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

NECESSARY BUREAUS.

“A census bureau was placed in operation to-day. A mortuary bureau has also been opened where relatives or friends are to make oath of the known death of persons lost in the storm. Hanna & Leonard’s new elevator began business to-night. The British steamer Endeavor went under the spouts and is taking on a full cargo of wheat.

“At a meeting of the general relief committee to-day no one was found who would undertake the job of removing the city’s debris on contract, as all state it would be impossible to make a definite estimate. The nearest estimate expert wreckers will make is that it will take 2000 men ninety days to clear away the debris and get all of the bodies out, and that this will cost $500,000. The board adopted a resolution stating that it was its opinion that the best way to solve the problem of clearing the debris was to let a contract to some one to do this work.

“Dr. George H. Lee, inspector of hospitals and dispensaries, made a favorable report on the sanitary condition of the city. The losses to the life insurance companies are estimated at $500,000. Most of those who carried old line life policies escaped. The fraternal orders will lose heavily.”

Governor Sayers, speaking of the situation at Galveston said:

“I look for the rebuilding of Galveston to be well under way by the latter part of this week. The work of cleaning the city of unhealthful refuse and burying the dead will have been completed by that time.

“The loss of life occasioned by the storm in Galveston and elsewhere on the southern coast cannot be less than 12,000 lives, while the loss of property will probably aggregate $20,000,000.

“If the laboring people of Galveston will only get to work in earnest, prosperity will soon again smile on the city. The money and food contributions coming from a generous people have been a great help to the people of Galveston, as it has relieved them of the necessity of spending their money to support the needy, and it can now be applied to the improvements of their own property and putting again on foot their business enterprises.

“The work of clearing the streets of debris is progressing rapidly under the perfect organization instituted by military rule under Adjutant-General Scurry. Over two thousand men are engaged on the work. Ninety-eight bodies are reported as having been found in the wreckage and removed to-day. Bodies found are buried or cremated and no systematic record has been kept. The storm wrecked almost every vault in the six cemeteries of the city, and many of the dead were washed to sea in metal cases. So far only one casket has been found. It had been carried three miles from the vault.