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CHAPTER IV.
The Cry of Distress in the Wrecked City— Negro Vandals Shot Down—Progress of the Relief Work—Strict Military Rule.
The situation on the third day after the flood was vividly described a visitor to the city as follows: It is plainly apparent that as a result of the Galveston disaster, a task confronts the public authorities such as neither Texas nor any other State has ever before had to grapple with.
Human nature at its worst has had opportunity for the display of its meanest passions, and relentless measures have been rendered necessary. Looters and vandals have ignored all moral restraints, and gunpowder has had to be used unsparingly to subdue the savagery being practiced. It is learned on unquestionable authority that the soldiers under Adjutant General Scurry have to-day (Wednesday the 12th) slain no less than seventy-five men, mostly negroes, guilty of robbing the dead.
POCKET FULL OF HUMAN FINGERS.
One of these had in his pocket twenty-three human fingers with costly rings on them. The fingers had been cut from the victims of the storm found on the beach or floating in the waters of Galveston Bay.
W. McGrath, Manager of the Dallas Electric Company, and representing large Boston interests in Texas, returned from Galveston direct. He says: “The only way to prevent an epidemic that will practically depopulate the island is to burn the bodies of the dead. The Governor of Texas should call an extra session of the Legislature and appropriate a million or half a million dollars, or whatever amount is needed. The situation must be taken intelligently in hand to save the State from a possible epidemic. Before I left Galveston about 4,000 bodies had been found. Eleven hundred had been tied together in bunches and sunk into the sea. Last night some fresh water was found by forces of men who explored the ground until the principal main of the city water works was found. Tons of rubbish were removed and the main tapped. I believe the water question is solved for the present, but money, clothing, wholesome bread, ice, drugs, etc., are needed.”
A bulletin from Galveston, via. Virginia Point and Houston, received here at 11 A. M., says:
“The situation grows worse every minute, water and ice needed. People in frenzy from suffering from these causes. Scores have died since last night, and a number of sufferers have gone insane.”
THE STORY INCREASES IN HORROR.
A despatch from Houston summed up the situation as follows: Houston is now being rapidly filled with refugees from Galveston. Stragglers have been arriving every few hours, and this afternoon a trainload of some eight hundred reached the city thoroughly worn out and disheartened, each with a tale of woe and harrowing experiences. Contrary to the usual thing in chronicling catastrophes of the present character the story of Galveston grows worse as the time progresses and the facts become known. Each chapter is more appalling than its predecessor, and the burden of death becomes heavier as the hours roll on. The estimates of the loss of life have grown from 1,000 to 8,000, and even the latter figure is said to be too small in the opinion of many of the survivors.
ACTUAL LOSS WILL NEVER BE KNOWN.
The actual loss will never be made known. The storm overwhelmed entire families, who were swept into the Gulf with the wreckage of their homes. The bodies may gradually be thrown on the sands, but identification will be impossible. The committees are endeavoring to compile lists of both dead and living, but they will not be accurate, as many mistakes have already been made and the living reported dead. Registers have been made and posted in the city in order to facilitate this feature of the relief work.
DISPOSING OF THE DEAD.
So far the efforts of the searchers have necessarily been confined to the open places, and it will be some time before the dead swept into the fields, the alleys and the gullies are gathered and laid away for good. The city is one awful stench of decaying animal matter. Nearly every animal on the island was killed, and the thousands of human remains still scattered beneath the vast piles of debris add to the danger of the situation. Too much time was lost in consigning the dead to the sea, and the workers were compelled by the exigencies of the situation to pile the corpses where found, and cremate them as well as this could be done.
PEOPLE DELAYED FLIGHT TOO LONG.
