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
“Immediately on my arrival here a meeting of the Woodmen was called and
$200 in cash subscribed and turned over to me, and about $300 more
pledged to be placed in my hands on demand. All camps throughout the
State are requested to immediately call meetings and forward such
subscriptions as they may see proper to me at Dallas. This will be used
for the benefit of Woodmen and their families, many of whom are in
absolute want and distress, and we hope to raise at least $30,000, which
is less than $1 each from our members.”
From Houston came the following heartrending news of the Galveston
horror two days after it occurred:
“The dreadful fatality of Galveston is looking worse, in the face of
facts brought out to-day. Three men, who reached here this morning, tell
of so and so many dead bodies being found in a single house or yard or
on one block, that the conclusion is almost irresistible that a greater
number than 1000 has been lost. They tell that twenty or forty or a
hundred were lost by the collapse of a single large house, they having
gathered there for safety, but they are unable to say anything about the
hundreds of small houses that were swept away, some vacant, of course,
but many occupied, but without a mark, a sign or a memory to recall the
lost.
NAMES OF DEAD WILL NEVER BE KNOWN.
“The outline of the terrible disaster is now known over the United
States, and even farther. The details are wanting; no list of names
approaching completeness can be had for weeks, and it is almost sure
that a complete list will never be found. As time wears along the names
of different persons will be recalled by those who were neighbors, and
they will be set down on the death roll that will be made up; but where
neighbors do not know neighbors, the names will never be called, and the
identity of the lost will pass with eternity—without recall or
remembrance.
“This city and her people are devoting themselves assiduously to
relieving the unfortunates. Her business men are losing not a moment.
They thoroughly realize that seconds are valuable. Last night large
wagons jostled along the streets with boxes of prepared food to load
them on boats and cars. The Mayor has sent out calls to the large cities
of this and other States for immediate help, and everybody here feels
that the response will be generous and speedy. These people know the
justness of their demand, and hence their confidence in getting the
answer.
“W. O. Ansley, a well known cotton man of this city, received a letter
this morning, brought by private messenger, from A. W. Simpson, a cotton
man at Galveston, saying:
“‘It’s awful. Not a complete house in the city. Help urgently needed.
Thousands are homeless. Food is being distributed to the destitute, but
lots more will be needed.’”
MISSING ONES SWELL DEATH LIST.