J. W. Maxwell, general superintendent of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway; J. W. Allen, general freight manager of the same road, and Major G. W. Foster, of the Southwestern Telegraph and Telephone Company, got in yesterday from Texas City. Coming across the bay, Mr. Maxwell said, not less than 300 bodies were seen floating in the water, and many more were being buried on the mainland shore. This proves what many have contended from the first, that the casualties from the beginning have been understated. Under the debris of wrecked houses all over the city there is every reason to believe there are hundreds of bodies, and these must be disposed of as early as possible. In the rafts of the bay there are yet many bodies which must be looked for.
It will never be possible to get the names of all who are lost, but every day makes the list more definite. It will never be possible to get an accurate estimate of victims. It is safe to say that more than 3000 bodies have been seen so far, and the Gulf and bay and the debris of the city will unquestionably bring many more to view. If Mr. Lewis, of Dallas, has not overestimated the number he observed in Buffalo bayou, that stream may largely swell the total. How many have been buried beneath the shifting sand of the beach, will probably remain a secret forever.
It is touching to witness the sympathy of the nation with Galveston. As the means of communication are improved, the people here are getting a definite idea of what it means to stir the sympathies of mankind. It seems that the country has for the time forgotten its politics and its curious interest in the broad affairs of the world to weep over this stricken city. It is said a touch of pity makes the world akin, and Galveston is compassed about by the throbbing heart of mankind.
HAS REACHED A CRISIS.
It is well that it so, for this town has reached a crisis in its life when this sustaining influence is needed. It is not surprising that many surviving victims of the storm are about to succumb to despair. God knows the burden of anguish which oppresses every heart here is calculated to breed despair. The duty of the hour, however, is too plain to be disregarded. This island must be restored to its former beauty and greatness in all the arts and industries of civilization, and it is fortunate that some of the citizens here realize this. They are going to encourage the others and there is no reason to believe that there will be failure.
It required more than half a century to build up what the storm destroyed in twelve hours, but it will not require but a fraction of that period to restore the city. As Chicago rallied from the great fire, so Galveston must and will arise from the ruins of this hour. The wharves, which are the foundation of the city’s commercial establishment, will be rebuilt and the traffic will come as of yore.
CHAPTER XIX.
Thousands Died in their Efforts to Save Others—Houses and Human Beings Floating on the Tide—An Army of Orphans—Greatest Catastrophe in Our History.
“When did you first realize that you were in danger?” That, ordinarily, would seem to be a foolish question to put to a man who had escaped death as it rode on the storm, and yet it was not a foolish question, but the natural one. For the Galveston people had for years argued out the question of the danger attending the living on the island. True, Indianola, awful even now in memory, stood out as an alarm to those who live down by the sea. True, there had been storms and storms in Galveston. True, there were people on the great mainland who contended that wind and water would bring disaster to Galveston whenever the two acted in concert and from the right direction.
But the answer to the Indianola alarm was that the situation of that unfortunate town exposed it to a storm fury; that it was a fair mark; that it was almost level with the water and all that. The fact that there had been storms and storms at Galveston only confirmed the people in their security. For as each had passed away without carrying any great number of lives with them, why should not this do the same?
As to the people on the mainland who had prophesied disaster, why, they were merely timid and ignorant people. Therefore the question “when did you realize that you were in danger” was a reasonable one. And the answer was the same in nearly every case. There might have been a difference as to the moment when these people, penned like rats in a cage, first felt the terror of impending death, but invariably the answer was that the storm was almost at its height before the realization came. In many cases only the falling houses brought the realization.