CHAPTER XI.

Galveston Calamity One of the Greatest Known to History—Many Thousands Maimed and Wounded—Few Heeded the Threatening Hurricane—The Doomed City Turned to Chaos.

Galveston has been the scene of one of the greatest catastrophes in the world’s history. The story of the great storm of Saturday, Sept. 8, 1900, will never be told. Words are too weak to express the horror, the awfulness of the storm itself, to even faintly picture the scene of devastation, wreck and ruin, misery, suffering and grief. Even those who were miraculously saved after terrible experiences, who were spared to learn that their families and property had been swept away, and spared to witness scenes as horrible as the eye of man ever looked upon—even these can not tell the story.

There are stories of wonderful rescues and escapes, each of which at another time would be a marvel to the rest of the world, but in a time like this when a storm so intense in its fury, so prolonged in its work of destruction, so wide in its scope, and so infinitely terrible in its consequences has swept an entire city and neighboring towns for miles on either side, the mind can not comprehend all of the horror, can not learn or know all of the dreadful particulars.

One stands speechless and powerless to relate even that which he has felt and knows. Gifted writers have told of storms at sea wrecking of vessels where hundreds were at stake and lost. That task pales to insignificance when compared with the task of telling of a storm which threatened the lives of perhaps sixty thousand people, sent to their death perhaps six thousand people, and left others wounded, homeless, and destitute, and still others to cope with grave responsibility, to relieve the stricken, to grapple with and prevent the anarchist’s reign, to clear the water-sodden land of putrefying bodies and dead carcasses, to perform tasks that try men’s souls and sicken their hearts.

The storm at sea is terrible, but there are no such dreadful consequences as those which have followed the storm on the sea coast and it is men who passed through the terrors of the storm, who faced death for hours, men ruined in property and bereft of families, who took up the herculean and well-nigh impossible task of bringing order out of chaos, of caring for the living and disposing of the dead before they made life impossible here.

The storm came not without warning, but the danger which threatened was not realized, not even when the storm was upon the city. Friday night the sea was angry. Saturday morning it had grown in fury, and the wrecking of the beach resorts began. The waters of the Gulf hurried inland. The wind came at terrific rate from the north. Still men went to their business and about their work while hundreds went to the beach to witness the grand spectacle which the raging sea presented.

WATERS CREPT HIGHER AND HIGHER.

As the hours rolled on the wind gained in velocity and the waters crept higher and higher. The wind changed from the north to the northeast and the water came in from the bay, filling the streets and running like a millrace. Still the great danger was not realized. Men attempted to reach home in carriages, wagons, boats, or any way possible. Others went out in the storm for a lark. As the time wore on the water increased in depth and the wind tore more madly over the island.

Men who had delayed starting for home, hoping for an abatement of the storm, concluded that the storm had grown worse and went out in that howling, raging, furious storm, wading through water almost to their necks, dodging flying missiles swept by a wind blowing 100 miles an hour.

Still the wind increased in velocity, when, after it seemed impossible that it should be more swift, it changed from west to southeast, veering constantly, calming for a second and then coming with awful terrific jerks, so terrible in their power that no building could withstand them and none wholly escaped injury.

Others were picked up at sea. And all during the terrible storm acts of the greatest heroism were performed. Hundreds and hundreds of brave men, as brave as the world ever knew, buffeted with the waves and rescued hundreds of their fellow men. Hundreds of them went to their death, the death that they knew they must inevitably meet in their efforts. Hundreds of them perished after saving others. Men were exemplifying that supreme degree of love of which the Master spoke, “Greater love hath no man than this, that he give his life for his friend.” Many of them who lost their lives in this storm in efforts to save their families, many to save friends, many more to help people of whom they had never heard. They simply knew that human beings were in danger and they counted their own lives.

TREMENDOUS FURY OF THE GALE.

The maximum velocity of the wind will never be known. The gauge at the Weather Bureau registered 100 miles an hour and blew away at 5.10 o’clock, but the storm at that hour was as nothing when compared with what followed, and the maximum velocity must have been as great as 120 miles an hour. The most intense and anxious time was between 8.30 and 9 o’clock, with raging seas rolling around them, with a wind so terrific that none could hope to escape its fury, with roofs beginning to roll away and buildings crashing all around them, men, women and children were huddled in buildings, caught like rats, expecting to be crushed to death or drowned in the sea, yet cut off from escape.

