CHAPTER VII.

Not a House in Galveston Escaped Damage—Young and Old, Rich and Poor, Hurried to a Watery Grave—Citizens with Guns Guarding the Living and the Dead.

The all-absorbing story of the great flood is continued in the following pages, with new and thrilling incidents. Best informed residents of Galveston who have been over all portions of the city estimate that from 1200 to 1300 acres were swept clear of habitation. It can be said that not one Galveston home escaped without some damage.

Galveston’s great open-air show-place was the Garten Verein. There were various structures devoted to recreation which stood on about seven acres of ground that had been brought to a degree of perfection in gardening hardly credible when the foundation of sand was remembered. Hundreds of oleander trees and flowerbeds adorned the park. The Garten Verein was wiped out of existence. Among the debris have been found many bodies.

SLOWLY RECOVERING FROM THE STUNNING BLOW.

Galveston is now beginning slowly to recover from the stunning blow of last week, and though the city appears to-night to be pitilessly desolated, the authorities and the commercial and industrial interests are setting their forces to work and a start has at least been made toward the resumption of business on a moderate scale. Plans for rebuilding the city are also discussed. The presence of the troops has had a beneficial effect upon the criminal classes, and the apprehension of a brief but desperate reign of anarchy no longer exists.

The liquor saloons have at least temporarily gone out of business, and every strong-limbed man who has not his own humble abode to look after is being pressed into service, so that, first of all, the water-service may be resumed, the gutters flushed and the streets lighted.

The further the ruins are explored the greater becomes the increase in the list of those who perished as their houses fell about their heads. On the lower beach a searching party found a score of corpses within a small area, going to show that the bulwark of debris that lies straight across the island conceals many more bodies than have been accounted for.

Volunteer gangs continue their work of hurried burial of the corpses they find on the shores of Galveston Island at the many neighboring points where fatalities attended the storm. It will probably be many days yet, however, before all the floating bodies have found nameless graves.

MANGLED CORPSES WASHED ASHORE.

Along the beach they are constantly being washed up. Whether these are those who were swept out into the Gulf and drowned or are simply the return of some of those cast into the sea to guard against terrible pestilence, there is no means of knowing. In any event, the correspondent, in a trip across the bay yesterday, counted seven bodies tossing in the waves with a score of horses and cattle.

The city still presents the appearance of widespread wreck and ruin. Little has been done to clear the streets of the terrible tangle of wires and the masses of wreck, mortar, slate, stone and glass that bestrew them. Many of the sidewalks are impassable. Some of them are littered with debris. Others are so thickly covered with slime that walking on them is out of the question.

As a general rule, substantial frame buildings withstood better the blasts of the gale than those of brick. In other instances, however, small wooden structures, cisterns and whole sides of houses are lying in streets or backyards squares away from where they originally stood.

Here and there business men have already put men to work to repair the damage done, but in the main the commercial interests seem to be uncertain about following the lead of those who apparently show faith in the rapid rehabilitation of the island city. The appearance of the newspapers to-day, after a suspension of several days, is having a good effect, and both the News and Tribune are urging prompt succoring of the suffering and then equal promptness in reconstruction.

It is difficult to say yet what the ultimate effect of the disaster is to be on the city. Many people have left and some may never return. The experience of others still here was so frightful that not all will remain if they can conveniently find occupation in other cities.

WONDERFUL COURAGE AND HOPE.

The bulk of the population, however, is only temporarily panic stricken, and there are hosts of those who helped to make Galveston great who look upon the catastrophe as involving only a temporary halt in the advancement of the city.

The decision of the transportation lines will do more than anything else to restore confidence. Big ships, new arrivals, rode at anchor to-day in front of the city. They had just reached the port and found the docks and pier damage so widespread that no accommodations could be given to them.

The losses to the charitable institutions of the city were very heavy. Sealy Hospital, the gift of the late John Sealy, was one of the largest institutions of Texas. Very serious damage was sustained. Almost the first work of restoration begun on any public structure was at the Sealy Hospital.