Oswald Wilson, editor of the Texan, who arrived with the refugees, says that the situation cannot be painted any blacker than it really is. Fully one-third of the city has been destroyed absolutely and every building damaged. He says that one reason that the loss of life was so excessive was due to the fact that they delayed leaving their homes until too late. The water rose rapidly for several hours until the centre of the city was six feet deep and the outlying section covered to a depth of over ten feet. The people of Galveston were accustomed to high water, although they had never witnessed so great an inundation, but their fears were calmed by the fact that during this period the wind had not risen above thirty miles an hour, and every year they had seen this condition during the equinoctial periods.
REALIZED THEIR PERIL TOO LATE.
Men waded about the city laughing at the rise of the water for hours, for the sea gradually encroached during the morning, and it was only when they realized the bay was forcing its contents to meet the tide from the Gulf that they lost their confidence that the present was but another attempt of the elements to create a disturbance, and seriously endeavored to reach a point of safety. Then it was too late, for the tide swirled in the streets and the wind had begun rapidly to increase in violence. It howled and screamed in great gusts, which increased in strength every minute, and one by one the houses along the Gulf front and in the Denver resurvey and about Fort Point began to go to pieces and pile one against the other.
The waters were filled with debris and the debris with men, women and children seeking to save their lives. Wading was impossible, save in the centre of the city, and the unfortunates were swept to and fro, dashed by the waves and bruised by the flying fragments, until death resulted in one form or another. Many were the deeds of heroism, but rescuers and all fell victims to the storm, for human efforts were unavailing.
MORE HORRORS DETAILED.
J. C. Roberts, of the firm of Behring Brothers, Houston, was sent to Galveston to learn of the family of his employers. His journey was arduous, for he was one of the first. Arriving in the city worn out, he entered a little drug store and asked for whisky. He was refused. A doctor was present and gave him a prescription for the stimulant. The druggist charged $2.50 for the whisky, and the doctor $5 for his services. He landed at Galveston at Twentieth street, and walked through dead bodies.
His description of the scenes is horrible in the extreme. The dead were everywhere. They were scattered on every hand, and nearly all in a complete state of nudity. He saw an Italian woman standing in the street holding in her hand the foot and leg of an infant severed from the little body. She was unclad, but alive and insane, and refused to leave the pile of debris which contained the remains of her little one.
Roberts witnessed one of the guards shoot five negro looters. He observed one of the men robbing a dead body. The man refused to desist and the guard shot him dead as he knelt on the sands. Four companions of the ghoul started to assault the guard, when he threw himself on his stomach, and, firing rapidly, killed them all.
NINETY NEGROES EXECUTED.
It is said that ninety negroes have been executed for robbery, and it is unsafe for any one to stir at night unless provided with a passport from the officer in charge. A description of the burning of the dead and the burial at sea is beyond reproduction. All sentiment is at an end. It has become a matter of self-protection and in order to avoid pestilence rapid disposal of the corpses is necessary. Several loads of lime have been sent from here, with other disinfectants. The people of Galveston have had no bread since the storm save what little has been sent from Houston. A cracker factory opened its doors Sunday and sold its entire contents in a short time. Some food was left after the storm, but this is rapidly being distributed.
Bonfires are burning all over the city. They are the funeral of a thousand festering corpses cast back upon the shore at high tide yesterday. Cremation has become a necessity to prevent an epidemic. The negroes refuse to work, and the townspeople are paralyzed with fright and suffering, or are making preparations to leave the doomed island.
The first train to carry refugees to Texas City, seven miles across the bay, was announced this morning, and since daylight a thousand men, women and children have been crowding into catboats, lifeboats, sloops, schooners and a single steamboat, the Lawrence, all bent on escaping from the city. Nearly all of them have lost some member of their families. The women wear no hats, are unkempt and ill-clad. They look as if haunted.
THE CITY OFFICIALS IN A LIVELY QUARREL.
The situation has gotten beyond the control of the authorities. The powers in control have been quarreling. Last night at 7 o’clock every citizen soldier under command of Major Fayling was called in, disarmed and mustered out of service. Chief of Police Ketchum then took charge, and the Major was relieved of his command. During an hour and a half the city was unguarded. Negro looters held high carnival.
