DOCTORS CARING FOR THE SUFFERERS.
In the advertising columns merchants seem to vie with each other in announcing, “Positively no advance in prices.” Here is an editorial leader which could hardly be found outside of a hurricane issue:—
“It is important that all who are injured enough to necessitate a stitching of their wounds should have their dressings changed every twenty-four hours. Some of the wounded have neglected to do this, with a result that the doctors have more work to do than is necessary. Every doctor in town is doing work free of cost to all who apply.”
There have been accounts of negroes caught in the act of robbing the dead and shot. Galveston citizens are prompt to say that there have been exceptional cases. They gave the mass of colored people credit for doing their part.
On September 14th a writer described as follows events in the stricken city: “The evacuation of Galveston has begun. Do what they will, the newspapers and authorities cannot convince thousands who have made up their minds that this island is doomed to remain a moment after their first chance of escape.
“Schooners by the dozen are leaving for Texas and their crews have to stand guard to keep the people from overcrowding and sinking the craft. People are leaving with no destination, but with a strong determination to get many miles from this panorama of wrecked business houses, blockaded streets, hospitals filled with wounded and dying victims of the awful disaster.
“Galveston may again become the prosperous port it was five days ago, but its principal population will be of people who have not seen the awful work of wind and water. Men who have large business interests here may remain, but their families will be on the mainland, and every sign of approaching storm will drive thousands away. A workingman who paid $3,900 for a cottage and lot offered to sell for $500 yesterday, throwing in all the house contained. The house is very little damaged, but he lost a wife and baby whom he had taken to what he thought was a place of safety. It is impossible to write anything that would convey a faint idea of the wreckage and ruin.
FIRES ALL OVER THE CITY.
“The number of dead under debris in the central parts of the city will never be known, as burning is going on all over the city. The east end, beginning at Fifteenth street and Avenue L, running on a line parallel with the island, has a great mass of wreckage piled as high as a man’s head and from that to the top of houses three stories high.
“This line extends as far along as there were any houses to wreck, and consists of all manner of buildings. It is a desolate scene from Eighth street east, when one compares it with the life that was present there but a short time ago. Two buildings of all the colony at the Point are left standing. These are the houses of the quarantine officer and the lighthouse. The quarantine warehouse is gone. All the barrack buildings and the dirt mounds that surrounded them are gone, and in place of all is a watery waste, with the exception of a few little islands that appear above the water.