CHAPTER XIV

Dead Babes Floating in the Waters—Sharp Crack of Soldiers’ Rifles—Tears Mingle With the Flood—Doctors and Nurses for the Sick and Dying.

One of the most harrowing experiences during the scene of destruction and death at Galveston was that of a young lady belonging to Elgin, Illinois. Stamped upon her mind until she shuddered and cried aloud, that she might forget all its horrors and terrible memories, Miss Pixley stood in the Dearborn Street Station and told of the Galveston flood. Surrounded by her relatives and friends who had given her up as dead, Miss Pixley, who was the first arrival from the storm swept district, told her story between outbursts of bitter tears.

“Oh, those eyes,” she cried, “that I might put them from my mind. I can see those little children, mere babies, go floating by my place of refuge, dead, dead! God alone knows the suffering I went through. Thousands, yes, thousands, of poor souls were carried over the brink of death in the twinkling of an eye, and I saw it all.”

MISS PIXLEY’S GRAPHIC STORY.

This is her story, as she told it: “I had been in Galveston for about six weeks, visiting Miss Lulu George, who lives on Thirty-fifth street. It was not until after the noon hour of Saturday that we were frightened. Buildings had gone down as mere egg shells before that death-dealing wind.

“About 1.30 o’clock I told Miss George that we must make our way to another building about half a block away. The water had risen over five feet in two hours, and as I hurried to the front door the wind tore down my hair and I was blinded for a time.

“I turned my eyes to the west and for three long miles there was not a building standing, everything had been swept away. How we ever reached the two story building a hundred yards away I do not know. We waded through the water and every few minutes we were carried off our feet and dashed against the floating debris.

ALMOST DROWNED IN CELLAR.

“The building we were trying to reach was a store and the foundation kept out the water. We hurried to the cellar and stayed there for several hours. At last the wind-swept waves found an opening and broke through the foundation and we had a mad run to escape the rushing, swirling waters.

“We reached the first floor and I shrank into a corner, expecting every second to be carried out to my death. How it happened I can never tell, but this and one other building were the only ones left for blocks around. As it was, several people were killed in the building we occupied and the other house that was left standing.

“After a time I felt faint from hunger and, while too weak from fright to seek food, I told Miss George that I would go into another room. I staggered along the floor until I reached a window, and fell, half fainting, through it. As I leaned there I witnessed sights that I pray God will never make another see.

BLOOD-CHILLING SCENES.

“Whirling by me, bodies, more than I could dare count, were crushed and mangled between a jumble of timbers and debris. Men, women and children went by, sinking, floating, dashing on I know not where. I wanted to close my eyes, but I could not. I cried aloud and made an attempt to go to my friends, but I was exhausted, and all I could do was to watch the terrible scenes.

“Babies, oh, such pretty little ones, too, were carried on and on, gowned in dainty clothing, their eyes open, staring in mute terror above. Thank Providence they were dead. I was partly blinded by tears, but I could still see through the mist. Little arms seemed to stretch toward me asking assistance and there I lay, half prostrated, too weak to lend assistance.

“How it all ended I know not. I must have fainted for I awakened with ‘We are saved, Alice,’ ringing in my ears.

FLEES FROM HORRIBLE SIGHTS.

“When I found we could get out of the city I declared I would go at all cost. I thought of home and my parents and I wanted to telegraph, just like thousands of others, that I was safe.

“It was days before we could get away, however, and then it was in a most terrible confusion. Eighty-eight persons crowded on a small boat and started for Houston.

“The day we left the militia was out in all its force. I could hear the sharp reports of a rifle and the wail of some soul as he paid the penalty for his thieving operations.

“Later I saw the soldiers with their glistening rifles leveled at scores of men and saw them topple forward dead. Oh, they had to shoot those terrible beasts, for they were robbing the dead. They groveled in blood, it seemed.

“I saw with my own eyes the fingers of women cut off by regular demons in the search for jewels. The soldiers came and killed them and it was well.

HUMAN BODIES IN FIRE HEAP.