The medical department of the University of Texas included what is known as Brackenridge Hall. This hall was the gift of George W. Brackenridge, of San Antonio. It was seriously damaged. The Old Women’s Hospital is a complete ruin. St. Mary’s Infirmary, on Tenth and Market Streets, was entirely destroyed. The Ursuline Convent and the Ursuline Academy were partially demolished. The convent is now a haven of refuge of 500 houseless people.

The Catholic Orphans’ Asylum disappeared, leaving but slight traces in the form of ruins. It was supposed that the inmates, some ninety-nine sisters and little children, had been swept out into the gulf when the waters receded. Within the past few days bodies of several of the victims at the asylum have been found.

It appeared that when the sisters found the waters rising all around the asylum their only thoughts were for their little charges. They tied the children in bunches and then each sister fastened to herself one of these groups of orphans, determined to save them or die with them. Two of these groups have been found under wreckage. In each case eight children had been fastened together and then tied to a sister.

Galveston’s school buildings, public and private, were unsurpassed for solidity and architectural finish. An examination of the public school buildings shows that scarcely one is fit for use.

Houses of worship suffered severely, although most of them were quite substantial. St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the Baptist Church, Trinity Episcopal, the Fourth Presbyterian, St. Mary’s Cathedral, St. John’s Methodist, the Seamen’s Bethel and two other churches on Broad Street, between Twenty-first and Tremont, sustained either total destruction or such damages that they must be rebuilt. Grace Episcopal Church, in the west end, which was one of the many benefactions of the late Henry Rosenberg, escaped with slight injury.

BUSINESS HOUSES SUFFER GREAT LOSS.

One of the most notable buildings of the city was that of the Improvement Loan and Trust Company, at Post Office and Tremont street. The damage sustained was not serious. The E. S. Levy office building, on Market and Tremont streets, cost $135,000. It contained 150 offices, and was considered a marvel of the town. This building withstood the storm and the occupants escaped by staying in their offices.

The Marx and Blum Buildings, Twenty-fourth and Mechanic streets, was one of the large commercial structures. It was occupied in part by the Galveston Hat and Shoe Co. The damages to the building and the stocks are placed now at $75,000. The Clarke and Courts Building sustained a loss to building and stock of $40,000. The Galveston Cotton and Woolen Mills suffered to the amount of $75,000. The Galveston City Railroad powerhouse was demolished, and it is estimated that $100,000 will be required to restore the plant.

The business structures did not suffer the total destruction that occurred in so much of the residence section, but many are so badly damaged that they will have to be torn down.

LARGEST ELEVATOR BADLY DAMAGED.

Galveston had a gigantic elevator interest which had developed with the port’s growing grain trade. Elevator “A” at Fourteenth street, on the Bay side, was one of the largest in the world. Its capacity was in excess of 1,500,000 bushels of wheat. All the upper works of the elevator are gone.

One of the remarkable things about the force of the storm was that it tore from their moorings several large steamships and carried them in diverse directions. For example, the Kendall Castle an English ship, was swept from Pier 33 across Pelican Island and landed on the shore at Texas City. That was a course almost due north. Possibly a dredge may be able to cut a channel which will let the Kendall Castle out of the shoal part of the Bay, where it lies high in the water.

The Norwegian Gyller, a steamer of considerable tonnage, now lies stranded between Virginia Point and Texas City. Its course varied considerably from that of the Kendall Castle. A channel would have to be cut so far to float out the Gyller that there is doubt whether it would be warranted by the amount at stake.

One of the most serious results of the storm has been the damage to the electric light and street car plants. The city has been in absolute darkness for several nights, and only a few concerns who operate their own illuminating services are enabled to do business. Nearly every residence has gone back to the primitive candle. The absence of street lights drives all who have no imperative business on the streets to their homes at nightfall, but the work of the patrol system is made more difficult thereby and the opportunity for looting greater.

