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
It is with reluctance that I relate one case that came under my own
observation. It was so horrible that perhaps it ought not to be told at
all, but only such instances can convey a faint idea of the horror of
the Galveston disaster. While rowing near the Huntington wharves the
naked upturned body of an unfortunate woman was observed floating in the
water, with a half-born infant plainly in view.
MASSACRE OF THE LIVING.
Mr. L. H. Lewis, of Dallas, arrived yesterday looking for his son,
George Cabell Lewis, who was found alive and well. Mr. Lewis said: “I
helped to bury sixteen at Texas City last (Tuesday) night—all Galveston
victims. They buried fifty-eight there Tuesday. Coming down Buffalo
bayou I saw numberless legs and arms, mostly of women and children,
protruding from the muck. I believe there are hundreds of women and
children near the mouth of the bayou. As soon as men can be found to do
the work these poor victims should be looked after. Unquestionably most
of them were from Galveston Island. Among other things I saw were
tombstones with inscriptions in German and rusty caskets which had been
beached by the waves.”
The cruel elements were not content to massacre the living, but had to
invade the silent homes of the unoffending dead.
No man has been busier comforting the grief-stricken people of Galveston
than Dr. R. C. Buckner of the Buckner Orphan Home in Dallas county. He
leaves Thursday morning for his institution with the homeless orphans of
the Galveston Orphans’ Home, which was wrecked by the storm. He has
others besides these, and altogether he will take one hundred home with
him.
What a grand old man Dr. Buckner is! I will take off my hat to him any
day in the week. I have known him for years and there is not a nobler
character alive. I saw him at Sherman when that city was ravished by a
cyclone several years ago. He was there looking for orphans, and I know
that he has always been quick to reach the scene of disaster and death.
He got here Tuesday afternoon and lost no time in reaching his part of
the work, and heaven knows there was none more important than that to
which he assigned himself.
RESCUING DESTITUTE CHILDREN.
But the people of Texas ought to know what he has done. They have always
loved the Buckner home. They know what it has done in the way of
rescuing destitute children. They know that hundreds of good men and
women of the State have come from that institution—men and women who
have become successful in life and who honor the State and the home by
their useful and upright lives. But Texas will have greater cause than
ever to love and revere Dr. Buckner and his institution when it is known
that he has added to his family a hundred hapless victims of the
Galveston storm, making in all 400 in his entire family. The heart of
this State is throbbing here now, and whoever renders a good service to
Galveston will be honored by the State.