“At that moment the house went down and the whole family except the father perished in the storm and flood. It would take volumes to record the many heartrending incidents of this sort and the heroism displayed during the fateful night of Saturday.
“The loss of life in this city is simply appalling. Every little town within seventy-five miles of Galveston was wrecked and torn and people were killed and wounded. The damage to property will aggregate millions of dollars. The damage to property in and around Alvin, a thriving town of two thousand people, where eleven people were killed and a number wounded, is estimated at $300,000, and they send out an urgent appeal for aid and relief supplies.”
“Captain Talfor, of the United States Engineer Corps, during the hurricane was at Quintana, at the mouth of the Brazos River, where he has been supervising government works. He stated to-day that the barometer fell to 27.60, and the wind velocity was one hundred and twenty miles an hour. 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. Nine persons were killed, three in the hotel, which was badly demolished. Angleton, the county seat, of Brazoria, ten miles north of Velasco, was almost completely destroyed. Several lives were lost and a number of persons were badly injured.
“The property loss in these three towns and the country adjacent will be beyond the ability of the people to repair. Destitution stares them in the face, and help is urgently needed there and in all other towns within seventy-five miles of the city. The loss in proportion to population and means is just as great and as keenly felt as the loss and destruction in Galveston, and they should not be forgotten by the generous public, which is responding with such noble promptness to Galveston’s cry for help.
SOLID TRAINLOADS OF SUPPLIES.
“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. Solid trainloads from the North and East are speeding towards Galveston as fast as steam will bring them, while cities, chambers of commerce and other commercial bodies in this country, England and Continental Europe are subscribing thousands of dollars for the sufferers from one of the greatest calamities of the century.
“The distribution of supplies here has not yet been put on a systematic basis. There is one general relief committee, with sub-committees in each ward. To these sub-committeemen sufferers must apply for relief, and are categorically questioned as to the extent of their distress.
“If the answers are satisfactory, an order is issued for supplies. If he is an able bodied man, although he may be houseless and may have lost members of his family, or have some injured by the storm and needing attention, he must perform labor before supplies are issued, and if he refuses he is impressed and compelled to work.
“There are many so sadly injured or prostrated by the frightful experience they have recently undergone that they are unable to apply for relief, and would suffer from thirst and exposure unless housed, fed and cared for by humane people who have been less unfortunate. No effort thus far has been made by those in charge of relief affairs to hunt out these poor creatures and care for them.