WHOLE FAMILY SAVED BY TRAINMEN.
“Soon after a third house, 200 feet away, was blown to pieces and a man, wife and three children saved from the wreckage by those on the train. We reached the timbered section and were soon blocked by the wreckage of fallen trees across the track. Everyone who could wield an axe got one, set to work diligently to cut our way through. At the same time a large crew was working from Rosenberg down toward us. From Thompson to Duke large pecan, elm, oak and pine trees were encountered on an average every 100 feet.
“Arriving at Thompson, we found Slavin’s store a perfect mass of ruin, the gin a partial wreck and many houses blown down. Here the first victim of the storm and train was placed on board. He had been knocked off the track the night before and had his leg broken. At Booth, Booth’s store was badly wrecked, trees blown all over the land, several houses blown down. One negro was killed in a falling house. At Crabb everything was blown down, and we reached Rosenberg at noon.
“We had many dire expectations all night, worked hard all morning and had nothing to eat since supper the night before. I reached Houston over the Macaroni in time to reach my nurseries and people at Hulen. I found only one house standing here intact, my large barn and packing shed are damaged but not wrecked. My large office building was blown from its foundation and considerably twisted, but left it so my manager can live in it with his family until something else can be provided for. None of my employees were hurt, and, in fact, no deaths or injuries at Hulen.”
TERRIBLE TALES OF VANDALISM.
Passengers who arrived at Dallas told terrible tales of the work of the vandals in that city. According to them, men inflamed with liquor were roaming among the wreckage over the city rifling the hundreds of bodies of even the clothing and leaving them to fester in the semi-tropical sun. Much of this horrible depredating, it is claimed, is being done by negroes, who will not work and cannot be made to leave town. This was before the saloons were closed.
Among those who arrived from Galveston was J. N. Griswold, division freight agent of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway. His story is as follows:
“There were many acts of vandalism. Fingers and ears that bore diamonds were lopped off with knives. Upon our arrival at Texas city I saw an old man who was drunk. Sticking out of a pocket in his pants was a bank deposit book full of bank notes.
“I asked him where he got it. He said he found it on the bank.
“‘How much have you got?’ I asked him. ‘Oh, about twenty-seven dollars,’ was his reply. He must have had several times that amount at least.