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
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 arm. 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 throwing 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 his grasp when the roof fell in. The water had driven her little
body to the surface through an opening, 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 about on the
raging sea. Part of the time they think they were far out in the Gulf.
They know they were out of sight of lights and buildings much of the
time.
Mr. William Blair, a member of the Screwmen’s Association, with a party
of twelve, took in what he said to be the first boat that carried news
from the mainland. The trip this party made was one of the most heroic
on record. Mr. Blair said:
ONE LONE HOUSE STANDING.
“We were caught in Houston in the storm, and Sunday morning as soon as
the storm abated we resolved to get to our families and friends in
Galveston, if such a thing was possible. A party of twelve of us left
Houston on a Southern Pacific train. We got as far as Seabrook and there
we found everything washed away, and dead bodies here and there. One
lone house was standing. Clear Creek bridge had been washed away and the
railroad track was turned over. We went back to Houston and waited there
till 4.40 P. M., and took the Galveston, Houston and Henderson regular
train and succeeded in getting as far as Lamarque.