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

CURSED FOR INTERFERENCE.

“She called upon the darkey to give up the article, but she declined to do so, taking the position that in such times it was anybody’s property. Fortunately for the rightful owner a gentleman friend happened to come along during the controversy, and, hearing the nature of it, forcibly took the basket from the woman, who was even then bold enough to stand cursing the man for his interference. I did not see any parties mutilating or robbing the dead, but I met several others in Galveston who had.

“I left on Tuesday morning, being fortunate enough to get passage on a schooner that carried me to Texas City. From there I caught a train to Houston. All day Monday in Galveston it seemed to be one continual procession of bodies, which were being carried in wagons, drays, fire ladders, and every other imaginable conveyance. Some of the bodies were minus heads, arms or feet, which, added to the advanced stage of decomposition, not only made the scene particularly horrible to witness, but extremely nauseating on account of the smell from the bodies. Particularly toward the close of Monday the bodies were found so rapidly that any effort to carry them to any special point for burial had about ceased and they were covered up in the sand, laid down on the wharf or left where they were found. Even after I was fortunate enough to get a schooner to carry me to Texas City it seemed that there were almost as many floating in the bay and being carried off or lying around on the mainland as I had seen in Galveston itself.

“It was a horrible experience which I passed through, which I hope will never occur again in my lifetime, and I feel that I cannot too strongly call attention to the urgent needs, both in food and clothing, not only of the poor classes, but of the best people in Galveston, who up to the time of this terrible calamity had not known what want was, and who even now seem ill at ease in knowing how to make their wants known.”