As the Major’s work was unusually brilliant, the citizens are furious. This morning the situation from the police standpoint is improved. A hundred of the State militia of the Houston Light Guards, Houston Artillery and Houston Cavalry have arrived. They are patrolling the west end of the city. General McKibbin, Commander of the Department of the Gulf, and Adjutant General Scurry, of Texas, are on the ground, and are advising with Mayor Jones and the Chief of Police Ketchum.
In all other respects the city is worse off than on the morning after the tragedy. A terrible stench permeates the atmosphere. It comes from the bodies of a thousand unburied dead festering in the debris, that cannot be removed for weeks on account of the paucity of laborers. Every tide brings scores back to the shore. During the early part of yesterday trenches were dug and the bodies thrown into them, but it soon became an impossibility to bury all, and the health authorities decided upon cremation as an expedient.
WORK OF THE RELIEF COMMITTEE.
At a meeting of the Relief Committee held this morning reports were received from the various wards. The chairman called for armed men to assist in getting labor to bury the dead and clear the wreckage, and arrangements were made to supply this demand.
The situation in the city to-day is that there are plenty of volunteers for this service, but an insufficiency of arms. There have been two or three small riots, but the officers have managed to quell them. The committee rejected the proposition of trying to pay for work, letting the laborers secure their own rations. It was decided to go ahead impressing men into service, if necessary, issuing orders for rations only to those who worked or were unable to work.
All of the ward chairmen reported the imperative need of disinfectants. A committee was appointed to sequester all the disinfectants in the city, including the lime which escaped wetting, and to obtain more. Houston was called upon for a barge load of lime.
WORK AT THE WATER WORKS.
Work on the water works had not progressed so satisfactorily as had been hoped for. The men did not work last night. Chief Engineer Reynolds has not been at the works since yesterday morning. Alderman McMaster took charge of the work to-day. The machinery has been cleared of the debris and the pipes found to be badly damaged, and plumbers, steam fitters and boiler makers are at work on them. Mr. McMaster says he thinks it will be possible to turn water into the mains to-morrow.
All saloons were closed by the Chief of Police on Sunday. At a meeting of the General Committee with the city officials to-day, the policing of the city was discussed. Mayor Jones announced that Adjutant General Scurry would take charge of the situation with the soldiers and citizen soldiery. The city is patrolled by about 2,000 police officers, special officers, soldiers and deputy sheriffs. Deputy Chief of Police Amundsen is acting as Chief. Chief of Police Ketchum is engaged in other work outside of the police department.
STRICT POLICE RULES.
No liquor is permitted to be sold under any circumstances, unless ordered by the chairman of one of the committees or by a physician, who must state that it is to be used for medicinal purposes. All persons not having business on the streets after dark must be identified before they will be allowed to pass. Unless identification is forthcoming they are arrested. No person is allowed to work in or about any building unless he has a written permit signed by the Chief of Police or Deputy Chief. No person is permitted to carry furniture or other property through the streets unless he has a written permit from the proper authority. No gambling is permitted, and any violations of this rule are prosecuted to the fullest extent.
During the storm Saturday night the young men of the Boddiker family, with the aid of a skiff, rescued over forty people and took them to the University building, where they found shelter.
The organization of forces under the able administration of General Scurry was observable on every hand, and the chaotic condition of the city was being supplanted by a vigor of action that portended restoration in the near future. Private enterprise went to work and the people took heart.
NURSES FROM A DISTANCE.
The very presence of nurses was a sign that the calamity had attracted the attention of the world at large, and the city would not be left to succumb to the dire and terrible disaster that has overtaken it.
One of the local journals said: “Merchants are cleaning up their stores and repairing their injured buildings; property owners are seeking everywhere to obtain men and materials with which to restore their shattered habitations. Hope has by no means departed. In a brief time the sound of the locomotive will be heard upon the island, freight will be pouring up to the ship’s side, and the mechanic and artisan will find remunerative employment for years to come. Out of the destruction of the greatest wind and tide force that ever played upon the American continent, there has arisen already a feeling that what a week ago was regarded as an irretrievable disaster, will yet prove the starting point of a remodelled and reinvigorated Galveston. The whole world is behind us in generous sympathy and noble beneficence.”