The motormen deserted their cars when the fury of the wind and the rush of the water made it no longer possible to operate them. Attempts are being made now to get the cars in shape again. The great destruction of live stock has eliminated the carriages and cabs as a means of transportation.

The work of relief continues energetically. Mayor Jones and his associates are bending every nerve to open a direct line of transportation with Houston by which he may be enabled promptly to receive the great quantity of provisions which are now on the way to the city. The Relief Committee is striving to systematize its work. On Tuesday an ordinance was passed authorizing rescuing and burying parties to set fire to wrecked buildings and burn them. In these funeral pyres hundreds of corpses were cremated.

CARING FOR HOMELESS REFUGEES.

Houston now is the haven of the unfortunate people of Galveston. Trains have already brought in between 500 and 1000 of the survivors, and a motley crowd they are. Men bareheaded, barefooted, hatless and coatless, with swollen feet and bruised and blackened bodies and heads were numerous. Women of wealth and refinement, frequently hatless, shoeless, with gowns in shreds, were among the refugees. Nearly all of those who came in have suffered the loss of one or more of their family. It is remarkable, however, there is no whimpering, no complaining.

The refugees are being housed and fed, and those in need of medical attention are placed in the hospitals. General-Manager Van Vleck, of the Southern Pacific, says the damage to the wharves is fully eighty per cent. The Southern Pacific, he says, expects to begin work on the bridge within two days. It is expected that trains will be run into Galveston within forty days.

John J. Moody, a member of the committee sent from Houston to take charge of the relief station at Texas City, reports as follows:

“On arriving at La Marque this morning I was informed that the largest number of bodies were along the coast of Texas City. Fifty-six were buried yesterday and to-day within less than two miles extending opposite this place and towards Virginia City. It is yet six miles farther to Virginia City and the bodies are thicker where we are now than where they have been buried. A citizen inspecting in the opposite direction reports dead bodies thick for twenty miles.

“The residents of this place have lost all, not a habitable building being left, and they have been too busy disposing of the dead to look after personal affairs. Those who have anything left are giving it to others, and yet there is real suffering. I have given away nearly all the bread I brought for our own use to hungry children.

“Every ten feet along the wreck-lined coast tells of acts of vandalism. Not a trunk, valise or tool chest has escaped rifling. We buried a woman this afternoon whose fingers bore the mark of a recently removed ring.”

WASHED ACROSS THE BAY FROM GALVESTON.

B. F. Cameron, a lumber dealer of Stowell, Chambers County, says that the relief party which went from Stowell to Bolivar, reported to him that there was over 1000 dead bodies on the beach at Bolivar, Yeast Bay, and in sight of the salt marshes which line the bay. The party succeeded in burying only forty of the corpses. The others are lying in the water and on land, decomposing in the heat. Many of these bodies were evidently swept across the bay from Galveston.

In view of the completeness with which Galveston has been destroyed by the storm, many believe the city will never be rebuilt. The argument is that from its very location the city is ever in danger of a similar visitation, and capital will be fearful of investment where the danger is so constant.

There are many, however, who take the opposite view and say that in no other place on the Gulf can there be found a location so advantageous, and therefore, no matter if the risk be great, capital will seek investment in Galveston, and the city will soon resume her importance as a shipping port.

This sentiment is reflected in telegrams and verbal utterances, some of which are here printed:

Dallas, Texas, Wednesday.—Much serious thought has been given to the question of the future of Galveston by the best informed men of Dallas since the calamity of last Saturday and Sunday. The outlook, to their minds, is not a bright one. The expression of judgment most frequently heard is “Galveston is doomed.” Men reason that to the perils the population have ever to face from nature’s elements the timidity of capital must now be added.

In the great storm of 1875 little of private or public capital ran the risk of destruction. The great wharves, elevators, compresses and railway and steamship systems had taken but slight foothold in the island city. The federal government had built jetties and general harbor improvements and coast defences, at a cost of more than $10,000,000 of public money. All these millions of public and private wealth have been put into Galveston enterprises since 1875.

