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
So far the efforts of the searchers have necessarily been confined to
the open places, and it will be some time before the dead swept into the
fields, the alleys and the gullies are gathered and laid away for good.
The city is one awful stench of decaying animal matter. Nearly every
animal on the island was killed, and the thousands of human remains
still scattered beneath the vast piles of debris add to the danger of
the situation. Too much time was lost in consigning the dead to the sea,
and the workers were compelled by the exigencies of the situation to
pile the corpses where found, and cremate them as well as this could be
done.
PEOPLE DELAYED FLIGHT TOO LONG.
Oswald Wilson, editor of the _Texan_, who arrived with the refugees,
says that the situation cannot be painted any blacker than it really is.
Fully one-third of the city has been destroyed absolutely and every
building damaged. He says that one reason that the loss of life was so
excessive was due to the fact that they delayed leaving their homes
until too late. The water rose rapidly for several hours until the
centre of the city was six feet deep and the outlying section covered to
a depth of over ten feet. The people of Galveston were accustomed to
high water, although they had never witnessed so great an inundation,
but their fears were calmed by the fact that during this period the wind
had not risen above thirty miles an hour, and every year they had seen
this condition during the equinoctial periods.
REALIZED THEIR PERIL TOO LATE.
Men waded about the city laughing at the rise of the water for hours,
for the sea gradually encroached during the morning, and it was only
when they realized the bay was forcing its contents to meet the tide
from the Gulf that they lost their confidence that the present was but
another attempt of the elements to create a disturbance, and seriously
endeavored to reach a point of safety. Then it was too late, for the
tide swirled in the streets and the wind had begun rapidly to increase
in violence. It howled and screamed in great gusts, which increased in
strength every minute, and one by one the houses along the Gulf front
and in the Denver resurvey and about Fort Point began to go to pieces
and pile one against the other.
The waters were filled with debris and the debris with men, women and
children seeking to save their lives. Wading was impossible, save in the
centre of the city, and the unfortunates were swept to and fro, dashed
by the waves and bruised by the flying fragments, until death resulted
in one form or another. Many were the deeds of heroism, but rescuers and
all fell victims to the storm, for human efforts were unavailing.
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