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
“The depot for sanitary supplies established by the Board of Health
issued yesterday fifty-four sacks and eighty-four barrels of lime,
twenty-five sacks of charcoal, twenty boxes of powdered disinfectants,
ten cans of oil and three barrels of carbolic acid. All of this was
distributed over the city for disinfection.
“Out in the suburbs large forces were at work cleaning the streets and
opening the gutters. The result of their work is very noticeable to one
who went out in the evening after having gone over the same ground the
day before. The work of clearing the streets of broken telephone and
telegraph poles and wires, as well as poles and wires of other kinds,
has been begun in earnest. The great broken poles with their loads of
wires are lowered to the ground and the wires removed as rapidly as
possible.
THE SHERIFF’S WORK.
“Sheriff Thomas reports that he and his posses buried and cremated
thirty-eight bodies in Hurd’s lane, twenty-one bodies at Sydnor’s Bayou,
and thirteen bodies in Eagle Grove. Sheriff Thomas says there are still
one hundred bodies to be buried just outside the city limits, and he has
no idea of how many more down the island.
“Fully $1,500,000 worth of vessel property is tied up on the lowlands.
There was more than this until the British steamer Mora was floated on
Wednesday. There are seven ocean going steamers grounded in different
parts of the bay, and the prospect of some of them ever getting from
their positions is quite remote.
“The steamer Roma is probably in the tightest place. She broke from her
moorings at pier No. 15 during the storm and went westward to the county
bridge, tearing her way through the other bridges until she went aground
on or near Deer Island. It is feared her days of usefulness are over,
for it would take as much as she is worth to dredge a channel from her
position to water deep enough to float her.
“Another possible total loss is the steamer Kendal Castle, which is in
shallow water near Texas City, having gone there during the storm from
pier No. 31. She lies partly broadside on. Like the Roma, she is far
from deep water, and until the Texas City channel is completed it does
not seem probable that she can get out.
“The quarantine barge, belonging to the State, is probably gone beyond
redemption. She dragged her anchor from the mooring place to Pelican
Island, where she went aground and fell over on her side with the
receding waters. Her machinery is probably badly wrecked, and she is in
such a position that it would be difficult to right her, although the
effort may be made.
“Small craft in the bay suffered as much in proportion to value as the
big vessels, if not more, for practically every one was swamped. Some of
them struck the piers and had holes stove in their bottoms. Owners have
been repairing them, and for that reason few, if any, will be entirely
lost.”
GALVESTON IN DANGER FROM FIRE.