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
“The telegraph offices at Dallas have been besieged all day with men and
women anxious to hear from friends who were in Galveston when the
hurricane came on. Messages of inquiry have poured in from all parts of
the United States. More than 10,000 messages were piled up in the Dallas
offices to-day from local and outside parties, and every telegraph
operator has been kept busy as long as he could work. The offices have
uniformly had to inform the customers: ‘We can’t reach Galveston; can
only promise to forward from Houston by boat as early as possible.’
Notwithstanding discouragements of this kind, the customers have almost
invariably insisted on having their messages sent. Some of the scenes at
the local telegraph offices have been very pathetic.
“A telegram was received from E. H. R. Green, son of Hetty Green, dated
at Rockport, stating that Rockport had not been damaged by the storm,
and that the visitors at the Tarpon Club House, on St. Joseph’s Island,
were safe. This news lessens the fear felt for the safety of the people
living along the coast in the vicinity of Rockport and Corpus Christi.
“Houston and Texas Central Railroad officials at noon received bulletins
from their general offices in Houston that the loss of life will reach
3000 in Galveston. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas relief forces near
Galveston and along the coast telegraphed at noon that the loss of life
will not be less than 5000 and may reach 10,000.”
THE CITY IN RUINS.
Richard Spillane, a well-known Galveston newspaper man and day
correspondent of the Associated Press in that city, who reached Houston
September 10th, after a terrible experience, gives the following account
of the disaster at Galveston:
[Illustration:
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, GALVESTON, AFTER THE STORM]
[Illustration:
WRECKAGE OF CARS OF GRAIN—GALVESTON]
[Illustration:
AVENUE L AND TWENTY-SIXTH STREET, SHOWING THE URSULINE CONVENT, THE
REFUGE OF HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE]
[Illustration:
RUINS OF THE GAS WORKS AT THIRTY-THIRD AND MARKET STREETS]
[Illustration:
BURYING BODIES WHERE THEY WERE FOUND]
[Illustration:
AVENUE L AND FIFTEENTH STREET—SHOWING DESTRUCTION DONE BY THE
HURRICANE]
[Illustration:
TANGLED MASS OF RUINS ON NINETEENTH STREET]
[Illustration:
VOLUNTEERS REMOVING DEBRIS ON TWENTY-FIRST STREET, LOOKING SOUTH]
“One of the most awful tragedies of modern times has visited Galveston.
The city is in ruins, and the dead will number many thousands: I am just
from the city, having been commissioned by the Mayor and Citizens’
Committee to get in touch with the outside world and appeal for help.
Houston was the nearest point at which working telegraph instruments
could be found, the wires as well as nearly all the buildings between
here and the Gulf of Mexico being wrecked.
“When I left Galveston the people were organizing for the prompt burial
of the dead, distribution of food and all necessary work after a period
of disaster.