CAPITAL WILL BE SHY HEREAFTER.

Capitalists will scarcely venture again in the near future to invest their money in a place where it is likely to be wiped out at a ratio of from $5,000,000 to $10,000,000 to one equinoctial storm. And when the Federal Government contemplates costly brand new coast defence fortifications, such as Fort Sam Houston, shattered by wind and waves, and ninety per cent. of the garrison killed, it will not consider the place where these ventures were made a safe one for their duplication. A harbor to be safe must be land locked.

These are the views of thinking men who have studied the situation. The question then arises, What will supersede Galveston? Some predict that Houston, fifty miles in the interior, on Buffalo Bayou, through the agency of a ship canal built at the expense of the federal government, is the coming metropolis of the Gulf.

Others say Texas City, ten miles from Galveston, will now be developed as a grand maritime successor to the unfortunate island city. Others say Clinton, on Buffalo Bayou, six miles below Houston, because of its facilities to furnish water and rail terminals, will be the Texas seaport of the near future.

Very few expect unfortunate Galveston to rise again and reassert herself the mistress of the Gulf. A Galveston man illustrated the problem very aptly to-night, when he said:

“Fully one-half of the population of Galveston will never go back there to live if they be got off the island alive this time. My opinion is that Galveston has had her rise and fall.”

AUSTIN PREDICTS NO DESERTION OF THE CITY.

Austin, Texas, Wednesday.—In the first shadow of the awful calamity which has befallen Galveston the thought of many is that Galveston City will have to be removed to the mainland or deserted. Nevertheless, calmer opinion is that the city will not be moved. There are too many interests concerned, too much money invested and too many possibilities to think of moving the city.

Property losses, while great, are not beyond repair. The city may not for many years regain the popularity it enjoyed up to last week, but it is believed that with the passage of time and the allaying of public fear the place will begin to revive.

Millions are invested there in harbor improvements that would be useless were the island deserted. Millions more invested in business weathered the storm, save as to windows and roofs, and these can be easily repaired.

Wharfing interests representing millions will cost money to get back into shape again, but the belief is general that it will be done. The business interests of Texas demand a port such as Galveston, and while the town may not regain within five or six years the resident population it had, it is not probable that it will be depopulated.

When the storm of 1875 swept the island it did considerable damage, and it took several years for the public to shake off the fear of a residence there. They did so, however, and went back, and it is believed that they will do so again.

Prominent citizens of Galveston to a man say that no thought of moving the city to the mainland or a more protected spot can be entertained, as there are too many interests in Galveston that cannot be transplanted, and that have not been so badly affected by the storm as to render them useless.

Railroads are already reconstructing bridges across the bay, and trade will be moving through the port within a fortnight.

To protect the city of Galveston from the ravages of future cyclones would be almost as costly as to re-establish the city on a new site.

This is the opinion of eminent engineers in Washington. To insure the maintenance of the channel it has been necessary to erect jetties which have cost more than $6,000,000. These jetties, however, do not furnish an obstacle of any importance to the invasion of the sea when behind it is a force such as a West India cyclone exerts.

Because of the effect of storms upon the Gulf coast, it has been customary for engineer officers stationed at Galveston to report yearly upon the appearance of atmospheric disturbances of more than usual intensity, and Captain Rich, the engineer officer who is believed to have lost his life, said in his report for 1899 that storms which occurred during April, May and June, 1899, “carried away nearly all that remained of construction trestle and track and caused more or less settlement of the jetties.”

GREAT NEED OF A SAFE HARBOR.

The need of a safe deep-water harbor on the Gulf of Mexico has long been appreciated, and in 1899 Congress passed an act directing the Secretary of War to appoint a Board of three engineer officers of the army to make a careful and critical examination of the American coast of the Gulf of Mexico west of 93 degrees and 30 minutes west longitude, and to “report as to the most eligible points for a deep harbor, to be of ample depth, width and capacity to accommodate the largest ocean-going vessels and the commercial and naval necessities of the country.”

