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 wife of Dr. Longino, an army surgeon, was at a friend’s house, with
her little baby, when the storm commenced. During the storm, from fright
or something else, the baby lost its breath. Everybody thought the child
was dead and tried to persuade Mrs. Longino to leave it and try to save
herself but she would not do so. She caught hold of the baby’s tongue
and held it so it could not retard the passage of air in the windpipe.
TRYING TO SAVE THE CHILD’S LIFE.
“She blew her own breath into the baby’s body. After working for a long
time, during the most terrible part of the storm, the baby was revived
and is still living. She kept her invalid aunt alive by pinching her
cheeks. The next day she reached a place of safety in the city. She said
she could hardly walk along the beach for the bodies of children. There
was a Catholic orphanage about five miles down the beach, in which were
a hundred children and ten nuns. All of these but three boys were
killed.
“One woman who was trying to save a child was pinned down by a piano.
She was just about to give herself up for lost when a big wave came and
washed the piano off of her. She and the child were both rescued. We
kept a little pet lamb alive, which afterwards we thought we would have
to kill for food. But Mrs. Brown got a calf somewhere. It was killed and
cleaned, but the ladies themselves had to cut it up. This served for
food for two days. The two big cisterns in the cellar were full of salt
water; there was a small one on the roof which furnished us with water
for a little while. After that we had to beg it from the neighbors.
“The only clothes we have are what we have on and one change of
underclothes, which we took with us when we went to Mrs. Brown’s. All
the rest of our clothes are mildewed.
“We did not see any of the negroes stealing, as mother kept us in the
house all the time, but we could hear the shots. They commenced this
dastardly work Sunday night. The ghouls are composed of negroes and
foreigners. We did not get very frightened when people kept coming to us
for help the night of the storm. All we could do was to thank God that
He had given us a place of shelter which we could share with those less
fortunate.”
THREATENED WITH PESTILENCE.
A visitor to the stricken city made the following report:
“Galveston’s stress and desolation grows with each recurring hour.
Pestilence, famine, fire, thirst and rapine menace the stricken city.
Each refugee from the storm-lashed island brings tidings which add to
the tale of the city’s woe.