Buildings were torn down, burying their hundreds, and were swept inland, piling up great heaps of wreckage. Hundreds of people were thrown into the water in the height of the storm, some to meet instant death, others to struggle for a time in vain, and thousands of others to escape death in most miraculous and marvelous ways.

Hundreds of the dead were washed across the island and the bay many miles inland. Hundreds of bodies were buried in the wreckage. Many who escaped were in the water for hours, clinging to driftwood, and landed bruised and battered and torn on the mainland.

All attempts at burying the dead has been utterly abandoned, and bodies are now being disposed of in the swiftest manner possible. Scores of them were burned the 12th, and hundreds were taken out to sea and thrown overboard. The safety of the living is now the paramount question, and nothing that will tend to prevent the outbreak of an awful pestilence is being neglected.

This morning it was found that large numbers of the bodies which had previously been thrown in the bay were washed back upon the shore and the situation was rendered worse than before they were first laden in the barges and thrown into the water.

TOO MANY ON THE COMMITTEE.

Relief committees from the interior of the State have commenced to arrive, and, as usual, they are much too large in numbers, and to a certain extent are in the way of the people of Galveston, and an impediment to the prompt relief which they themselves are so desirous of offering. Several of the relief expeditions have had committees large enough to consume 10 per cent. of the provisions which they brought. The relief sent here from Beaumont, Tex., arrived this morning and was distributed as fast as possible. It consisted of two carloads of ice and provisions, and came by way of Port Arthur.

The great trouble now seems to be that those people who are in the greatest need are, through no fault of those in charge of the distribution, the last to receive aid. Many of them are so badly maimed and wounded that they are unable to apply to the relief committee, and the committees are so overwhelmed by direct applications that they have been unable to send out messengers.

The wounded everywhere are still needing the attention of physicians, and despite every effort it is feared that a number will die because of the sheer physical impossibility to afford them the aid necessary to save their lives. Every man in Galveston who is able to walk and work is engaged in the work of relief with all the energy of which he is capable. But, despite their utmost endeavors, they cannot keep up with the increase in the miserable conditions which surround them. Water can be obtained by able-bodied men, but with great difficulty.

Dr. Wallace Shaw, of Houston, who is busily engaged in the relief work, said that there were 200 people at St. Mary’s Infirmary without fresh water. They had been making coffee of salt water and using that as their only beverage. Very little stealing was reported and there were no killings. The number of men shot down for robbing the dead proved a salutary lesson, and it is not expected that there will be any more occurrences of this sort. The soldiers of the regular army and of the national guard are guarding the property, and it is impossible for thieves to escape detection.

SOLDIERS HAVE MIRACULOUS ESCAPE.

The loss of life among the soldiers of the regular army stationed in the barracks on the beach proves to have been largely overestimated. The original report was that but fifteen out of the total number in the barracks on the beach had been saved. Last night and to-day they turned up singly and in squads, and at present there are but twenty-seven missing, whereas the first estimate of casualties in this direction alone was nearly two hundred. It is probable that some of the twenty-seven will answer roll call later in the week.

One soldier reached the city this afternoon who had been blown around in the Gulf of Mexico and had floated nearly fifty miles going and coming, on a door. Another one who showed up to-day declared that he owed his life to a cow. It swam with him nearly three miles. The cow then sunk and the soldier swam the balance of the way to the mainland himself.

Efforts were made this afternoon to pick up the dead bodies that have floated in with the tide, after having been once cast into the sea. This is awful work, and few men are found with sufficiently strong nerves to last it more than thirty minutes at a time. All of the bodies are badly decomposed, swollen to enormous proportions and of so dark a hue that it is possible to tell only by the hair, when any hair is visible, whether the corpses are those of white people or negroes.

Gen. McKibben U. S. A., and Adjt. Gen. Scurry arrived last night and have assumed entire charge of the city, with the result that conditions have very much improved as far as order and method in the distribution of supplies and the direction of the work is concerned. Gen. McKibben represents the government in a general way, but has not assumed direct charge of the city, which is under the command of Adjutant Gen. Scurry.

Several of the very young soldiers have been a trifle over-zealous in the matter of guarding the property, carrying their energy to a point which made it somewhat uncomfortable for the people whose property and person they came to guard. Gen. Scurry repressed them promptly and several of them have been disarmed. The service of the militia, on the whole, however, has so far been of a most excellent character.