The Board consisted of Lieutenant-Colonels H. M. Robert, G. L. Gillespie and Jared A. Smith. It is reported that Galveston was the most eligible point for a deep harbor, but also called attention to the harbors at Sabine Pass and Aransas Pass as being worthy of consideration.

In New York the views of railroad men concerning the future of Galveston as a shipping point are far from gloomy. A. F. Walker, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, says he expects the city to be rebuilt within three months.

“Of course,” said Mr. Walker, “it is a serious blow to Galveston, and with the city covered with mud and wreckage it is easy to prophesy evil for its future, but two weeks will suffice to clear the wreckage and clean the streets, get the dead buried and make a careful estimate of the actual loss. This loss is tremendous, there can be no doubt, but it has very likely been grossly exaggerated.

“Galveston will rebuild, and quickly, because the site combines the greatest natural advantages as a Gulf port and has solid commercial backing. It is imperative that we have a port on the Gulf—the extent of shipping demands it. Galveston offers, in spite of the real handicap of her low position, the best site, and I see no reason why it should not be rapidly rebuilt.”

BELIEVES CITY WILL BE REBUILT.

Vice-President Tweed, of the Southern Pacific Railroad, said this morning that he felt sure that his road would repair the damage done to its properties at Galveston, and go on with further improvements planned.

“I take it for granted,” Mr. Tweed declared, “that the directors of the Southern Pacific will keep up the work they started there. I do not think that this disaster, though certainly serious, will kill Galveston as a shipping port. No definite reports have been received as to the extent of our losses there. The two piers already completed on the property of the Southern Pacific were certainly badly damaged. Any estimate of the amount of damage would be only a guess, but I should say that it would fall below $400,000. Three hundred and fifty thousand dollars had been spent on the piers, and $75,000 paid for a short line from Galveston to Houston, which was destroyed.”

Concerning the suggestion that Galveston will not be rebuilt, but that another city will be established in a safer place on the Gulf, to serve as a shipping port, Mr. Henry Mallory, of the Mallory line of steamships, said:

“Texas naturally seeks an outlet through a Texan harbor, and there is none other in Texas equal to the harbor of Galveston. All railroads centre there. If the city were wiped out some man with money would begin to build there. Locally, Galveston has suffered great loss, against which there is no insurance. But that does not rob the city of its pre-eminent valve as a port.”

Asked if it would be practicable to rebuild the city on an inner shore of Galveston Bay, Mr. Mallory said that it would not. “There is no better location,” said he, “for the city. It is not our purpose to abandon Galveston. We have ten steamships—nine in commission and one building—and we expect to remain in the Texas service.”

A CHANGE FOR THE BETTER.

A correspondent, under date of September the 14th, wrote:

“So far as the actual presence of death is concerned, nobody would know, from a glance at the streets to-day, that a terrible tragedy had been enacted here. Human corpses are out of sight. They have either been buried, taken out to sea or burned.

“But the horrors have not been obliterated by any means. The danger of pestilence still remains. While the human corpses have been disposed of, those of animals—horses, cows, dogs, etc.—have been permitted to remain above ground. There was no time and no means to remove them. Their putrifying remains lay where the waves left them—there to emit a stench that is simply unbearable.

“Lime with which to consume these carcasses is all that will save Galveston from epidemic.

“With corrupt flesh and bad water, or no water at all, Galveston is already in the grasp of typhoid and other virulent fevers. The diseases have not yet become epidemic, but if unchecked for twenty-four hours there is no doubt they will become so.

“Appreciating the situation, Adjutant-General Scurry yesterday succeeded in getting gangs of laboring men organized. The progress made is remarkable and to-day it was much greater. Large piles of refuse were gathered and burned, and the work of cleaning up proceeded in a systematic manner. Heretofore there has been no system, everybody working for the public good in his own way.