“As we made our way toward the boat that was to take us from the City of Death I saw great clouds of smoke rising in the air. Upon the top of flaming boards thousands of bodies were being reduced to ashes.

“It was best, for the odor that arose from the dead bodies was awful. Still it made one’s heart ache with a sorrow never to be equaled as one witnessed little children tossed into the midst of the hissing flames. Do you wonder I cry?

“Before me, no matter which way I turned, I could see dead bodies, their cold eyes gazing at me with staring intentness. I closed my eyes and stumbled forward, hoping I might escape for a moment the sight of dead bodies, but no; the moment I would open them again, right at my feet I would find the form of some poor creature.

“Coming to Chicago on the train I read the papers. They are mistaken, away wrong: They only say 5,000 dead. It will be more than 10,000. I know I am right; every one in Galveston talks of 12,000, 15,000 and 18,000 dead, but it will be 10,000 at the very least.

“I believe the worst sight I witnessed was the 2,800 bodies being carried out to sea and buried in the gulf. Huge barges were tied to the wharfs and loaded with the unknown dead. As fast as one barge was filled it made its way out from the shore, and weighting the bodies, men cast them into the water.”

I. Thompson, a young man who was very active in saving life during the night of the storm, became insane because of the awful scenes he witnessed. Thompson’s friends first noticed his condition when he told that one of the persons he rescued had deposited $10,000 in one of the banks to his credit, and that he was going to live in luxury the rest of his life.

TRAGIC INCIDENTS.

Thompson retired to his room, on the third floor of the Washington Hotel, seemingly sane. Soon afterwards he began to moan, and soon became violent, rushing from one side of his room to the other and declaring his determination to commit suicide. Employes of the hotel did all they could to pacify the man, and during the night he became more rational and lay down. The person engaged to watch him was compelled to leave the room for a short time early in the morning, and when he returned he found that Thompson had wrenched the shutters off his window and leaped out upon an awning and thence to the street.

Thompson was seen to run toward the bay, and in all probability he threw himself overboard and was drowned, as he was not seen or heard of afterward.

Another case is that of a young woman who was caught in the rain, and, with two other women and about fifty men and boys, found refuge in an office. It was with the utmost difficulty she could restrain herself during the fearful storm, and she frequently became hysterical and cried out for her mother, sisters and her brother and his family. As the storm gradually subsided the young woman became more calm, and when morning broke she started for her home quite reassured. She found a wild waste of waters sweeping over the site of her home. Her dear ones were missing.

Among the first victims carried into the temporary morgue were the young woman’s mother, brother and two children. These were quickly followed by her brother’s wife and her two sisters. The shock overthrew the girl’s reason, and she became a nervous wreck, without a relative in the world.

Hundreds of such tragic incidents as these marked the week, and the number of men and women who lost their reason was very large.

HARROWING TALES TOLD BY SURVIVORS.

Many strange incidents of the hurricane were gathered from the tales of the survivors. They told of pitiable deaths, of fearful destructions of property and of strange incidents of the great force of the storm. The following are just a few of the many that were told by refugees in this city:

One of the most remarkable escapes recorded during the flood was that of a United States battery-man on duty at the forts, who had been picked up on Morgan’s Point, wounded but alive. He had buffeted the waves for five days and lived through a terrible experience. Morgan’s Point is thirty miles from Galveston.

Another man who passed though a similar experience was found floating on the roof of a house on the open sea, over one hundred miles distant from Galveston. He was half famished, but quickly recovered upon being taken aboard.

Dr. H. C. Buckner, of the Buckner Orphan’s Home at Dallas, brought with him from Galveston thirty-six little children who were made homeless, fatherless and motherless by the storm. Many of the children were suffering from cuts and bruises, and all were destitute of clothing except the tattered and torn garments which they had on their backs. They were taken to the Children’s Hospital in Haskell avenue, in Dallas, to have their wounds treated and to recuperate before being sent to the home proper, six miles east of the city. The children are from all walks of life, and were taken in charge by Dr. Buckner while in Galveston as the ones most in need of immediate attention.

