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 OF INDESCRIBABLE FURY.

Rudolph Daniels, Assistant General Passenger Agent of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway, was in Galveston during the storm, and returned to Dallas on the 12th. Mr. Daniels said: “I can only give you my experience and what I saw. The storm was indescribable in its fury, and it was hard to realize the extent of the devastation and destruction even when on the scene. It does not seem real or possible.

“I was in a restaurant near the Tremont Hotel when the storm broke. It began blowing a gale about 2 o’clock in the afternoon, but the wind did not reach an alarming height until about 4 o’clock. Myself and friends saw that it was going to be a storm of more than ordinary fury and started for the Tremont. The street was three feet deep in water and we got a carriage. We had to draw our feet up on the seats to keep out of the water.

“At 5 o’clock the wind was blowing a hurricane, and the water came over the sidewalk in front of the Tremont.

“The water in the street was full of telegraph poles, beer kegs, boxes and debris of all sorts. The wind was carrying all sorts of missiles. On a great many roofs in Galveston oyster shells were used instead of gravel. The wind tore them off and hurled them through the air with great force, injuring people and breaking windows. The air was full of flying glass and every imaginable thing that could be blown away. Mixed with the roaring of the hurricane was a bedlam of strange noises, the crash of breaking glass, rumble of falling walls and rattle of tin roofs making an infernal sound.

“The people for blocks around endeavored to make their way to the Tremont. Rescuers stood on the sidewalk to assist those who were trying to cross the street, which was over waist-deep in water. The water was lashed to foam by the wind and the air was thick with spume and spray. When a person, man, woman or child, would get in reach, those on the sidewalk would seize them and drag them into the hotel.

“Soon there were about 1000 people in the hotel. Women with hardly clothing enough to cover them, and that wet, were crowded along the halls and stairways. They were moaning and babies were crying. Outside in the storm all seemed a sort of haze. No definite shapes could be seen across the street.