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
“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.
“To add to the horror of the situation, human hyenas moved stealthily
among the dead, robbing those who were powerless to resist, but these
ghouls in human guise are meeting with just retribution, for armed
sentinels are now on guard and have orders to shoot them down as they
would mad dogs.
“If the situation along the East Side was more horrible than that along
the West, it was only because more people dwelt there and there were
more houses to be destroyed. Along either beach gaunt destruction held
full sway, and each wave seemed more cruel than that which it succeeded.
Nor were the waves alone in their cruelty, for the winds reveled in
maddened fury and seemed to vie with them in spreading ruin and
desolation.
HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE CARRIED OUT TO SEA.
“The loss of life at Galveston will never be known. The storm came first
from the northwest and hundreds, perhaps thousands, were carried far out
to sea never more to return. At 10 o’clock at night the wind suddenly
veered to the southeast and hundreds more were swept into the bay and
caught by the current and also carried out to the sea before daylight
Sunday morning. That is the opinion of old seamen with whom I conversed,
and if they do not know the actions of the ocean, then no one does.
“Monday evening and Tuesday morning I myself saw more than a hundred
bodies floating out to sea and these were scarcely one per cent of those
who perished. Responsible men with whom I talked and who had been from
one end of the island to the other, estimated the loss at from 5,000 to
10,000; and all thought it would come nearer the last named figures than
the first. Day by day as the debris is cleared away bodies will be found
and many are buried beneath the ruins that will never be removed.
[Illustration:
IMPROVISED KITCHEN FOR FEEDING THE GALVESTON SUFFERERS]
[Illustration:
HON. WALTER C. JONES
MAYOR OF GALVESTON]
[Illustration:
PHOTOGRAPH BY MORRIS, GALVESTON
INMATES OF THE HOME FOR HOMELESS CHILDREN, GALVESTON—ALL OF THESE
LITTLE ONES WERE LOST IN THE FLOOD]
[Illustration:
TREMONT STREET, LOOKING NORTH FROM AVENUE O ½]
[Illustration:
WRECK OF FORT CROCKET]
[Illustration:
RUINS OF THE GALVESTON CITY WATER WORKS AND POWER HOUSE