Reports show that three-fourths of the Velasco people lost their homes and four persons were drowned. Eight bodies were washed ashore at Surfside, supposed to be from Galveston. At Quintana 75 per cent. of the buildings are destroyed. No lives were lost there, though a number were injured. Velasco has hardly a house that will bear inspection. People are suffering for the necessities of life and many who are sick need medicines.

At Seabrooke, Texas, thirty-three out of thirty-four houses floated away and twenty-one people were drowned. At Hitchcock a large pile-driver of the Southern Pacific works at Galveston, and also a large barge partly laden with coal, are lying in the pear orchards several miles from the coast. Box cars, railway iron, drawbridges, houses, schooners and all conceivable things are lying over the prairie, some fifteen miles from their former location.

A TRAGIC WEDDING CEREMONY.

At the Tremont Hotel in Galveston a wedding occurred Thursday night, which was not attended with music and flowers and a gathering of merrymaking friends and relatives. Mrs. Brice Roberts had expected some day to marry Earnest Mayo. The storm which desolated so many homes deprived her of almost everything on earth—father, mother, sister and brother. She was left destitute. Her sweetheart, too, was a sufferer. He lost much of his possessions in Dickinson, but he stepped bravely forward and took his sweetheart to his home.

A pathetic story of the Galveston flood is that of Mrs. Mary Quayle, of Liverpool, England, who is now on her journey home. She had only been two days in the city with her husband when the storm came. She goes home, her husband dead, and herself a nervous wreck. Mr. and Mrs. Quayle had taken apartments in Lucas terrace, Galveston. During the storm Mr. Quayle went to a window, when a sudden burst of wind tore out the panes and sucked him, as it were, out of the house. Mrs. Quayle, in the rear of the room, was thrown against a wall and stunned. No trace of her husband’s body has been found.

It will be a long time before many of the survivors of the Galveston catastrophe can appreciate the nature of the calamity which has befallen them. One woman laughingly told another that she had saved her baby, but that her two boys and her husband had been drowned. She was evidently insane.

An eye-witness, writing on September 16th, said: “Galveston is striving manfully to rise from its ashes. A reign of terror has been averted, Hope crowns the day. More than a thousand men are clearing the streets of debris. They are working night and day. Their efforts so far have been expended in picking up carcasses and gathering bodies into piles and burning them. Separate pyres are built for human bodies and animals, and the work progresses rapidly. The task is heart-rendering, and many able bodied men have succumbed to the ordeal.

GIGANTIC DISINFECTION.

“Hundreds of women and children who are trying to get away from the city to the mainland find the task difficult. The slowness of the distracted ones is not due to tardiness or hesitation on their part. On the contrary, it is a scramble to get away, and the shattered wharves are lined with persons awaiting their turn. Transportation facilities are very meagre. There are few boats to be had. The Lawrence, a 200–ton propeller, is the only steamer carrying persons across to Texas City.

“One of the most hopeful features of the situation is the arrival of hundreds of barrels of disinfectants, such as carbolic acid and chloride of lime. Two thousand barrels of these could be advantageously used. The Board of Health shows signs of vigor and of an appreciation of the danger that confronts the city and contiguous territory. Every effort is being made to deodorize the ruins and to quickly dispose of the dead as soon as they are reached.

“The work of cleaning and disinfecting the streets is carried on with vigor, and the results are quite noticeable, especially in the central part of the city. Gutters in Tremont street were opened and the slush and debris from them carted to the city dump. This allowed the water to drain off. Centre street and the Strand were also worked on with excellent results, the gutters being opened and disinfectants generally distributed. Several other streets in the central part of the city were put in a sanitary condition.

“The depot for sanitary supplies established by the Board of Health issued yesterday fifty-four sacks and eighty-four barrels of lime, twenty-five sacks of charcoal, twenty boxes of powdered disinfectants, ten cans of oil and three barrels of carbolic acid. All of this was distributed over the city for disinfection.

“Out in the suburbs large forces were at work cleaning the streets and opening the gutters. The result of their work is very noticeable to one who went out in the evening after having gone over the same ground the day before. The work of clearing the streets of broken telephone and telegraph poles and wires, as well as poles and wires of other kinds, has been begun in earnest. The great broken poles with their loads of wires are lowered to the ground and the wires removed as rapidly as possible.

