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

GALLANT WORK OF FIRE DEPARTMENT.

But one has not been told. The people of the west end of the city speak in the highest praise of the boys of No. 6 fire station, which is located on Broadway, near Thirty-seventh street. When the water was very high, they secured their horses in the basement of the Broadway school building, tying high their heads so that they would be saved, and they were all brought out alive. The men then worked manfully for those about them; man after man, woman after woman, with many children were brought out of the water by these men of the fire-fighting force, and taken to the large school building opposite their station. They saved many people. There were 1200 people in this building at one time, and every one of them was saved.

Mrs. Frank Nichols, her daughter and little Miss Selkirk were down the island at their summer home, and Mrs. Nichols tells of the bravery of Captain White of the “Wasp.” The “Wasp” saved Captain Andrews and family of the life saving station. The sails blew away and the boat capsized with all on board, but the mast broke in the water and she righted herself. She drifted all night and landed in the bayou near the Nichols place Sunday morning with all safe.

The son of Mrs. Nichols got a horse in Galveston at 2 o’clock and managed to get to them, saving their lives. Their home was wrecked, but the young man built a rude shanty of the wreckage on the shore and they secured enough food in the ruins of their home to give the people on the “Wasp” a Sunday dinner. Mr. Nichols was in town. His home was completely wrecked and the clothes were torn from his back by the wind and wreckage. He is a little disfigured, but still able to be about.