A large force of men are still engaged in removing the dead from Hurd’s lane, about four miles west of the city. At this point the water ran to a height of fourteen feet, and left in trees and fences the bodies of men, women and children, which are now being collected and cremated.
On the mainland the search for and cremation of bodies is being vigorously prosecuted. Reports received from Bolivar Peninsula, where between 300 and 400 bodies were lying along the beach and inland, show that the dead are being buried as rapidly as possible. The man bringing the report says the force is inadequate and should be immediately increased.
DISINFECTING THE CITY.
The manner of disposing of the wreckage and its mass of bodies in this city has not as yet been definitely decided upon. Every energy is now employed in getting rid of the dead, opening streets, cleaning alleys and gutters and disinfecting the city. When this is done the removal of the immense mass of debris will commence. Everything is in readiness to turn on the current for the electric lights in the business district, but because of the danger from hanging wires on the circuit, the lighting has been indefinitely postponed. Three telephone wires are now working between Galveston and Houston.
Chairman Davidson, of the Relief Committee, says the greatest sufferers from the storm are those persons of limited means who owned homes near the beach. There are hundreds of these, who owned lots, and by giving liens upon them, had homes constructed by loan companies.
A. Holzman, representing Frederick G. Holzman, of Cincinnati, purchaser of the sewerage bonds of the city of Galveston to the amount of $300,000, arrived to-day and consulted with the city officials as to whether it was proposed to accept a sewerage system in accordance with plans adopted prior to the storm. He received assurances that the storm would in no way affect the construction of the sewerage system, and as soon as possible work would commence.
W. B. Groseclose, assistant general freight agent of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad, reached Galveston this evening. He says the road will commence to receive grain for shipment to Galveston on September 22. A large force of men is engaged repairing one of the railroad bridges across Galveston Bay.
A force of Deputy United States Marshals under Marshal Grant is guarding the entrance to Galveston, at Texas City, and keeping away all persons who can show no good cause for coming here. Crowds are daily leaving the city, a majority being women and children. The city is still under martial law, and will remain so indefinitely. Idlers and sightseers who elude the guards on the mainland are upon their arrival here pressed into the street service.
SOME ACCOUNT OF CLARA BARTON.
Galveston, Tex., September 18.—Clara Barton, President of the Red Cross Society, who came here to distribute relief supplies, was stricken down at her work to-day while ministering to the victims of the Galveston storm. She succumbed, like a soldier, at her post. To-night she lies seriously ill at the Tremont Hotel.