THE SHERIFF’S WORK.

“Sheriff Thomas reports that he and his posses buried and cremated thirty-eight bodies in Hurd’s lane, twenty-one bodies at Sydnor’s Bayou, and thirteen bodies in Eagle Grove. Sheriff Thomas says there are still one hundred bodies to be buried just outside the city limits, and he has no idea of how many more down the island.

“Fully $1,500,000 worth of vessel property is tied up on the lowlands. There was more than this until the British steamer Mora was floated on Wednesday. There are seven ocean going steamers grounded in different parts of the bay, and the prospect of some of them ever getting from their positions is quite remote.

“The steamer Roma is probably in the tightest place. She broke from her moorings at pier No. 15 during the storm and went westward to the county bridge, tearing her way through the other bridges until she went aground on or near Deer Island. It is feared her days of usefulness are over, for it would take as much as she is worth to dredge a channel from her position to water deep enough to float her.

“Another possible total loss is the steamer Kendal Castle, which is in shallow water near Texas City, having gone there during the storm from pier No. 31. She lies partly broadside on. Like the Roma, she is far from deep water, and until the Texas City channel is completed it does not seem probable that she can get out.

“The quarantine barge, belonging to the State, is probably gone beyond redemption. She dragged her anchor from the mooring place to Pelican Island, where she went aground and fell over on her side with the receding waters. Her machinery is probably badly wrecked, and she is in such a position that it would be difficult to right her, although the effort may be made.

“Small craft in the bay suffered as much in proportion to value as the big vessels, if not more, for practically every one was swamped. Some of them struck the piers and had holes stove in their bottoms. Owners have been repairing them, and for that reason few, if any, will be entirely lost.”

GALVESTON IN DANGER FROM FIRE.

“A danger which Galveston faces is fire. Not a drop of rain has fallen since the hurricane, and the hot winds and blistering suns have made the wrecked houses and buildings so much tinder, piled mountain high in every direction. In nearly all parts of the city the fire hydrants are buried fifty feet, in some places a hundred feet deep under the wreckage, and as yet the water supply at best is only of the most meagre kind.

“Galveston’s fire department is small and badly crippled and would be powerless to stay the flames should they ever start. There is no relief nearer than Houston, and that is hours away. In view of all the existing conditions it is no wonder that the cry is, ‘Get the women and children to the mainland, anywhere off the island,’ nor is it a wonder that with one small boat carrying only 300 passengers, and making only two trips a day, people fairly fight to be taken aboard.

“All yesterday fears were entertained by the authorities that even this service would be cut off and Galveston left without any means of getting to the mainland, owing to the trouble with the owner of the boat.

“The sanitary conditions do not improve. Dr. Trueheart, chairman of the committee in charge of caring for the sick and injured, is going on with dispatch. More physicians are needed, and he requests that about thirty outside physicians come to Galveston and work for at least a month, and, if needed, longer. The city’s electric light service is completely destroyed, and the city electrician says it may be sixty days before the business portion can be lighted.

“A glorious and modern Galveston to be rebuilt in place of the old one, is the cry raised by the citizens, but it would seem a task beyond human power to ever remove the wreckage of the old city.

“The total number of people fed in the ten wards Saturday, the 15th, was 16,144. Sunday the number increased slightly. No accurate statement of the amount of supplies can be obtained as they are being put in the general stock as soon as received.”

“SEEMS LIKE AN AWFUL DREAM.”

Destitute save for a few personal effects carried in a small valise, and with nerves shattered by a week of horror, Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Prutsman, with their two daughters, twelve and six years old, reached Chicago from the flood-swept district of Texas. They came direct from Galveston, via. Houston and St. Louis.

During all of one afternoon the little family sat at the Rock Island station waiting for a train to take them to Putnam, Ill., where Mrs. Prutsman has relatives. When it was learned that they were from Galveston, they were besieged with questions concerning the details of the terrible storm. Crowds of waiting passengers flocked about them, and they told the gruesome story over and over.