GOVERNOR SAYRES ON THE SITUATION.
Governor Sayres made the following statement to the Associated Press on the flood situation:
“Conditions at Galveston are fully as bad as reported. Communication, however, has been re-established between the island and the mainland, and hereafter transportation of supplies will be less difficult. The work of clearing the city is progressing fairly well, and Adjutant General Scurry, under direction of the Mayor, is patrolling the city for the purpose of preventing depredations. The most conservative estimate as to the number of dead places them at 2,000. Contributions from citizens of this State and also from other States are coming in rapidly and liberally, and it is confidently expected that within the next ten days the work of restoration by the people of Galveston will have begun in good earnest and with energy and success. Of course, the destruction of property has been very great—not less than $10,000,000, but it is hoped and believed that even this great loss will be overcome through the energy and selfreliance of the people.”
During the day the contributions have fairly deluged the Governor, upwards of $100,000 having been received. Among the large contributors are to be noted the Standard Oil Company, with $10,000; St. Louis Commercial Club for a like amount, and the Huntington interests for $5,000.
THE TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM.
This afternoon Governor Sayres received the following official report from General Manager Trice, of the International and Great Northern Railroad, who is conducting the operations of the relief corps at Galveston:
“To Governor Sayres, Austin, Tex.—Your message of yesterday received. The cars containing the tents and rations were turned over to the barge line this morning and forwarded to Galveston, arrangements having been made for all freight to be handled by barges hauled by tugs from Clinton to Galveston, and passengers by our line to Texas City, and by boats from Texas City to Galveston. This is the best arrangement that can be made, and it prevents delay to either the freight or the passenger service, for, if we handled the freight with the passengers to Texas City, to transfer from the cars to the boats would cause too much delay to the passenger service.
“We brought in one train, consisting of about three hundred Galveston people, to Houston to-day, and will get another trainload to-night, mostly women and children, which will make about 600 that we will get out of Galveston to-day. The passenger and freight service between Houston and Galveston is all free for sufferers, and we are issuing transportation to all points north of Houston to all sufferers not able to pay their way.
“L. T .”
ADJUTANT GENERAL SCURRY’S ESTIMATE.
The following report was also received from Adjutant General Scurry:
“Governor Sayres, Austin.—Mayor of Houston ordered Houston military companies here, sixty-five men and officers came. Thirty more come to-morrow. Mayor of Galveston directed me to take command. Streets patrolled for purpose of preventing thieving. Work of clearing the city progressing fairly well.
“T S , Adjutant General.”
LOSS OF LIFE AND DAMAGE AT OTHER POINTS.
Governor Sayres began receiving reports from various points along the Gulf coast, which would indicate that there has been great property damage done for several hundred miles, and that the list of Galveston fatalities and suffering will be largely augmented. Down the coast from Galveston, the town of Dickinson was laid waste and five people killed. The towns of Alvin, Alta Loma, Texas City and Brookshire, are wrecked and hundreds are destitute. Richmond is so badly demolished that it will require weeks to clear the town.
Missouri City and Stafford, just opposite, were entirely demolished, and the few remaining people at these places have no homes to cover their heads. Bay City, in Matagorda county, is reported wrecked, with much loss of life, though no official report has been made to that effect. Patton, Rollover, Bolivar Point, Quintana, Sugarland, Belleville, Wharton, Fair View, Missouri City, Sartartia, Arcola and El Campo are all reported heavy sufferers both in point of property destroyed and lives lost. Owing to the fact that the telegraph service is still badly crippled, Governor Sayres cannot ascertain the exact number of dead at the points named, but it is approximated at 500.
BOATS FOR TRANSPORTATION.