SIGHT-SEERS BARRED OUT.

Every effort is being made to induce people to leave Galveston, and it is extremely difficult for anyone, no matter what his business, unless he is in direct charge of a relief train, to gain admittance to the place. Hundreds of people left Houston to-day for Galveston, but could get no further than Texas City, which is on the north side of Galveston Bay, and there they were compelled to remain until the train brought them back to Houston. No persuasion, no sum of money, would induce the guard to pass them into the stricken city.

Orders had been issued that no sightseers were to be allowed, and the order was obeyed with the utmost rigidity. It will be at least a week before there is full and free communication with Galveston, but matters are now steadily progressing toward a solution of the problems that confront the relief committee. Every effort is being made to induce people to leave, and one train, which arrived in Houston at 5 o’clock this evening, carried 350 women and children; another at 10 o’clock carried twice as many more, and it is expected that fully 2,000 of the women and children will be out of the place by to-morrow night. Mayor Jones estimates that there are at least 10,000 of these helpless ones who should be taken from Galveston at the earliest possible moment. They are all apparently anxious to get away and will be handled as rapidly as possible.

Another trainload of provisions and clothing, making the third within the last twenty-four hours, came here from Houston to-night.

The steamer Charlotte Allen arrived at noon to-day from Houston with 1000 loaves of bread and other provisions. The amount of food which has been sent so far has been large, but there are still in the neighborhood of 30,000 people to be cared for on the island.

BOYS RESCUE FORTY PEOPLE.

During the storm Saturday night, the Boddinker boys, with the aid of a hunting skiff, rescued over forty people and took them to the University building, where they found shelter from the wind and waves. The little skiff was pushed by hand, the boys not being able to use oars or sticks in propelling it, and is to be set aside in the University as a relic of the flood.

Many stories of heroism are coming out. People tell of getting out of their houses just before the roof fell in on them. They tell of seeing people struck by flying timbers and crushed to death before their eyes. One man was cut off from his family just as he had them rescued, and saw them sink beneath the water, just on the other side of the barrier. He turned in and helped to rescue others who were about gone. One woman carried her five month’s old baby in her arms from her house only to have a beam strike the child on the head, killing it instantly. She suffered a broken leg and bruised body.

The lightship, which was moored between the jetties at the point where the harbor bar was located before it was removed, was carried to Half Moon Shoal and grounded. There was nobody aboard except Mate Emil C. Lundwall, the cook and two men. She broke her moorings and with a 1500 pound anchor and 600 fathoms of 2–inch cable chain, drifted to the point where she grounded, a distance of about four miles.

The damage to the lightship was slight, consisting principally of broken windows. The mate showed himself to be a skillful seaman and managed to save the vessel by his skill as such.

Along the whole East Sealy avenue the oak trees have been partly dragged up by the roots and brittle chinaberry trees are practically all gone. All the tender plants have been washed out or broken down by debris or blown away literally. Not a tree is standing in its natural attitude. Not a building in the East end escaped injury. One or two, like that of Capt. Charles Clark, suffered but the loss of a few slat shingles while others were torn from their foundations.

TWISTED INTO ALL SORTS OF SHAPES.

They were carried around and twisted into such shapes that they can not be occupied again although they can be entered and the sodden furniture and bedclothing removed. This applies to buildings that are still standing. As stated, there is a vast territory of blocks in width on which there is not a vestige of a house standing, these having been blown down and carried away with the other debris.

Dr. J. T. Fry, who has been an observer of the weather for years, has a theory that the storm which visited Galveston originated in the vicinity of Port Eads, and was not the hurricane which was reported on the Florida coast. On Thursday a storm was reported moving in a northeasterly direction from Key West. It moved up the Atlantic coast. The Mallory steamer “Comal” ran into it and reported a great number of wrecks as was reported in the “News” at the time. The supposition that this was the same storm that reached Galveston by doubling back on its tracks is a mistake.

The first knowledge of the Galveston storm was the report of a wind velocity of forty-eight miles an hour at Port Eads on Saturday morning. The “News” also reported high winds at Pass Christian. The Port Eads storm was a distinct storm from that of Florida and was confined to the Gulf. The proof of this is that the steamer “Comal” came in from Florida in beautiful weather and apparently followed in the wake of the storm.