“Yes, we were fortunate,” said Mrs. Prutsman, as she leaned wearily back in a rocking chair, and tenderly contemplated the two children at her side. “It seems to me just like an awful dream, and when I think of the hundreds and hundreds of children who were killed right before our very eyes, I feel as though I always ought to be satisfied no matter what comes.”

Mr. Prutsman said: “The reports from Galveston are not half as appalling as the situation really is. We left the fated city Wednesday afternoon, going by boat to Texas City, and by rail to Houston. The condition of Galveston at that time, while showing an improvement, was awful, and never shall I forget the terrible scenes that met our eyes as the boat on which we left steamed out of the harbor. There were bodies on all sides of us. In some places they were piled six and seven deep, and the stench horrible.

“I resided with my family fourteen blocks away from the beach, yet my house was swept away at 5 P.M. Saturday, and with it went everything we had in the world. Fifteen minutes before I took my wife and children to the courthouse and we were saved, along with about 1,000 others who sought refuge there. When we went through the streets the water was up to our arms and we carried the children on our heads.

WOMAN SHOT TO END HER SUFFERING.

“I assisted for several days in the work of rescue. In one pile of debris we found a woman who seemed to have escaped the flood, but who was injured and pinned down so she could not escape. A guard came along, and, after failing to rescue her, deliberately shot her to end her misery.

“The streets present a gruesome appearance. Every available wagon and vehicle in the city is being used to transport the dead, and it is no uncommon thing to see a load of bodies ten deep. The stench in the city is nauseating. Since the flood the only water that could be used for drinking purposes was in cisterns, and it has become tainted with the slime and filth that covers the city until it is little better than no water at all.

“Since the city was placed under martial law conditions have been much better and there is little lawlessness. The soldiers have shown no quarter and have orders to shoot on sight. This has had a wonderful effect on the disreputable characters who have flocked into the city.

SAW FOUR MEN SHOT IN ONE DAY.

“Everybody who remains in Galveston is made to work, and the punishment for a refusal is about the same as that meted out to ghouls. I saw four colored men shot in one day. There were confined in the hold of a steamer in the harbor, six colored men who were found by the soldiers with a flour sack almost filled with fingers and ears on which were jewels. These men probably have been publicly executed before this time.

“In the work of rescue we found whole families tied together with ropes, and in several instances mothers had their babes clasped in their arms.

“Scores of unfortunates straggle into Houston every day and their condition is pitiable. Several have lost their reason. The citizens of Houston are doing all in their power to meet the demands of the sufferers, and every available building in the city has been converted into a hospital. When we arrived in Houston we scarcely had clothes enough to cover us, and the citizens fitted us out and started us north. The fear of fever or some awful plague drove us from Galveston.

“Already speculators are flocking into the city, and there is some activity among them over tax-title real estate. In several instances whole families were wiped out of existence, and the opportunities in this line seem to be great.”

General Chambers McKibbin, U. S. A., and Adjutant General Scurry were both emphatic regarding the necessity for prompt work in clearing the streets and surroundings of Galveston.

“I am personally in favor of burning as much rubbish as possible,” said General McKibben, “and of burning it as quickly as the power of man will permit. I am not an alarmist by any means, and I do not predict a pestilence, but I think things are coming to that point where a pestilence may be possible unless prompt measures are taken, and there is nothing so effective as fire. Burn everything and burn it at once.”

“I haven’t a dollar to pay the men who are working in the streets all day long,” said Adjutant General Scurry. “I am unable to say to a single one of the men ‘You’ll be paid for your work.’ I have not the money to make good the promise. I hope and believe that the country will understand the situation. We must have this city cleaned up at any cost and with the greatest speed possible. If it is not done with all haste, and at the same time done well, there may be a pestilence, and if it once breaks out here it will not be Galveston alone that will suffer.

“Such things spread, and it is not only for the sake of this city, but for others outside that I urge that above all things we want money. The nation has been most kind in its response to the appeals of Galveston, but from what I hear, food and disinfectants sufficient for temporary purposes at least, are here or on the way. The country does not understand. It cannot understand, unless it could visit Galveston, the awful situation prevailing here.”

