“Arrived at Galveston at 6 P. M., having been ferried across bay in a yawl boat. It is impossible to adequately describe the condition existing. The storm began about 9 A. M. on Saturday, and continued with constantly increasing violence until after midnight. The island was inundated; the height of the tide was from eleven to thirteen feet. The wind was a cyclone. With few exceptions every building in the city is injured. Hundreds are entirely destroyed. All the fortifications except the rapid fire battery at San Jacinto are practically destroyed. At San Jacinto every building except the quarantine station has been swept away. “Battery O, First Artillery, lost twenty-eight men. The officers and their families were all saved. Three members of the hospital corps lost. All bridges are gone, water works destroyed and all telegraph lines are down. The city is under control of Committee of Safety, and is perfectly quiet. Every article of equipment or property pertaining to Battery O was lost. Not a record of any kind is left. The men saved have nothing but the clothing on their persons. Nearly all are without shoes or clothing other than their shirts and trousers. Clothing necessary has been purchased, and temporary arrangements made for food and shelter. There are many thousand citizens homeless and absolutely destitute who must be clothed, sheltered and fed. Have ordered 20,000 rations and tents for 1000 from Sam Houston. Have wired Commissary-General to ship 30,000 rations by express. Lieutenant Perry will make his way back to Houston and send this telegram. “MCKIBBEN.” ALARMING RUMORS FROM GALVESTON. The authorities at Galveston on the 13th prohibited the entry into the city of any one but men willing to work. Six hundred women and children fled from Galveston and came to Houston. The smell of the dead attained to the stifling point. Five hundred more bodies recovered from the debris were cremated in one pile. Several of the women who arrived at Houston from Galveston were fever patients. They were removed to ambulances from the train in stretchers. It was evident that the city was on the verge of an epidemic, if, indeed, it was not already in its throes. There were serious indications that the authorities were suppressing the facts.