Eighteen people were caught in the Grothger grocery store, Sixteenth and N streets, and it is presumed all were lost, as many have been reported dead who were known to have been in the building which was swept away entirely. The firemen buried twenty-six people south of Avenue O, between Thirty-Third and Forty-Second streets, on Tuesday. The graves were marked with pieces of the garments worn by the persons.

Will Love, a printer of the “Houston Post,” who formerly lived in Galveston, swam the bay Monday to reach his family, whom he found to be alive in Galveston. He swam from pier to pier on the railroad bridges and at each he rested.

AWFUL NIGHT IN THE LIGHTHOUSE.

In the Bolivar lighthouse, which stands 130 feet high on Bolivar Point, across the bay from Galveston, some one hundred and twenty-five people sought refuge from the storm on Saturday evening. Many of the unfortunates had deserted their homes, which were swept by the hurricane, and other residents of Galveston, who had come to the bay shore in their frantic endeavors to reach Galveston and their families. Among the latter was County Road and Bridge Superintendent Kelso. Mr. Kelso stated to a “News” reporter, when he reached Galveston on Monday afternoon, after having been carried across the bay in a small skiff by Mr. T. C. Moore, that the hundred and more refugees spent an awful night in the lighthouse Saturday night during the life of the hurricane.

The supply of fresh water was soon exhausted and an effort was made to secure drinking water by catching rain water in buckets suspended from the top of the lighthouse. The experiment was a success in a way, but it demonstrated a remarkable incident to show the force of the wind. The bucket was soon filled with water, but it was salty and could not be used. Several attempts finally resulted in a fresh water supply to quench the thirst of the feverishly excited refugees.

The salt water was shot skyward over 130 feet and mingled with the rain water that fell in the buckets. From the top of the light tower several of the more venturesome storm-sufferers viewed the destructive work of the wind on Galveston Island. Twelve dead bodies were recovered near the lighthouse.

Mr. A. Mutti, a storekeeper, lost his life after a display of heroism that won for him the honors of a martyr. When the storm struck the city he hitched up a one-horse cart and started out to rescue his neighbors. Cartload after cartload he carried in safety to fire company house No. 5. On three occasions his cartload of human beings, some half dead, others crazed with fright, was carried for blocks by the raging currents, but he landed all the unfortunates in the fire house, even to his last load, when he met his death. As he attempted to pass into the building on his last trip the firehouse succumbed to the wind and collapsed. Some of the wreckage struck poor Mutti and he was mortally injured. He lingered for several hours.

GENEROUS OFFER OF HELP.

Prof. Buckner, of the Buckner Orphans’ Home of Dallas, arrived in the city and made his way at once to the gentlemen in charge of the relief work. He offered to throw the doors of his establishment wide open for the orphans of Galveston, who have been deprived of their shelter at the various asylums, and announced that he was ready to care for about 100 to 150 of the children. His offer was taken under consideration for advisement at a meeting to be held of the managers of the homes.

The official records of the United States Weather Bureau have been made up and forwarded to Washington. The reports give some very valuable additional information about the storm. Unfortunately the recording instruments were destroyed or crippled beyond operation about 5.10 p. m. on Saturday, as previously reported, and before the storm had reached the center of severity. The wind gauge recorded a two-minute blow at the rate of 100 miles an hour and was then demolished by the hurricane, which continued to increase in violence. While the exact velocity of the wind was not recorded after the destruction of the instruments, the Weather Bureau representatives estimate the maximum velocity at between 110 and 120 miles an hour. It did not maintain this terrific rate for any length of time, probably a half minute or minute gusts, but sufficient to wreck anything that met the full force of the storm.

A journal of the local office of the Weather Bureau contains the report of an apparent tidal wave of four feet which swept in from the Gulf some time between the hours of 7 and 8 P. M., and the time the wind veered to the southeast and attained its highest velocity of between 110 and 120 miles an hour. It should be remembered that there was a tide of about five feet and a terrible swell in the Gulf during the storm, and that the tidal wave of four feet rode this wall of water and increased the force and speed of the sea that washed over the city.

VIVID DESCRIPTION OF THE CALAMITY.

