The Great Galveston Disaster: Containing a Full and Thrilling Account of the Most Appalling Calamity of Modern Times Including Vivid Descriptions of the Hurricane and Terrible Rush of Waters; Immense Destruction of Dwellings, Business Houses, Churches, and Loss of Thousands of Human Lives; Thrilling Tales of Heroic Deeds; Panic-Stricken Multitudes and Heart-Rending Scenes of Agony; Frantic Efforts to Escape a Horrible Fate; Separation of Loved Ones, etc., etc.; Narrow Escapes from the Jaws of De — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
The Great Galveston Disaster: Containing a Full and Thrilling Account of the Most Appalling Calamity of Modern Times Including Vivid Descriptions of the Hurricane and Terrible Rush of Waters; Immense Destruction of Dwellings, Business Houses, Churches, and Loss of Thousands of Human Lives; Thrilling Tales of Heroic Deeds; Panic-Stricken Multitudes and Heart-Rending Scenes of Agony; Frantic Efforts to Escape a Horrible Fate; Separation of Loved Ones, etc., etc.; Narrow Escapes from the Jaws of De
John Stuart Mill · en
Galveston, Tex., Sept. 14.—The local Board of Health through Dr. H. A.
West, its secretary, has made a demand that the work of clearing up the
dwelling houses be turned over to physicians. This work has been under
the direction of Adjutant General Scurry, and he has proved himself so
capable that the Relief Committee declined to make any division of
responsibility.
Notwithstanding the fact that the number of boats carrying passengers
between Texas City and Galveston has been largely increased, it was
impossible yesterday to leave the city after the early morning hours.
Yesterday the “Lawrence,” after jamming her nose into the mud, remained
aground all day. Her passengers were taken off in small sailboats, and
by noon a dozen of them heavily loaded started from Galveston to Texas
City.
INTENSE SUFFERING ON THE WATER.
The wind died away utterly and the boats could neither go on to Texas
City nor return to Galveston. None of them had more than a meager supply
of water, which was soon exhausted; the sun beat down with a merciless
severity. In a short time babies and young children became ill and in
many instances their mothers were also prostrated. There was absolutely
no relief to be had, as the tugs of Galveston Bay, which might have
given the sloops tow, are all made for deep sea work and draw too much
water to allow of their crossing the shallow channel.
Hour after hour the people on the boats, all of which were densely
packed, were compelled to broil in the torturing and blinding sun. A
slight breeze arising in the evening at 9 o’clock, the sailing craft
which had left Galveston at noon began to dump their passengers upon the
beach at Texas City. Owing to a delay in Houston trains it was fully
twenty hours after their start from Galveston that the people who left
there yesterday noon were able to move out from Texas City, which is
only eight miles away, and by the time the train had made a start for
Houston every woman in the crowd was ill through lack of food, exposure
and insufficient sleep.
In the long list of the dead of Galveston the family name of Labett
appears several times. Only a year or two ago five generations of the
Labetts were living at one time in Galveston.
The family nearly suffered the destruction of the family name in the
storm. A young man connected with one of the railroads was down town and
escaped. When the parties of searchers were organized and proceeded to
various parts of the city one of them came across this young Labett near
the ruins of his home all alone. He had made his way there and had found
the bodies of father and mother and other relatives. He had carried the
dead to a drift of sand, and there without a tool, with his bare hands
and a piece of board he was trying to scrape out gravel to bury the
bodies.
GALVESTON REFUGEES AT HOUSTON.