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 VESTIGE LEFT OF BUILDINGS.

A few of the piles that once supported the street-railway trestle extending from Centre street to Tremont street on the beach are all that remains to mark the curved line of right-of-way. Not a vestige of the three large bath-houses of Keef’s Pagoda and Murdock is to be seen.

The Midway, with its many old shacks and frame houses, concert halls and other resorts, was swept to the sea, and the Gulf now plays twenty feet north of where the Midway marked the beach line. The Olympia-by-the Sea likewise fell an early prey to the storm, and the surf which formerly kissed the elevated floor of the Olympia now sweeps across the electric railway track about fifteen feet north of the big circular building. On Tremont street and Avenue P½ two buildings stand, or rather two structures mark where two frame buildings battled with the raging elements. The two houses were occupied by Mr. Joseph Magilavaca and family and Mr. C. Nicolini and family. Both houses were stripped of every piece of furniture, wall-paper, window-frames and doors on the first floor and second floor remained intact. The houses were blown from their elevated foundations and dropped down on the ground and the sea washed the interior of the first floors almost up to the ceilings. The families took refuge in a house across the street, which gave way and was leveled almost to the ground, but all the inmates escaped with their lives. These two dwellings stand like charmed structures in the centre of the hurricane’s track.

The Rosenburg School-house suffered severely on the east side of the building. The roof of this wing fell in and carried the second floor and nearly all of the south wall with it. It was reported that a number of people sought refuge in this building and that all of them escaped without serious injury.