The Great Galveston Disaster / Containing a Full and Thrilling Account of the Most Appalling Calamity of Modern Times Including Vivid Descriptions of the Hurricane and Terrible Rush of Waters; Immense Destruction of Dwellings, Business Houses, Churches, and Loss of Thousands of Human Lives; Thrilling Tales of Heroic Deeds; Panic-Stricken Multitudes and Heart-Rending Scenes of Agony; Frantic Efforts to Escape a Horrible Fate; Separation of Loved Ones, etc., etc.; Narrow Escapes from the Jaws of Death; Terrible Sufferings of the Survivors; Vandals Plundering Bodies of the Dead; Wonderful Exhibitions of Popular Sympathy; Millions of Dollars Sent for the Relief of the Stricken Sufferers

by Paul Lester

A MARVELLOUS ESCAPE.

Harry Van Eaton, a well known traveling salesman for Tenison Bros., Dallas, was in the midst of the disaster, but saved his life in a marvellous manner.

“It was the worst trial of my life,” he said with a shudder. “I shall never forget its horrors. I arrived in Galveston Saturday morning and immediately went to the beach with a party of us and for a while had a good time in bathing. But the waves soon became furious and we were notified by the life saving crew ‘to get out of the water as there was danger coming.’

“Luckily we obeyed their command, for when we had dressed, the waves were enormous. We had to wade waist deep in water before we reached the Tremont Hotel. The wind kept increasing and at this stage of the game I began to realize something awful was going to happen.

“At eight o’clock that night the wind must have been going a hundred mile an hour gait and it was about this time that the roof of the hotel gave away and the skylight fell in on the thousand or more people who were there. I walked through three or four feet of water to reach the front door.

“There was a regular millrace rushing past the door and I was caught in it, but by God’s help and by expert swimming I managed to reach the mainland.

“It was a terrible experience; whirling by me were hundreds of bodies, more than I dared to count, crushed and mangled between timbers and debris. Men, women and children sinking, floating and dashing on, many to an instant death. I also passed many dead horses and cattle. How it all ended, that I reached safety, I hardly know; but I kept my presence of mind and by God’s help was saved.”