Hon. Jeff McLemore, of Austin, a well known journalist and ex-member of the Legislature, returned from Galveston and gave the following vivid description of the horrors:

“We were five hours making the trip from the mainland, and it was not until 7 o’clock Monday evening that we reached the wharf. When within two miles of the city we discovered a number of human bodies floating in the bay, and as the boat passed each it caused a shudder of horror among the living. Soon after the sun went down the moon came up in a cloudless sky. The bay was as a large mirror, and the scene seemed so peaceful and serene that for a moment it was hard to realize that we were soon to gaze upon the saddest, darkest picture in the book of time. A gentle breeze wafted our boat lightly over the smooth waters, and as we entered the harbor and neared the wharves, formerly the scene of busiest life, a silence deep and awful prevailed. No one on board spoke a word and the silence was only broken by the sound of a rifle sending some robber of the dead into endless eternity.

“After landing we made our way over huge heaps of wreckage that were piled almost mountain high and emerged into an open space only to be hailed by armed sentries who were guarding the town against ghouls, vandals and looters. After explaining who we were the sentries permitted us to pass, and directed us to the Tremont Hotel, the chief place of rendezvous for the stricken people.

GHOSTLY SCENES OF NIGHT.

“As we made our way to the hotel, a thing we did with difficulty, because of the wreckage that covered the streets, we saw only desolation and ruin on every hand. The pale of the moon added weirdness to the chaos and look where we might there was nothing to gladden the searching eye. We passed several small groups of men who spoke in whispers and those we addressed looked at us strangely and wondered what we came for.

“At last the hotel was reached and here most of us found friends and acquaintances who inquired after those we left behind. The city being under martial law, most of our party, after doing all in their power to relieve the anxiety of anxious men and women, disposed themselves about the hotel until morning, it being unsafe to roam about the city at night for fear of being mistaken for vandals and ghouls that have infested the city ever since the storm. To some of us it seemed that morning would never come, but it did come at last, and it came bright and fair.

“I then started out to view the stricken city by daylight and such a scene as I witnessed is beyond the power of words to tell. The wildest flight of imagination can never paint the picture that lay before my view, and if none can imagine it, then there is no way to give one even a faint conception of it in words. The horror of it is beyond the pale of exaggeration, and the worst that may be said cannot even approach it. Acres and acres of houses were scattered in ruins over the earth and beneath the broken and shivered timbers were the decaying bodies of human beings, who suffered tortures worse than death.

“Along the pebbled beach, once the most beautiful in the world, and a scene of wonted gayety, now all is desolation and awe. Human bodies, swollen and unrecognizable, were mingled with those of dead animals and reptiles, and the whole formed a scene so gruesome and so misshapen that the thought of it even sends a sickening thrill coursing through one’s veins.

“To add to the horror of the situation, human hyenas moved stealthily among the dead, robbing those who were powerless to resist, but these ghouls in human guise are meeting with just retribution, for armed sentinels are now on guard and have orders to shoot them down as they would mad dogs.

“If the situation along the East Side was more horrible than that along the West, it was only because more people dwelt there and there were more houses to be destroyed. Along either beach gaunt destruction held full sway, and each wave seemed more cruel than that which it succeeded. Nor were the waves alone in their cruelty, for the winds reveled in maddened fury and seemed to vie with them in spreading ruin and desolation.

HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE CARRIED OUT TO SEA.

“The loss of life at Galveston will never be known. The storm came first from the northwest and hundreds, perhaps thousands, were carried far out to sea never more to return. At 10 o’clock at night the wind suddenly veered to the southeast and hundreds more were swept into the bay and caught by the current and also carried out to the sea before daylight Sunday morning. That is the opinion of old seamen with whom I conversed, and if they do not know the actions of the ocean, then no one does.

“Monday evening and Tuesday morning I myself saw more than a hundred bodies floating out to sea and these were scarcely one per cent of those who perished. Responsible men with whom I talked and who had been from one end of the island to the other, estimated the loss at from 5,000 to 10,000; and all thought it would come nearer the last named figures than the first. Day by day as the debris is cleared away bodies will be found and many are buried beneath the ruins that will never be removed.

“Every portion of the island was submerged and it seems a miracle that the entire city was not swept away. At least two-fifths of the houses on the island have been razed to the ground. Of the remaining three-fifths, at least half are damaged beyond repair, while the others are all damaged to greater or less extent. No house escaped without some damage and to have some idea of the cyclonic nature of the storm it will be only necessary to state that steel shutters on large business buildings were twisted around as one would twist a small piece of copper wire.

