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

NO TIME TO DIG GRAVES.

Galveston, Texas, Tuesday.—The work of digging bodies from the mass of wreckage still continues. More than 400 bodies were taken out of the debris which lines the beach front to-day. With all that has been done to recover bodies buried beneath or pinned in the immense rift, the work has hardly started. There is no time to dig graves, and the bodies, beaten and bruised beyond identification, are hastily consigned to the flames.

Volunteers for this work are coming in fast. Men who have heretofore avoided the dead under ordinary conditions are now working with vigorous will and energy in putting them away. Under one pile of wreckage this afternoon twenty bodies were taken out and cremated. In another pile a man pulled out the bodies of two children, and for a moment gazed upon them and then mechanically cast them into the fire. They were his own children. He watched them until they were consumed and then he resumed his work, assisting in removing other bodies.

A large force of men are still engaged in removing the dead from Hurd’s lane, about four miles west of the city. At this point the water ran to a height of fourteen feet, and left in trees and fences the bodies of men, women and children, which are now being collected and cremated.

On the mainland the search for and cremation of bodies is being vigorously prosecuted. Reports received from Bolivar Peninsula, where between 300 and 400 bodies were lying along the beach and inland, show that the dead are being buried as rapidly as possible. The man bringing the report says the force is inadequate and should be immediately increased.