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

HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE CARRIED OUT TO SEA.

“The loss of life at Galveston will never be known. The storm came first from the northwest and hundreds, perhaps thousands, were carried far out to sea never more to return. At 10 o’clock at night the wind suddenly veered to the southeast and hundreds more were swept into the bay and caught by the current and also carried out to the sea before daylight Sunday morning. That is the opinion of old seamen with whom I conversed, and if they do not know the actions of the ocean, then no one does.

“Monday evening and Tuesday morning I myself saw more than a hundred bodies floating out to sea and these were scarcely one per cent of those who perished. Responsible men with whom I talked and who had been from one end of the island to the other, estimated the loss at from 5,000 to 10,000; and all thought it would come nearer the last named figures than the first. Day by day as the debris is cleared away bodies will be found and many are buried beneath the ruins that will never be removed.

IMPROVISED KITCHEN FOR FEEDING THE GALVESTON SUFFERERS

HON. WALTER C. JONES
MAYOR OF GALVESTON

PHOTOGRAPH BY MORRIS, GALVESTON
INMATES OF THE HOME FOR HOMELESS CHILDREN, GALVESTON—ALL OF THESE LITTLE ONES WERE LOST IN THE FLOOD

TREMONT STREET, LOOKING NORTH FROM AVENUE O ½

WRECK OF FORT CROCKET

RUINS OF THE GALVESTON CITY WATER WORKS AND POWER HOUSE
The city water works and power house was badly damaged, but fortunately no one was killed when it fell, although some two hundred people had taken refuge in the building early in the evening. This was on account of the thoughtfulness and coolheadedness of Mr. W. H. Reynolds, chief engineer at the works. Keeping an ever watchful eye upon the storm and the building, he managed to fill the stand pipe and thus anchor it down, to draw his fires and cool his boilers and get the people out into a nearby coal shed in time to save them from the fearful death of being buried under the building. After the building fell they stayed in the coal shed until the storm had subsided enough to get out and look among the ruins for their loved ones and friends who were less fortunate in securing shelter from the terrible storm.

CLARA BARTON

LUCAS TERRACE
WHERE TWENTY-SEVEN PERSONS WERE SAVED IN ONE LITTLE ROOM THAT REMAINED STANDING

“Every portion of the island was submerged and it seems a miracle that the entire city was not swept away. At least two-fifths of the houses on the island have been razed to the ground. Of the remaining three-fifths, at least half are damaged beyond repair, while the others are all damaged to greater or less extent. No house escaped without some damage and to have some idea of the cyclonic nature of the storm it will be only necessary to state that steel shutters on large business buildings were twisted around as one would twist a small piece of copper wire.

“Large splinters were whirled about in the air like darts, and many found lodgment in human bodies, no doubt producing instant death. Oh, the horror and terror of that dismal night! The wind howling, the sea roaring and lashing, houses falling and crashing, men, women and children screaming; the shrieks of dying animals; imagine it, if you can, and you may form a faint idea of the situation at Galveston last Saturday night.