“Of course it has been told by several how everything had been swept off the face of the land in that direction, but I could not help noticing the large number of colored people with their baskets and shawls searching through the ruins of what had been the finest homes in Galveston for bric-a-brac, silver and other articles of value. I stood for some time, amazed that they could have the audacity to do what they were doing, but as nobody seemed to interfere with them or question their right, I passed on as every one else did, simply feeling astounded that people could be so inhuman at such a time. I saw one colored woman who had filled her basket and was returning to the city when she met one of the unfortunate owners of the property, who, by the merest chance, noticed sticking out of the woman’s basket some article that she was able to identify as her property. CURSED FOR INTERFERENCE. “She called upon the darkey to give up the article, but she declined to do so, taking the position that in such times it was anybody’s property. Fortunately for the rightful owner a gentleman friend happened to come along during the controversy, and, hearing the nature of it, forcibly took the basket from the woman, who was even then bold enough to stand cursing the man for his interference. I did not see any parties mutilating or robbing the dead, but I met several others in Galveston who had. “I left on Tuesday morning, being fortunate enough to get passage on a schooner that carried me to Texas City. From there I caught a train to Houston. All day Monday in Galveston it seemed to be one continual procession of bodies, which were being carried in wagons, drays, fire ladders, and every other imaginable conveyance. Some of the bodies were minus heads, arms or feet, which, added to the advanced stage of decomposition, not only made the scene particularly horrible to witness, but extremely nauseating on account of the smell from the bodies. Particularly toward the close of Monday the bodies were found so rapidly that any effort to carry them to any special point for burial had about ceased and they were covered up in the sand, laid down on the wharf or left where they were found. Even after I was fortunate enough to get a schooner to carry me to Texas City it seemed that there were almost as many floating in the bay and being carried off or lying around on the mainland as I had seen in Galveston itself. “It was a horrible experience which I passed through, which I hope will never occur again in my lifetime, and I feel that I cannot too strongly call attention to the urgent needs, both in food and clothing, not only of the poor classes, but of the best people in Galveston, who up to the time of this terrible calamity had not known what want was, and who even now seem ill at ease in knowing how to make their wants known.” STORM OF INDESCRIBABLE FURY.