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
Florida, Louisiana and Texas coast cities are but a few feet above high
tide register and therefore the more subject to overflow. To compute the
total loss of life and property from the storms which from time to time
have devastated the coast of the Gulf of Mexico it would be found the
loss of human life would extend well into the thousands, while tens of
millions of dollars have been laid waste.
STORMS THAT BROUGHT DESOLATION.
There have been many such storms before whose fury has been felt by the
coast people. One of the worst storms was in September, 1860, which
caused ruin and death from Rio Grande to Mobile, and when the waters had
subsided the loss could be figured at $3,000,000.
Then in October of the same year, one month later, another storm swept
down upon Galveston and Houston, and $5,000,000 had been wiped out.
There were other storms of less violence, as, for instance, in June,
1891, when a southeast wind blew a hurricane for four days and the city
was inundated and shipping was seriously crippled.
There was another fearful visitation on September 17, 1875. A good part
of the city was under water several feet deep. Vessels were wrecked and
the City Hospital was filled with water and the Ocean House, on Gulf
Beach, crumbled and fell and floated away in remnants. Thirty lives were
lost. It was the hardest storm since 1867 up to that time. The storm
raged for several days.
Indianola, one hundred and twenty miles southwest of Galveston, was
almost totally destroyed. More than one hundred and fifty of its
inhabitants were found dead in the ruins of their homes. Nearly all of
its three thousand houses were unroofed or badly damaged, and $7,000,000
in money has gone to waste.
A hurricane on the lower Texas coast and in Mexico on August 20, 1880,
carried destruction far and wide. As many as three hundred houses in
Matamoras, Mexico, were demolished, even brick buildings offering no
more resistance than so many toys. Brownsville, Texas, saw its houses
unroofed and the infantry barracks were demolished, and twenty-eight
army horses and several mules were killed. A convent did not escape
damage, and several of the occupants were injured by falling debris.
The railroads, quarantine stations and the lighthouses were seriously
damaged. Thirty lives were lost and property damaged was estimated at
$1,000,000. This hurricane was followed by one of equal violence on the
Mexican coast, which completely wiped out the town of Altata and the
port of that name. Not one house was left standing and ships in the
harbor suffered greatly.
ATLANTIC COAST ALSO SWEPT.