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

GIGANTIC DISINFECTION.

“Hundreds of women and children who are trying to get away from the city to the mainland find the task difficult. The slowness of the distracted ones is not due to tardiness or hesitation on their part. On the contrary, it is a scramble to get away, and the shattered wharves are lined with persons awaiting their turn. Transportation facilities are very meagre. There are few boats to be had. The Lawrence, a 200–ton propeller, is the only steamer carrying persons across to Texas City.

“One of the most hopeful features of the situation is the arrival of hundreds of barrels of disinfectants, such as carbolic acid and chloride of lime. Two thousand barrels of these could be advantageously used. The Board of Health shows signs of vigor and of an appreciation of the danger that confronts the city and contiguous territory. Every effort is being made to deodorize the ruins and to quickly dispose of the dead as soon as they are reached.

“The work of cleaning and disinfecting the streets is carried on with vigor, and the results are quite noticeable, especially in the central part of the city. Gutters in Tremont street were opened and the slush and debris from them carted to the city dump. This allowed the water to drain off. Centre street and the Strand were also worked on with excellent results, the gutters being opened and disinfectants generally distributed. Several other streets in the central part of the city were put in a sanitary condition.

“The depot for sanitary supplies established by the Board of Health issued yesterday fifty-four sacks and eighty-four barrels of lime, twenty-five sacks of charcoal, twenty boxes of powdered disinfectants, ten cans of oil and three barrels of carbolic acid. All of this was distributed over the city for disinfection.

“Out in the suburbs large forces were at work cleaning the streets and opening the gutters. The result of their work is very noticeable to one who went out in the evening after having gone over the same ground the day before. The work of clearing the streets of broken telephone and telegraph poles and wires, as well as poles and wires of other kinds, has been begun in earnest. The great broken poles with their loads of wires are lowered to the ground and the wires removed as rapidly as possible.