“Large splinters were whirled about in the air like darts, and many found lodgment in human bodies, no doubt producing instant death. Oh, the horror and terror of that dismal night! The wind howling, the sea roaring and lashing, houses falling and crashing, men, women and children screaming; the shrieks of dying animals; imagine it, if you can, and you may form a faint idea of the situation at Galveston last Saturday night.

HUMAN VULTURES PILFERING AND LOOTING.

“Tuesday morning I passed a partially wrecked home, in the door of which stood a young face and snow-white hair.

“‘Saturday morning,’ said the man who accompanied me, ‘that woman’s hair was dark brown; Sunday morning it had turned to snow.’ I did not doubt him, for he told me of the woman’s experience and how she had been saved as if by a miracle.

“But the woeful part of the terrible disaster has not yet been told. Hundreds of human vultures, almost before the storm had abated, began the work of pilfering and looting. Dead bodies were robbed and in some instances fingers were cut off to secure the rings that were on them. Most of these vultures were negroes, and they kept up their horrible work all day Sunday and Sunday night. Monday morning martial law was declared, and those placed on guard had strict orders to shoot all pilferers and looters. Many met their just fate, and by Tuesday morning the looting had almost ceased.

“Sunday the negroes refused to help bury the dead for either love or money. But when martial law was declared they were forced at the point of the bayonet and made to do their share of the gruesome work. Up to Monday noon many of the dead were identified, but after that identification was impossible because of the swollen and decomposed condition of the bodies.

“Monday afternoon several hundred were loaded on barges and carried far out into the Gulf, where they were thrown over to become the food of sharks and fishes. Sunday and Monday morning many were buried down the island in the shallow sand, but by Tuesday morning these, as well as other bodies gathered along the beach, were piled on wood and burned.

“There is still great danger to Galveston from sickness and pestilence. The streets are filled with sediment from the Gulf and bay, and this is beginning to smell almost as bad as the dead bodies. Because of the immense heaps of wreckage it will be impossible to flood the streets for weeks to come, even if there were plenty of water.”

BURYING THE VICTIMS IN TRENCHES.

Four days after the disaster the following account was an accurate picture of the condition of Galveston: This evening the committees in charge of clearing up the city, caring for the destitute and arranging for transportation feel much encouraged. Something like order has been brought out of chaos. There is organized effort and the day’s work has been big. It was impossible to handle the dead bodies of human beings or the carcasses of animals to get them to sea, because of putrefaction. Hundreds were buried in trenches and many were cremated. It was necessary to handle fire with great caution, as there is no water supply as yet.

The city is not suffering much for drinking water, but water is needed in the mains, that fire may be controlled. The water has been flowing steadily from the Alta Loma supply pipe into the tank. Unfortunately there was no connection from the rig tank to the mains, except through the pumps, and it is impossible to get the water through by that route. Alderman McMaster, who has been directing the work to-day, is getting out the connection from the pumps to the mains and is making a connection from rig tank to mains.

Some of the large pipe needed was not available, but carpenters are making a wooden section which will stand the slight pressures. It is expected that water will be turned into the mains from the rig tank before morning. This will give a supply in yard hydrants and fill plugs from which the steamers can work. The men at work on the pumps and pipes are well along with their work, but the boilermakers are not so far along. Mr. McMaster thinks the pumps can be started by to-morrow, and that they will give the usual pressure in the mains.

VISITORS DO NOBLE WORK.

In addition to the arrangements made for handling people from here to Texas City and thence via the Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad to Houston, the prospect is that the Southern Pacific will be ready for passengers within the next few days. Mr. W. S. Keenan, general passenger agent of the Santa Fe, said this evening that he expected that their track would be completed to both ends of the bridges by to-morrow evening. The company has chartered three boats and will take passengers by train from Galveston to the bridge and there transfer by boat to the mainland.

A large number of people reached here to-day from Houston and other points. Some of them came to lend helping hands, and are doing noble work; others came to look for relatives. But there are many who come out of sheer curiosity and who do nothing but eat provisions and drink the water. They are taking up room in the boats returning to mainland which women and children ought to have. People who are not coming to help, or on other urgent missions, ought to remain away; sightseers are not wanted, and those who have no higher purpose in coming will do Galveston the greatest service within their power by staying away.

