent Kelso. Mr. Kelso stated to a "News" reporter, when he reached Galveston on Monday afternoon, after having been carried across the bay in a small skiff by Mr. T. C. Moore, that the hundred and more refugees spent an awful night in the lighthouse Saturday night during the life of the hurricane.
The supply of fresh water was soon exhausted and an effort was made to secure drinking water by catching rain water in buckets suspended from the top of the lighthouse. The experi- mient was a success in a way, but it demonstrated a remarkable incident to show the force of the wind. The bucket was soon
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"Along the pebbled beach, once the most beautiful in the world, and a scene of wonted gayety, now all is desolation and awe. Human bodies, swollen and unrecognizable, were mingled with those of dead animals and reptiles, and the whole formed a scene so gruesome and so misshapen that the thought of it even sends a sickening thrill coursing through one's veins.
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