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

HOUSE ROLLED MANY YARDS.

One of the experiences of the storm was that of Miss Reine Stanton of Houston, who, with her father and a younger sister, were camping on her farm two and a half miles from Letitia. The house rolled for a distance of 200 yards and then collapsed. The girls were rescued several hours later in an unconscious condition, but, though quite seriously injured, they may recover. All the buildings on the place were wrecked.

“You have often heard that men are fond of the ‘jug,’” said one of the refugees. “Well, I am fond of two jugs, for they are the cause of my being here to-day. I owned a little shanty on the west end of Galveston Island, and, like many others who lived there, I thought and argued that we were not in the storm center, and had seen the water come up near my shanty many times before and recede. This time it not only came up to my little home, but into it. After waiting patiently for it to go down, it kept climbing higher and higher into it. It dawned upon me all of a sudden that all means of escape had been cut off.

“I looked around for something that would bear my weight upon the water. I saw in the corner of my house two two-gallon jugs. I took them and securely fastened a stopper in each and got a piece of rope and then fastened them to my body by passing the rope around under my arms, and securely tying them to each other. I then went out on the gallery and when the crash came I dove off into the maddening waters. I suppose that I was carried about twenty miles down the island and thence back, God knows how far, and inland about eight miles. When I became conscious it was nearly daylight Monday morning. I walked here, where I have some friends, and have been recuperating.

“Yes, I believe in jugs, at least for life saving purposes only.”

An amusing incident occurred at the International and Great Northern depot. One of the ladies’ relief corps from the North was highly indignant and pitched into Superintendent Trice because sleepers were not attached to the train going down to Texas City.