PEOPLE HURRYING TO ESCAPE.

“The exodus from the city was heavy to-day, and hundreds more were eager to go who were unable to secure transportation. Along the bay front there were scores of families with dejected faces, pleading to be taken from the stricken city, where, in spite of every effort to restore confidence, there is a universal feeling of depression.

“Shipping men say to-day that the damage to the wharves is by no means as serious as at first supposed. More hopeful reports were received to-day touching the water supply. The company is placing men all along the mains, plugging the broken places and thereby assisting the flow. It was serving some of its customers to-day, and hopes gradually to increase the service. The water continues to run by gravity pressure.

“The only difficulty the people are having is in carrying supplies to their homes or places of business. The ice supply continues bountiful, and at many corners lemonade is being served at five cents for as many glasses as you can drink at one time.

“The work of disposing of the dead continues. Several hundred bodies are still buried beneath the wreckage. Thirty-two sand mounds, marked with small boards, attract attention on the beach, near Twenty-sixth street, and tell the story of where seventy-five bodies have been laid to rest. In the extreme western part of the city sixty bodies were cremated with wreckage of the homes of the unfortunate victims.

“A conflict of authority, due to a misunderstanding, precipitated a temporary disorganization of the policing of the city yesterday. It seems that when General Scurry, Adjutant-General of the Texas Volunteer Guard, arrived in the city with about 200 militia from Houston, he conferred with the chief of police as to the plans for preserving law and order.

“An order was issued by the chief of police to the effect that the soldiers should arrest all persons found carrying arms unless they showed a written order, signed by the chief of police or Mayor, giving them permission to go armed. The result was that about fifty citizens wearing deputy sheriff badges were arrested by the soldiers and taken to police headquarters.

FREE USE OF DEADLY WEAPONS.

“The soldiers had no way of knowing by what authority the men were acting with these badges, and would listen to no excuses. After a hurried conference between General Scurry and Sheriff Thomas it was decided that all deputy sheriffs and special officers shall be permitted to carry arms and pass in and out of the guard lines. The deputy sheriffs and special and regular police now police the city during the daytime, and the militia take charge of the city at night.

“More than 2000 dead bodies have been identified, and the estimate of Mayor Jones, that 5000 perished in Saturday’s great hurricane, does not appear to be magnified. The city is being patrolled by troops and a citizens’ committee, and a semblance of order is appearing.

“At a conference held at the office of City Health Officer Wilkinson it was decided to accept the offer of the United States Marine Hospital Service and establish a camp at Houston, where the destitute and sick can be sent and be properly cared for. The physicians agreed that there were many indigent sick in the city who should be removed from Galveston, and Houston was selected because that city had very thoughtfully suggested the idea and tendered a site for the camp. Acting upon the suggestion to establish a camp and care for the sick and needy, a message was sent to the Surgeon-General, at the head of the Marine Hospital Corps, asking for 1000 tents of four-berth capacity each; also several hundred barrels of disinfecting fluid.

“The health department is calling for 100 men with drays to clean the streets. The plan is to district the city and start out the drays to remove all refuse and dead animals and cart all unsanitary matter from the streets. It is anticipated that by Saturday the work will have advanced to cover the greater portion of the business district and part of the residence section.

“Prior to the hurricane Galveston was one of the richest cities in the world, per capita, and the surviving millionaires who made their money here have read with displeasure the telegrams that the city would never survive the terrible blow it suffered. They insist that the city will be rebuilt and will be another Chicago, rising superior to the calamities that palsy the ordinary people.

“The determination to rebuild the city received a strong impetus to-day, when it was learned that G. W. Boscheke, assistant engineer of the Southern Pacific Railroad, had received orders by wire from New York to prepare plans at once for a double-track steel bridge across Galveston Bay ten feet higher than the old one, and to proceed with all the force possible. Engineers are already at work making a survey and running lines preparatory to the resumption of work.