NO DANGER OF PESTILENCE.

Dr. A. B. Chamberlain said that Galveston would now escape epidemic in any form. He had been through two of these Gulf coast visitations, though upon a smaller scale. “We may have some mild cases of fever as the result of the shock and the exposure,” he said, “but I am confident there will be nothing serious.”

This seems to be quite generally the opinion of the doctors who are not advising any wholesale exodus. They put great faith in the free use of disinfectants and in the bracing salt air which blows continuously over the island.

“A barrel of lime is worth more to us now than a ton of food,” was the expression of Dr. J. O. Dyer. “Let us appeal,” he continued, “for 10,000 barrels of lime and 500 barrels of tar. Each block will require at the least ten barrels scattered on its respective lots and streets, burn the tar in offensive localities.”

Ladies of Galveston are engaged in a work which is perhaps without precedent in relief effort. They are making many little bags, into which they place two or three lumps of camphor. The bags have strings by which they can be fastened at the head, so that they will rest on the lip just under the nose. They are to be worn by the men engaged in the search and cremation of bodies.

It is proposed to all people whose houses are still standing that whenever they locate a corpse or carcasses in their vicinity the position be indicated by a flag of some kind.

Some of the notices and paragraphs in these first issues of the Galveston papers are as interesting as stories of the storm. For example:—

“The First Church of Christ, Scientists, cordially extends the use of their church to any denomination whose church was so damaged by the recent storm as to render it unfit for services.”

DOCTORS CARING FOR THE SUFFERERS.

In the advertising columns merchants seem to vie with each other in announcing, “Positively no advance in prices.” Here is an editorial leader which could hardly be found outside of a hurricane issue:—

“It is important that all who are injured enough to necessitate a stitching of their wounds should have their dressings changed every twenty-four hours. Some of the wounded have neglected to do this, with a result that the doctors have more work to do than is necessary. Every doctor in town is doing work free of cost to all who apply.”

There have been accounts of negroes caught in the act of robbing the dead and shot. Galveston citizens are prompt to say that there have been exceptional cases. They gave the mass of colored people credit for doing their part.

On September 14th a writer described as follows events in the stricken city: “The evacuation of Galveston has begun. Do what they will, the newspapers and authorities cannot convince thousands who have made up their minds that this island is doomed to remain a moment after their first chance of escape.

“Schooners by the dozen are leaving for Texas and their crews have to stand guard to keep the people from overcrowding and sinking the craft. People are leaving with no destination, but with a strong determination to get many miles from this panorama of wrecked business houses, blockaded streets, hospitals filled with wounded and dying victims of the awful disaster.

“Galveston may again become the prosperous port it was five days ago, but its principal population will be of people who have not seen the awful work of wind and water. Men who have large business interests here may remain, but their families will be on the mainland, and every sign of approaching storm will drive thousands away. A workingman who paid $3,900 for a cottage and lot offered to sell for $500 yesterday, throwing in all the house contained. The house is very little damaged, but he lost a wife and baby whom he had taken to what he thought was a place of safety. It is impossible to write anything that would convey a faint idea of the wreckage and ruin.

FIRES ALL OVER THE CITY.

“The number of dead under debris in the central parts of the city will never be known, as burning is going on all over the city. The east end, beginning at Fifteenth street and Avenue L, running on a line parallel with the island, has a great mass of wreckage piled as high as a man’s head and from that to the top of houses three stories high.

“This line extends as far along as there were any houses to wreck, and consists of all manner of buildings. It is a desolate scene from Eighth street east, when one compares it with the life that was present there but a short time ago. Two buildings of all the colony at the Point are left standing. These are the houses of the quarantine officer and the lighthouse. The quarantine warehouse is gone. All the barrack buildings and the dirt mounds that surrounded them are gone, and in place of all is a watery waste, with the exception of a few little islands that appear above the water.

“The water has cut into the lands from the jetties, covering all the ground practically from Seventh street east. For a block or more in the neighborhood of the hospitals there is a prairie waste, and then begins the mass of debris. One man had several houses out there and now he can find his fine porcelain tubs in the debris, while all about him are the things that composed his home and the houses he owned.

