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

GENEROUS OFFER OF HELP.

Prof. Buckner, of the Buckner Orphans’ Home of Dallas, arrived in the city and made his way at once to the gentlemen in charge of the relief work. He offered to throw the doors of his establishment wide open for the orphans of Galveston, who have been deprived of their shelter at the various asylums, and announced that he was ready to care for about 100 to 150 of the children. His offer was taken under consideration for advisement at a meeting to be held of the managers of the homes.

The official records of the United States Weather Bureau have been made up and forwarded to Washington. The reports give some very valuable additional information about the storm. Unfortunately the recording instruments were destroyed or crippled beyond operation about 5.10 p. m. on Saturday, as previously reported, and before the storm had reached the center of severity. The wind gauge recorded a two-minute blow at the rate of 100 miles an hour and was then demolished by the hurricane, which continued to increase in violence. While the exact velocity of the wind was not recorded after the destruction of the instruments, the Weather Bureau representatives estimate the maximum velocity at between 110 and 120 miles an hour. It did not maintain this terrific rate for any length of time, probably a half minute or minute gusts, but sufficient to wreck anything that met the full force of the storm.

A journal of the local office of the Weather Bureau contains the report of an apparent tidal wave of four feet which swept in from the Gulf some time between the hours of 7 and 8 P. M., and the time the wind veered to the southeast and attained its highest velocity of between 110 and 120 miles an hour. It should be remembered that there was a tide of about five feet and a terrible swell in the Gulf during the storm, and that the tidal wave of four feet rode this wall of water and increased the force and speed of the sea that washed over the city.