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

ARRESTED FOR ROBBING THE DEAD.

“General McKibben had just arrived when I was there and martial law reigned. I was told that seventy ghouls had been arrested for robbing bodies and that they would be court-martialed and shot. The tramp steamer Kendal Castle is lying high and dry 200 feet from the water’s edge. She is standing on an even keel, just as though she was at sea. General Scurry wanted a boat to go across to Galveston and informed the captain he was under martial law and his boats would be required. The boats were sent and General Scurry went across the bay in the captain’s gig.

“The stench along the wharves in Galveston is something terrible, but the people are making every effort to dispose of everything that is putrifying.

“The railroad and telegraphic companies are making tremendous efforts to get into Galveston. The Postal Telegraph Company has two wires strung down the Galveston, Houston and Henderson to the junction of the Texas Terminal. Below that not a pole was left. The Western Union is making rapid progress and will lay a cable across the bay.”

George Hall, a traveling man who lives at 133 Thomas avenue, this city, returned from Galveston yesterday morning, having passed through the terrible scenes enacted there during and after the storm. To a News representative he said last night:

“I arrived at Galveston Friday afternoon, and my wife and little girl were to come down Saturday. At noon Saturday I noticed that the storm, which had been blowing all the morning, was getting worse. At that time I went to the tower of the Tremont Hotel and saw the waves rolling in toward the land. I took just one look over the city and came down. The wind increased in violence from that on and the rain fell in sheets, and I sent a telegram to my wife and advised her to stop in Houston. I think that was the last telegram that was sent from the island, as a few moments afterwards the girl told me the wires had snapped. The storm was accompanied by no thunder or lightning.