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 LOSSES OUTSIDE OF GALVESTON.

While the loss of life in this city will not fall below 5000 and may be many more, every little town within a radius of seventy-five miles of Galveston was wrecked and people killed and wounded, while the damage to property will aggregate over $2,000,000. The damage to property in and around Alvin, a thriving town of 2000 people, where eleven people were killed and quite a number wounded, is estimated at $300,000, and they send out an urgent appeal for aid and relief supplies.

Fifty-four houses were wrecked in Quintana and the debris piled up in the streets. Fortunately, no lives were lost. The town of Velasco, three miles above, on the east side of the river, was completely wrecked and nine killed, three being killed in the hotel, which was badly demolished. Angleton, the county seat of Brazoria, ten miles north of Velasco, was completely destroyed and several lives lost and a number badly injured. The property loss in these three towns and country adjacent thereto will be beyond the ability of the people to repair.

Supplies for the relief of Galveston’s sufferers are coming in from every quarter as rapidly as the limited means of transportation here will admit. Its distribution here has not yet gotten on a systematic basis, and needs to be radically revised, or it will fail of its purpose and defeat the object of those who are so generously contributing. Medical relief is much better organized.

There is not a house of any character in the city but what is foul and ill-smelling. The water failed to materialize to-day as promised, and this aggravates the situation. With a completely crippled fire department, fire apparatus all gone, nine horses drowned, five engines useless and no water supply, should a fire break out, fanned by a stiff breeze, what’s remaining of the city would be speedily wiped out.