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

SOME ACCOUNT OF CLARA BARTON.

Galveston, Tex., September 18.—Clara Barton, President of the Red Cross Society, who came here to distribute relief supplies, was stricken down at her work to-day while ministering to the victims of the Galveston storm. She succumbed, like a soldier, at her post. To-night she lies seriously ill at the Tremont Hotel.

She was stricken at a conference in her rooms at the Tremont, with her staff of nine gathered about her. She had just finished an outline of her work, assigning each member of her staff to the particular part of the work that one was to do. Suddenly she ceased speaking. Turning to Mrs. Ellen Spencer Mussey, Vice-President of the Red Cross, who sat at her side, she whispered:

“Begin talking. I am going to faint. Don’t let them see.”

Miss Barton leaned back in her chair and Mrs. Mussey arose, and, standing before her, began speaking. Without a sign to the others Mrs. Mussey finished what she had to say and then dismissed the conference.

Galveston people arose with heavy hearts this morning. Thousands of them were driven from their beds. Shortly after sunrise there came a downpour of rain, the first since the storm. If there was a house in town that had been sufficiently repaired to shed the rain it was a rare exception. Cremation of the dead and clearing the streets have taxed the energies. There has not been time to give attention to roofs. Such repairs as have been made to buildings have been in the form of straightening and strengthening them so that they might not fall down. Many, while still standing, are leaning like the tower of Pisa or are partly off the foundations.