“And the worst of it is that nearly all the soldiers were lost. Of the detachment stationed at Galveston I don’t believe there are more than thirty left. At present the crying need of Galveston is water and ice—and soldiers. The fresh water on the island was ruined by the brine from the sea. The ice is needed to prevent the decomposition of the corpses. The soldiers are needed to keep down vandalism. And along this latter line I want to say that the militia must come quickly. The negroes should be sent to the cotton fields of north Texas. Those who will work can be kept there, but the others should be sent away just as soon as possible, for they merely eat up the supplies and are a constant menace. They should either be killed or made to get out, for one or the other is the grim necessity of the situation. FLOATING BODIES IN THE BAY. “As to the loss of life in Galveston, I can’t figure it. We counted ninety-three floating bodies on our way from the wharf to Texas City. The prairies across the bay this side of Galveston are covered with piles of cotton and wreckage of all descriptions—dead bodies and the like. “I got to Galveston at 10 o’clock Saturday morning. My wife and I took a car and started to the beach. The water was rather high and we thought we would have a jolly good time splashing around. When we got within five blocks of the beach the motorman stopped his car and said that he could go no further. We came back downtown and got on another car. This time we could get within but seven blocks of the beach. This shows you how fast the water was rising. “We got back to the Santa Fe ticket office about 11.30 o’clock. I made up my mind that I wanted to go over to the general offices, but the water was in all the streets and I waited awhile, hoping it would get lower. But at noon it was between knee and hip deep in front of the Santa Fe ticket office. At 2 o’clock my wife and I waded into the Washington Hotel. “From that time on the wind grew stronger. At 5 o’clock the water was six feet deep in the lower floor of the Washington Hotel. Why, it covered the telephone box in the office. The wind blew not less than ninety-five miles an hour from then until 9.30 o’clock. “The first rise came from the bay, and the bay rise lasted until about 8 P. M. Then the tide from the Gulf met the rise from the bay and forced it back. That’s when we had our highest water. And I want to say to you right now that but for those two forces meeting there wouldn’t be a stick left on Galveston Island to-day.