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

THE ARMY OF WORKERS.

All foremen were ordered to report daily at military headquarters, where a large force of clerks were kept busy chronicling the amount of debris removed, the number of dead bodies disposed of, etc. Another force under command of Adjutant-General McCaleb was kept busy printing orders issued for the guidance of the work, laws governing the protection of property and the lives of citizens, etc.

The militia was placed on guard duty in all parts of the city and the city police and sheriff’s department are co-operating with the military authorities, which is supreme in control of the city.

While the power is invested in the military authorities, Brigadier-General Scurry, commanding, Adjutant-General Hunt McCaleb directs that men may be impressed into service in cleaning the streets and performing other labors incumbent upon the department, it is gratifying to know that very few men had to be impressed into service. Some few held back under one pretense and another, but when given to understand that they would be compelled to work they invariably joined the army of laborers.

The beach and the western part of the city presented the picture of about one hundred or more pyres where human bodies and the carcasses of dead animals were disposed of by fire. Separate pyres were designated for human bodies and animal carcasses and the work progressed rapidly. The gruesome task was heartrending and many able-bodied men succumbed to the terrible ordeal. The bodies recovered yesterday and those still buried beneath the debris are in an advanced state of decomposition and utterly beyond recognition or identification unless by the clothing or some ornament worn by the dead. Ninety-five per cent. of the bodies recovered are naked.

The hurricane, aided materially by the action of the raging torrents, invariably stripped the victims of all vestige of clothing or other articles that might lead to identification. Another remarkable fact, which shows the force of the storm in packing the wreckage and debris in high mounds, is seen in the amount of water held by the wreckage.