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

STORY OF A PERILOUS TRIP.

She tells the story of her trip on the crest of the waves as follows:

“It was about 2 o’clock in the afternoon when I first realized that the storm was increasing. Together with a girl-friend who was in the house, I packed my mother’s trunk and carried all of the household goods that I could and piled them in the second story to keep them from being washed away by the water, which was rapidly rising. During this time the wind had been increasing in velocity all of the time.

“At about 4 o’clock my mother and sister, who is 13 years of age, were taken to a place of refuge by a friend. A girl friend and myself were left, thinking that we would be safe, but it was not over an hour after that when the house went down. It went with a crash, and myself, together with the others in the house, were thrown out into the furious waters. I caught onto a tree and stayed there for a little while, but was dashed off and sank under the water several times. While hanging on to the tree a roof came along, on which there were about twenty people, mostly women and children. I got on with them and stayed there for some time, seeing my companions in distress being washed off one by one, until at last there were only a young girl and myself left. Soon she went, and I was left alone to battle with the waves. Soon I caught a piece of driftwood and I think I floated out into the Gulf. Then the wind changed and I began going the other way. I was tossed out into the bay at last, having passed during this time many people floating on drift of all kinds, and people struggling in the water trying to save themselves.

“I drifted thus for a long time, coming after a while to where the railroad bridges crossed the bay. I caught hold of one of the piling and stayed there for a time trying to rest. During the night my clothes had been entirely torn from my body and I was in a horrible plight. After having stayed there a little longer, I caught a piece of drift and turned loose and drifted with the tide. At last I drifted to a pile of lumber, and finding that the water was not deep there, I fell on top of the lumber. I was so exhausted by the terrible ride that I had taken that I immediately went to sleep.

“About daylight I awakened and found myself in a strange place. I walked to a house some distance from there, and on inquiring, found that I was at Lamarque. Remembering that I had an aunt living at that place, I found her house, which was also almost a ruin. This aunt took me in charge and I stayed there until I heard from my father, and then came back to Galveston.”

CHAPTER XXV
Storms of Great Violence Around Galveston—Wrecked Cities and Vast Destruction of Property—Appalling Sacrifice of Life.

A close observer and correspondent who is familiar with every part of Texas and is capable of sizing up the situation, writes as follows concerning the disaster which has left Galveston a scene of death and ruin:

“At first glance it would seem that the population of Galveston had been endowed by a thoughtlessness which invites the calamities it has suffered. Three times in twenty-five years storms of great violence have swept over the island on which it occupies a position exposed to every energy of the elements, and on the two occasions whose history is complete the survivors rebuilt their city, as they probably will do again, and the storm broke upon it, as most likely it will once more, with death and destruction in its blast.

“Apart from the deep sympathy which one feels for the people the situation may awaken a philosophic inquiry whose consideration is of less importance than the interest the subject awakens and which is reinforced by parallel cases in the history of disaster since the world began, and I propose to show in a few great cases how the citizens of Galveston are only repeating history when, even as they gather their dead, they plan a new city whose foundation shall be enduring and which shall stand defiant and permanent, a triumph of man over antagonistic nature and a civic crown of glory to their efforts. It is no ignoble purpose.