“Lucas Terrace, a large three-story brick building, divided into flats of three and four rooms each is almost a total wreck. Out of thirty-seven persons reported to have been in the building when the storm started its work of destruction, the Terrace had fifteen killed. Business concerns of the larger order in the East end suffered with the corner groceries and the smaller merchants.

WELL-KNOWN BUILDINGS DAMAGED.

“Boysen’s mill is considerably damaged, the smokestack, some of the windows and part of the roof being gone. Across the street the bonemeal mill stands, with scarcely any north wall whatever. The Neptune Ice Company, Eighteenth street and Avenue A, is almost a total wreck. A part of the building is gone into a mass of debris while other parts remain standing. The oil mill at Eighteenth street and Strand, suffered little apparent damage except to the windows. A big blacksmith shop in Eighteenth street, between Strand and Mechanic, suffered the loss of the upper story entirely. These are but a few specimens of what has happened all over the city.”

W. S. Abernethy, with the Chicago relief forces, wrote on the 15th: “Yesterday was a day of anguish, as all the days of this week have been.

“There was no cessation of tear-stained faces appearing here and there to tell of the lost. And it is a wonder if the end of this sad divulgence will ever come. A motherless boy or a fatherless girl, newly childless mother or father, or whatever it may be, they still come to tell of their woe; and the stolid men who glide over the water or who search the shore still bring in the swollen and unrecognizable victims of the storm. It will end some day, and agonizing hearts may rest from the painful throbbings of this hour.

“It is likely that Dr. Grant will increase his force to fifty deputy marshals at once. He cancelled his political appointments in Ohio to render this service to Galveston. Speaking of the disaster he said:

“It is the tragedy of the century, and is impossible of description. I have never seen anything like it before, and I hope I never shall again. As sorrowful as it is, however, I do not believe the people of Galveston will give way to despair. There is still a great future for this city, and those who survive must wisely realize the present and build to the future.

“Such destruction is impossible of repetition, and all Texas will regret if Galveston halts and refuses to improve the possibilities within her grasp. The horrible past—and thank God it is past—with its innumerable heartaches, is too awful to discuss.”

MAYOR SETS ALL AT WORK.

“Mayor Walter C. Jones has issued a proclamation revoking all passes heretofore issued, and placing Brigadier General Thomas Scurry in command of all forces. General Scurry has appointed Hunt McCaleb his adjutant, and only passes signed by him will be recognized. All able men without the passes will be put at work clearing the wreckage and burning and burying the dead.

“At a meeting of the relief committee yesterday it was decided not to pay for labor, but time checks will be issued and paid later. Only those sick and those working will receive assistance from the relief committee.”

HUGE TANK MOVED SIX BLOCKS.

To those acquainted with the wharf front a peculiar thing is presented near the foot of Twenty-first street. The big steel tank of the Waters-Pierce Oil Company, in which was stored during the season cotton seed oil, at the foot of Fifteenth street, was blown to Twenty-first street, a distance of six blocks. It landed on its bottom and rests now in an upright position. It is a large tank and heavy, but the elements got the better of it.

This morning the streets are pretty well crowded with business vehicles; a great many large concerns are doing business, and there is a general appearance of activity which will in a great measure relieve the feeling of unrest and stem the tide of people trying to get away from Galveston.

The prospect for rail communication is improving, but no day can be set when trains can be run to the island. Large forces are at work on both ends of one of the four bridges across the bay, but as the bridge is two and one-half miles long and the piling in bad shape, it is impossible to say when the work will be completed. It may be in three or four days, or may be longer, although railroad officials hope for the best—that is, the lowest estimates of time.

FEAR TO LOOK ON THE SEA.

“It matters not how great the number of the dead, there are enough to shock the sympathies of the world, and they are gone forever. But we fear here to look upon the sea, lest some heartless wave shall bring to view the cold, stark form of another whom somebody lived with and loved.

