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 HOTEL FLOODED.

“After arriving at Galveston I immediately went to the Tremont Hotel, where I remained the balance of the day and during the night. At 5.30 the water had begun to creep into the rotunda of the hotel, and by 8 o’clock it was twenty-six inches above the floor of the hotel, or about six and one-half feet above the street level. The front windows of the hotel were blown in between the hours of 5 and 8. The roof was blown off and the skylights over the rotunda fell in and fell through, crashing on the floor below. The refugees began to come into the hotel between 5.30 and 8 o’clock until at least 800 or 1,000 persons had sought safety there. The floors were strewn with people all during the night.

“Manager George Korst and the employes of the hotel did everything in their power to help the sufferers from the effects of the storm and to give them shelter. At 5 o’clock the wind was blowing from the northeast at a velocity of about forty-five miles an hour, and by 9 o’clock it had reached the climax, the velocity then being fully 100 miles. The vibration of the hotel was not unlike that of a boxcar in motion. I tried to sleep that night, but there was so much noise and confusion from the crashing of buildings that I didn’t get much rest.