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

STORM HOWLS A DEATH WARNING.

Colonel Anderson is seventy-three years of age and his wife some years his junior. No human mind can picture their experiences on that night of nights. Words are inadequate to convey an idea of the feelings of this devoted couple while the storm cried out its death warning and these two mortals prepared for the end which they were so sure was at hand. To attempt to leave the home would have been madness itself, but this thought was not for a moment entertained. The colonel would never desert his post, and his consort was happy to be near that they may both go to their death together.

Four rooms and a bath room comprised the home of the keeper, and the many friends of the family speak of the place as “Mamma Anderson’s doll house.” Not because the apartments are small, for they are comparatively good sized rooms, but because they were the cosiest and prettiest furnished rooms to be found, perhaps, on the whole island. Every nook and corner reflected the exquisite handiwork of the dear housewife who made this home an emporium of fancy needle work, embroidery, dainty laces and other rich and beautiful decorations and ornaments in which she justly took great pride.

The affectionate couple addressed each other in the endearing terms of “Mama” and “Papa,” and their home far beyond the city is truly “home, sweet home.”

Early in the afternoon of the storm Captain Haines and his brave crew from the life saving station manned the life boat and started to go to the lighthouse to bring the keeper and his wife to town. But even at that early hour no boat could live in the gale and raging sea that was threatening the destruction of the whole island. The wall of rock, called the jetty, would not permit any boat approaching within several hundred feet of the sharp-pointed line of stone extending five miles to sea. But, as Mrs. Anderson said in relating the incident to a News reporter who visited the stricken home two weeks after the storm: “It was a noble act for Captain Haines to attempt to rescue us, but it would have resulted in a useless risk, because Papa would not have left the lighthouse while it stood and I would never leave without him.”