The police and soldiers have orders not to permit the landing of strangers, and the order is being carried out as far as possible. The committee on transportation purposes to see that women and children get a chance to leave here first, and able-bodied men will not be permitted to leave during the first few days. If sightseers come anyway they will find it difficult to get in and still more difficult to get out of the city.

Mayor Jones received a telegram to-day from President McKinley, expressing his sorrow that Texas had been visited by such a dreadful calamity, and advising that he had instructed the Secretary of War to render all the assistance possible.

The Mayor also received a telegram from the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, saying that body stood ready to help, and asking what it could do.

The steamer “George Hudson” arrived from Beaumont this afternoon with a carload of ice, 5000 barrels of water, and provisions. Mr. John F. Keith, who came with the tug, said he would take 100 passengers with him in the morning, and he would bring the tug on another trip with lime and provisions. Fortunately, Galveston has not been entirely without ice. The Red Snapper Company had a large supply on hand, and it has been letting people have it at wholesale prices. This supply will last a day or two, and ice will then be gladly received. Three of the schooners of the Red Snapper Company reached here from Campechy banks to-day, filled with fish.

DEAD ANIMALS CARRIED ACROSS THE BAY.

The fish were given away by the thousands to all who came for them. Animals are being dumped into the bay, which go out with the tide and coming ashore by the hundreds at Bolivar peninsula. Parties started to bury them, but the few people on the peninsula found it impossible. They came to the city to implore the authorities to send men there to bury these animals and to quit throwing them into the bay. The dumping into the bay had already been stopped, as there was little wind and the carcasses were cremated.

Between Fifteenth street and Avenue C, running on a line parallel with the island, a great mass of wreckage is piled as high as a man’s head at any point and from that to the height of three-story houses. This line extends as far along as there were houses to wreck and consists of all kinds of buildings. A half of the section mentioned was traversed by a “News” man this morning. Names of fully 400 people were found who lived in that section. The debris is so high above these bodies that it may be days before all will be removed.

There were a great many injured by the storm, and these are being cared for at the hospitals, both of which are located at the east end of the St. Mary’s University building at Fourteenth and Sealy avenue. This is a building quite well suited to the purpose, but of course it is lacking in conveniences. A large number of people with broken bones and badly torn limbs are confined there, and nearly every one of them has lost either whole families or some member. Drs. Starley and Ruhl are in charge and have been working night and day tending to those rescued from the wrecks of their homes.

SCHOOL BUILDING CARRIED A BLOCK AWAY.

The tower of the Rosenberg school fell in and killed about eleven people during the height of the storm. It was a place of refuge for all the people driven from their homes by the high water and terrific winds.

The parochial school situated on the corner of Eleventh and Sealy avenue, was taken from its foundations and carried by wind and water a full block to Twelfth street and Sealy avenue, landing on the north side of the street, whereas it was located on the south side previously. This stands amidst a great pile of driftwood, and having been carried to that location undoubtedly formed a barrier for the collection of great piles of drift that were brought in from gulf-ward. It shoved some smaller buildings out of their former locations, but did not wreck many of them.

The drift is something terrible. It includes every kind of house used by men, and represents all the city south of the line described to the beach in which it is reported that large numbers of dead bodies, which floated to sea yesterday, have been washed during the day. The houses are sometimes to be found quite intact, but turned bottom up like an upturned dry goods box. Others are but so much kindling wood.

The greatest wreck is possibly the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, at Fourteenth and Broadway. The front wall is nearly all standing, with the steeples on either side, and the curved wall that surrounds the chancel seemed in pretty good shape, but the two side walls are gone beyond repair. The east side is standing about half way up, and the west side was thrown to the ground. Sand covers the campus in that neighborhood.

The University building suffered a good deal from the blow, but it was the haven of rest for all the people in that neighborhood, as it is now the hospital for the injured and the place of succor for the women and children.

GREAT WRECK OF ST. MARY’S INFIRMARY.

The next greatest wreck is the St. Mary’s Infirmary on Market and Eighth streets. Practically everything there is gone but the new part, which was completed about two years ago. This is badly damaged, but is being used. It does not cover more than a quarter of the floor space of the entire building when intact. This is used to support injured and is the place of refuge. Sealy Hospital, between Ninth and Tenth streets, escaped serious injury, beyond damage to the roof.