NEW SURVEY WILL BE MADE.

“A telegram from New York says that Colonel H. M. Roberts, of the Engineering Corps, United States Engineers for the southwest district, said to-day that a survey will be made of the wrecked Galveston forts and works. Captain Richie has submitted a report, in which he says the foundations which were built on piling withstood the ravages of the storm much better than the foundations without piling. In the future it is proposed to use piling exclusively.

“Congressman R. B. Hawley, who was in Washington at the time of the storm, has arrived in this city.

“‘Work of vast importance is to be undertaken here,’ said he; ‘work on different lines from that which has been our habit heretofore.

“‘There are storms elsewhere. If the people in other parts of the country built as we build, their cities would be down and out nearly every year; but they build structures to stay, and we must rebuild our city on different lines and in a different manner, that will resist the gales as they do. The port is all right. The fullest depth of water remains. The jetties, with slight repair, are intact, and because of these conditions the restoration will be more rapid than may be thought.’”

MORTALITY LIST IS ENORMOUS.

In fact, while the mortality list of the city grows larger every hour, the prospects of Galveston grow brighter. An investigation shows that industries that were supposed to be wrecked forever are only slightly damaged, and business in them may be resumed any day.

“J. C. Stewart, the grain elevator builder, after careful inspection of the grain elevators and their contents, said the damage to the grain elevators was not over two per cent. The wheat will be loaded into vessels just as rapidly as they come to the elevator to take it. Ships are needed here at once. Mr. Stewart said he would put a large force of men to work clearing up each of the wharves, and the company will be ready for business within the next eight days. The wharves have been damaged very little outside of the wreckage of the sheds. With the wreckage cleared away, Galveston will be in good shape for business.

“At a meeting of the general committee last night the need of sprinkling the streets with a strong bichloride solution and taking other sanitary precautions was discussed, and after adjournment of the general committee, the committee on correspondence sent the following telegram:

“‘Our most urgent present needs now are disinfectants, lime, cement, gasoline stoves, gasoline, charcoal furnaces and charcoal. Nearby towns also may send bread. For the remainder of our wants, money will be most available, because we can make purchases from time to time with more discretion than miscellaneous contributors would exercise. We are bringing order out of chaos, and again offer our profound gratitude for the assistance so far received.’”

Surveying the situation, one of our great journals bestowed these words of praise: “Another good day’s work was done yesterday in behalf of the Texas sufferers. There has been no abatement in the generous giving of supplies and money. The fearful plight of the thousands who outlived the terrors of the storm has touched every heart profoundly. In Galveston alone, where the cyclone swept inland with fiercest fury, 25,000 persons are homeless. Half the population of what a week ago was a prosperous city, in a single day was left dependent upon charity.

DANGER OF AN EPIDEMIC.

“The danger of an epidemic now threatens the survivors. Many of the people are giving way to physical exhaustion. They have been compelled to subsist upon unwholesome food, drink polluted water and breathe the foul air of their unsanitary surroundings. In spite of all that has been done for the relief of the stricken Texans, the death roll is still growing. As many as possible must be removed from the scene of destruction to more healthful conditions.

“What Philadelphia has done should go far to alleviate the immediate distress, yet this is only a drop in the great flow of charity. An additional $10,000 was sent to Governor Sayres yesterday, making $25,000 in all that has been forwarded by the Citizens’ Permanent Relief Committee. And more subscriptions are daily flowing in. A number of physicians and nurses have volunteered their services and are only awaiting a reply from the Relief Committee on the ground. There will be work for them if sickness becomes prevalent, as is now feared.

“Many of our citizens who wished to make donations of food, clothing and other supplies have again had recourse to the special trains that are being sent forward. Last night a second special of four heavily-laden cars was sent to Galveston. In addition to this, many subscriptions of money have been made and will be forwarded to the authorities in Texas.”