“The victims are still growing into larger thousands, and the bereft are still coming in to tell of losses. It is a continued story of anguish and death such as Texas has never known before and prays it shall never know again.

EVERY WAVE HAS ITS TRAGEDY.

“It is said that every wave of the sea has its tragedy, and it seems to be true here. In Galveston it has ceased to be an anxiety for the dead, but concern for the living. The supreme disaster, with its overwhelming tale of death and destruction, has now abated to lively anxiety for the salvation of the living.

“Men are at work clearing the streets of piles of timbers and refuse. Men are beginning to realize that the living must be cared for. It is now the supreme duty. There is much work to be done and it is being done. Women and children are being hurried out of the city just as rapidly as the limited facilities of transportation will permit. The authorities and commissioners are rational, and idleness is no longer permitted.

“There is an element with an abundance of vital energy who intend to save the town, and the town is being saved. Burying the dead, feeding the destitute, cleaning the city and repairing wrecks of all character are under fair headway, and will be pushed as rapidly as men can be found to do the work.

“The great utilities of the city are being repaired to a state of usefulness. Men are in demand and workers are coming to engage in the duty of restoration. Life is beginning to supersede death, and there is apparent everywhere a desire to save the city and rebuild it.

“Before another week has passed, the listlessness of mourning people will have been changed into a lively interest in life, and as this comes so, Galveston will begin to realize just what the world expects of her. General Scurry now has charge of the town, and it is really under martial law.

“Of course there is some friction. Martial friction, like the martial law, is a matter only temporary. It would be difficult to challenge the necessity of this measure. There are many defenseless women and children in the city, living in houses without locks and keys, and they must be protected against prowlers of all kinds. How long such protection will be necessary cannot be known now, but General Scurry can be depended upon to discharge the important obligations which he has assumed.

“There are political factions here who resent the idea of martial law, but this fact does not, for a moment, abate the necessity for it. United States Marshal John Grant has arrived with twelve deputy marshals. He tendered his services to General Scurry and they were accepted.

WALKING OVER CORPSES.

“One hundred people at present are at Virginia Point, some waiting for transportation over to Galveston, some for day to break so as to permit of the burial of corpses, of which there are many scattered up and down the beach and all over the prairie for a radius of ten miles. Others are waiting for a first chance to get as far away as possible from this terrible scene. Men who will work are very scarce. Those willing have a desire to boss, which does not facilitate matters in the least. An organized force of considerable proportion should be sent here at once.

“An eight-mile walk from where the passengers were put off the train last night to this place, over the corpses of human beings and animals, piles of lumber, household articles of every description and furniture was an experience so horrible that a small proportion of those who started are here this morning.

“A caboose and engine are standing just above this place. In it are four train men all crippled and sick, only one of them being able to get about. With them are a father and son, the remainder of a party of eight who tried to cross the bay Saturday. A half mile farther down, or a hundred yards from the bay, is another engine and caboose, in it a family of six, four of them small children, are congregated. They lived at this place and had a hard fight for their lives. They are caring for a switchman, who will live only a few hours. They are in a destitute condition.

REFUGEES CRAZED BY THEIR SUFFERINGS.

“Refugees from Galveston tell awful tales of suffering and death, and in every case that came to my notice are in such mental state that there can be no reliable facts obtained from them. The only newspaper man who has got into Galveston came out last night deathly sick, and would not stop when hailed.

“Thieves have been robbing the bodies as they came ashore. One man was caught last night and will be taken to Galveston to-day. When searched, a baby’s finger was found with a ring on it. He afterwards gave the hiding place of articles and money and much jewelry was found. A cry of “lynch him” met with little favor; enough death is here.

“Frantic refugees from Galveston gave vent to all sorts of invectives against the world in general and Houston (fifty miles north) in particular, for what they believe to be dilatoriness in relief work. It does not seem that more could have been done in one day. Almost nothing has been done.

“Some in their frenzy blaspheme their God for not preventing such a catastrophe. Two relief boats are to leave shortly but only enough men to man them will be allowed to accompany them. There is no shelter here except the two cars mentioned. Box cars were strewn along the west side of the railroad grade for two miles from this point.”