The colored school, on the corner of Broadway and Tenth streets, is a mass of wreckage, piled up with the debris along the mountain chain previously described. This was a large two-story frame building of eight rooms, and stood high in the air. A little Episcopal mission, located on the corner of Fifteenth and Avenue L, was carried northwest along Fifteenth street and broke up a block away. The gentleman who was in charge of the mission, Henry Hirsinger, was lost.

This great line of wreckage forms the division point between a mass of houses unroofed and partly damaged and a great prairie, which up to Saturday was the location of the homes of thousands of Galveston’s people. This was generally known as the colored section of the city, but the colored people as a rule lived close to the beach. As a consequence they got scared early in the day and moved into town.

The result is that the death list is not as great proportionately among the colored people as it is among the whites, although a great many of them are missing. Prominent among the colored people missing are S. C. Cuney, a nephew of Wright Cuney, formerly collector of customs at this port. The rector of the colored Episcopal church, Rev. Thomas Cain, and his wife are lost.

The poles of the East Broadway street railway line are standing erect to Fourteenth street, beyond which there is but one pole. The wires are all down, as a matter of course, and the track is filled with wreckage. The line of wreckage crosses Broadway, between Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets, and in it at that point are several bodies which cannot be reached on account of the high pile of lumber.

HOUSES PLACED BACK TO BACK.

The great bulk of this debris is unbroken and sides and roofs of houses still intact, and the vast amount of loose boards can be used for rebuilding, so that there will be lessened cost in that direction. In some places whole houses have been moved from their foundations and carried around back of others, thus forming a barrier which caught the floating debris and prevented the whole north side of town being swept from Gulf to bay and carried into the bay.

The roof of the elevator is gone and the wheat there is exposed, but if fresh water can be obtained soon it is expected the wheat can be saved by drying. The sheds on the wharves are practically all gone, but the wharves are supposed to be in such shape that they can be repaired at a nominal expense and can be resumed.

The following letter was received at Fort Worth from C. H. Fewell, who is night yardmaster of the Santa Fe Railway Company, at Galveston:

“The only means of sending mail or anything is by water to Houston. All bridges and wires are gone, and it will be weeks before they can possibly get a train out of here. The city is a complete wreck. Very few buildings are standing that have not in some way been wrecked by the storm. The loss of life will never be known; it will run into thousands. You can’t imagine what a terrible shape this place is in. We are thankful to be alive, but cannot help but feel sad when we think of the many friends we have lost, and the hundreds that are left without homes and without a mouthful of anything to eat. Relief must come soon or many will starve to death.

“Our rooming house stood the storm well, with the exception of a corner blown off and part of the roof. I got up about 4 o’clock Saturday. It was then raining and blowing hard. I left the house and started for the Tremont hotel and came near not making it. We stayed there all night. For four hours I thought every minute that the building would certainly go with the many that were going to pieces around it. We would have been as well off had we stayed at home, but was afraid our house would not stand the storm.

HORRIBLE BEYOND DESCRIPTION.

“Wagons have been passing all day piled full of dead bodies. Many of them will never be identified, and they are now taking them right to the Gulf for burial. This seems terrible, but it must be done, as it is impossible to bury them on the island. Hundreds of bodies are floating in the bay and outskirts of what was once the city. I cannot describe how horrible it is. I have been over most of the city since Sunday morning and know exactly how everything is situated. From the beach for at least four blocks in there is not a sign of anything left to show for what was once fine residences.

“Not one thing is left to show that there ever was anything at the beach. Everything is piled up; all rubbish for about four blocks from the beach beyond which it looks as clear as the prairie. The east and west end of the town is entirely gone. At the east end not a thing remains standing to Twelfth street. Dead bodies can be seen every place except in the business part of the city, to-day, two days after the storm. They are bringing them in by the wagon loads every hour. Nearly every one you meet has lost some friend and is looking for them. I visited three places where they have been taking the bodies to-day with a friend looking for relatives, and I know there could not have been less than 200 bodies in each place, lying cold in death. The general offices are a complete wreck; the wharves, elevators and everything connected with the railroads are more or less racked and many of them a total loss. Not a splinter is left of our yard office. You might say hundreds of cars are turned over and can be found nearly a block from where they were left before the storm.”