The Governor was informed that quite a number of tugs from New Orleans and other available points had either arrived or were on the way to Galveston, and the transportation problem would soon be solved so far as the getting people from the island to the mainland was concerned.
Hundreds applied to Governor Sayres for permits to go to Galveston, but he refused all, saying that there were already too many people there.
THE DEVASTATION APPALLING.
The Quartermaster’s Department at Washington, received the following from Galveston:
“Quartermaster General, Washington: Referring to my telegrams of 9th and 10th, I have, subject to approval, suspended the Crockett construction contracts, and again urgently recommend that contractors be paid for labor and material in place and on the ground. All swept away and lost beyond recovery. Fortifications at Crockett, Jacinto and Travis all destroyed and cannot be rebuilt on present sites. Recommend continuance of my office here only long enough to recover Crockett office safes and morning gun, when located; also to close accounts and ship my office and recovered property where directed. I fear Galveston is destroyed beyond its ability to recover. Loss of life and property appalling.
“B , Quartermaster.”
VESSEL ORDERED TO GALVESTON.
President McKinley received a telegram from Governor Sayres, of Texas, asking that a light draft vessel be sent to Galveston to assist in the communication between the island and the mainland. The message was referred to the Treasury Department, and an order was issued to the revenue cutter Winona, at Mobile, to proceed to Galveston without a moment’s unnecessary delay. The Lighthouse Board also ordered the lighthouse tender Arbutus, then at New Orleans, to clear at once for Galveston.
Captain Shoemaker, Chief of the Revenue Cutter Service, is apprehensive as to the fate of the cutter Galveston, which was anchored in Galveston harbor at the beginning of the storm. It is assumed that she put to sea, but as three full days have elapsed since she was heard from there are fears for her safety.
The relief work, now under full sway at Houston, is along two lines—to succor those who cannot leave Galveston and to bring out of the city all those who can and are willing to leave.
Mayor Jones and the citizens’ committee of the island city are urging that only those shall be permitted to enter Galveston whose presence is imperative, and transportation lines are straining every nerve in order that they may accord the privilege to those who are pleading to get away from the scenes of horror and desolation around them.
Hundreds of people have come to Houston from the four points of the compass, anxious to get into the stricken town, but since the exodus of islanders has begun many of these have concluded to remain here rather than run the risk of missing on the way those for whom they are in search.
ATTEMPT TO SUM UP THE LOSSES.
News has gradually been reaching here of the immense losses along the coast beyond Galveston. Damage difficult to estimate in dollars and cents has been done in a wide stretch of territory, and many human lives have been lost besides those which were wiped out in Galveston and its immediate vicinity. Based on reports believed to be accurate, the following statement is probably as near correct as can be arrived at at this time: Place.
Damage to cotton crop, estimated on average crop of counties affected, 50,000 bales at $60 per bale; total, $3,000,000. Losses to live stock cannot be estimated, but thousands of horses and cattle have been killed all over the storm district.
RELIEF PUSHED FORWARD NIGHT AND DAY.
Relief for those stricken in the awful calamity is now beginning to pour in from all over the country. Relief committees are being organized, and food, clothing and money raised to be sent here as rapidly as the special trains can carry the supplies to the people so sorely in need of them.
The Relief Committee here announces that the subscriptions in cash are in excess of $15,000, and that in addition to the provisions which have been forwarded from here the Federal Government has ordered 50,000 rations, which are now on their way from San Antonio. Lieutenant Ferguson, of General McKibben’s staff, expects to take two car loads of food to Galveston to-day. A telegram from New Orleans says that the exchanges there have raised $6,000 for the sufferers.
Dr. C. P. Wertenbacker, in charge of the Marine Hospital Service in New Orleans, has arrived here. He has special instructions to look after the welfare of steamers which may be in distress in Galveston. Dr. Wertenbacker believes that two camps may have to be established by the Government, one for those who cannot leave Galveston and one for those who may come here. The National Government will send the necessary tents, and the local authorities are providing cots in large numbers.
