The Great Galveston Disaster / Containing a Full and Thrilling Account of the Most Appalling Calamity of Modern Times Including Vivid Descriptions of the Hurricane and Terrible Rush of Waters; Immense Destruction of Dwellings, Business Houses, Churches, and Loss of Thousands of Human Lives; Thrilling Tales of Heroic Deeds; Panic-Stricken Multitudes and Heart-Rending Scenes of Agony; Frantic Efforts to Escape a Horrible Fate; Separation of Loved Ones, etc., etc.; Narrow Escapes from the Jaws of Death; Terrible Sufferings of the Survivors; Vandals Plundering Bodies of the Dead; Wonderful Exhibitions of Popular Sympathy; Millions of Dollars Sent for the Relief of the Stricken Sufferers

by Paul Lester

BRINGING THE INJURED TO THE HOSPITAL FOR TREATMENT

CHAPTER I.
First News of the Great Calamity—Galveston Almost Totally Destroyed by Winds and Waves. Thousands Swept to Instant Death.

The first news of the appalling calamity that fell like a thunderbolt on Galveston came in the following despatch from the Governor of Texas:

“Information has just reached me that about 3000 lives have been lost in Galveston, with enormous destruction of property. No information from other points.

“JOSEPH D. SAYRES, Governor.”

This despatch was dated at Austin, Texas, September 9th. Further intelligence was awaited with great anxiety in all parts of the country. The worst was feared, and all the fears were more than realized. Later intelligence showed that the West Indian storm which reached the Gulf coast on the morning of September 8th, wrought awful havoc in Texas. Reports were conflicting, but it was known that an appalling disaster had befallen the city of Galveston, where, it was reported, a thousand or more lives had been blotted out and a tremendous property damage incurred. Meagre reports from Sabine Pass and Port Arthur also indicated a heavy loss of life.

Among those who brought tidings from the stricken city of Galveston was James C. Timmins, who resides in Houston, and who is the General Superintendent of the National Compress Company. After Mr. Spillane he was one of the first to reach Houston with news of the great disaster which had befallen that city, and after all he reported it was evident that the magnitude of the disaster remained to be told.

After remaining through the hurricane on Saturday, the 8th, he departed from Galveston on a schooner and came across the bay to Morgan’s Point, where he caught a train for Houston. The hurricane, Mr. Timmins said, was the worst ever known.

The estimate made by citizens of Galveston was that four thousand houses, most of them residences, were destroyed, and that at least one thousand people had been drowned, killed or were missing. Business houses were also destroyed. These estimates, it was learned afterward, were far below the actual facts.