CHAPTER III. Incidents of the Awful Hurricane--Unparalleled Atrocities by Lawless Hordes--Earnest Appeals for Help.

On September 11th, the Mayor of Galveston forwarded the following address to the people of the United States:

“It is my opinion, based on personal information, that 5000 people have lost their lives here. Approximately one-third of the residence portion of the city has been swept away.

“There are several thousand people who are homeless and destitute. How many, there is no way of finding out. Arrangements are now being made to have the women and children sent to Houston and other places, but the means of transportation are limited. Thousands are still to be cared for here. We appeal to you for immediate aid.

On the same date the following statement of conditions at Galveston and appeal for aid was issued by the local relief committee:

“A conservative estimate of the loss of life is that it will reach at least 5,000, and at least that number of families are shelterless and wholly destitute. The entire remainder of the population is suffering in a greater or less degree. Not a single church, school or charitable institution, of which Galveston had so many, is left intact. Not a building escaped damage, and half the whole number were entirely obliterated. There is immediate need for food, clothing and household goods of all kinds. If nearby cities will open asylums for women and children, the situation will be greatly relieved. Coast cities should send us water, as well as provisions, including kerosene, oil, gasoline and candles.

“W. C. Jones, mayor; M. Lasker, president Island City Saving Bank; J. D. Skinner, president Cotton Exchange; C. H. McMaster, for Chamber of Commerce; R. G. Lowe, manager Galveston News; Clarence Owsley, manager Galveston Tribune.”

The white cotton screw men’s organization held a meeting and tendered their services, that of 500 able bodied men, to the public committee to clear the streets of debris. Big forces went to work, and the situation was much improved so far as the passage of vessels was concerned. The city was patrolled by regular soldiers and citizen soldiery. No one was allowed on the streets without a pass. Several negroes were shot for not halting when ordered.

The steamer Lawrence arrived here early on the morning of the 11th, from Houston, with water and provisions. A committee of one hundred citizens were aboard, among them being doctors and cooks. W. G. Van Vleck, General Manager of the Southern Pacific Railroad, arrived at the same time. He thought it would be possible to establish mail service from Houston to Texas City by night, with transfer boats to Galveston.

BODIES BEING BURIED IN TRENCHES.

It was found to be impossible to send bodies to sea for burial. The water receded so far, however, that it was possible to dig trenches, and bodies were being buried where found. Debris covering bodies was being burned where it could be done safely.

Work on the water works was rushed, and it was hoped to be able to turn a supply on in the afternoon.

Outside of Galveston smaller towns were beginning to send in reports as telegraphic communication improved, and many additions to the list of the dead and property losses were received. Richmond and Hitchcock each reported sixteen lives lost. Alto Loma, Arcadia, Velasco, Seabrooke, Belleville, Areola and many other towns had from one to eight dead. In most of these places many houses were totally destroyed and thousands of head of live stock killed.

The railroads alone suffered millions of dollars in actual damage, to say nothing of the loss from stoppage of business. The International and Great Northern and Santa Fe had miles of track washed out, and the bridges connecting Galveston with the mainland must be entirely rebuilt.

The following is the description of an eye-witness on September 11: “Galveston is almost wiped off the earth. Fifteen thousand persons are homeless. The loss of life will reach into the thousands. Bodies are piled everywhere.

“When daylight broke over the expanse of floating bodies, rubbish heaps and ruins were all that remained of the prosperous city. A few leading citizens assembled in several feet of water at a street corner and called a meeting at the Tremont Hall, to which they adjourned. A committee of Public Safety of fifteen leading citizens was formed, and Colonel J. H. Hawley, one of the best known men in Texas, was made chairman. He, with Mayor Walter C. Jones and Chief of Police Edward Ketchum, formed a triumvirate, with absolute power, and declared the city under martial law.

MILITARY FORCES AND SPECIAL POLICE.

“They issued a commission to Major L. R. D. Fayling, which made him commander-in-chief of all military forces and special deputies of police, and only subject to the orders of the Mayor and the Chief of Police. Major Fayling was authorized to requisition any men or property he may require for his force, and his receipt will be honored by the city of Galveston and any such property paid for by the city.

“As soon as Major Fayling received his authority he collected a handful of half-naked, barefooted soldiers, clothed them, supplied them with food and put them under command of Captain Edward Rogers. Around this nucleus of a force he has built up to meet the necessities of the situation his present force of three full companies of volunteer soldiers and a troop of cavalry.

“A horde of negroes and whites—even white women—were in the ruins of the city. They were robbing the dead and dying, killing those who resisted, cutting off fingers to obtain rings and ears to obtain earrings. Drunken men reeled about the streets intimidating citizens.

“Chief of Police Ketchum ordered the sale of liquor stopped, and began to swear in hundreds of special policemen to rescue the wounded, feed the living and convey the dead to a hundred different morgues. He worked for thirty-six hours without going home to inquire about his family’s fate, which was in doubt. When told he should do so he replied, characteristically, ‘God will be good to me and mine, for I am going to be good to others.’

THE STENCH UNBEARABLE.

“The stench from the dead by Monday morning was unbearable. The triumvirate ruling the city pressed citizens into service to take the dead out in barges and bury them in the Gulf. The soldiers impressed into service, at the point of the bayonet, every wagon that came along and every negro to assist in throwing the dead into the sea. It was impossible to give other burial.

“From the stench which pervades the city it is apparent that hundreds of bodies yet lie under the ruins. The sun is hotter than in July. The regular soldiers, who had been working for two days with bloody feet, were utterly exhausted by Monday evening, and were assembled by Captain Rafferty and put in a hastily extemporized hospital, which was formerly a church. Their places were filled by Major Fayling with new recruits, whom he drafted on the streets and supplied with arms and equipment from the local armory.

“Every part of the city was patrolled by 6 o’clock in the evening. Among many other incidents of last night was the besieging of the squad guarding St. Mary’s Hospital. They were surrounded by a horde of armed negro thieves. Several hundred shots were exchanged. Sergeant Camp killed four negroes with his rifle, and about ten or twelve were killed by the squad. The soldiers have since been picketing the city, doing fourteen hours’ duty without rest. Every hour during the night a fresh negro shooting was reported at headquarters.

“The tug ‘Juno’ and the propeller ‘Lawrence’ brought 2000 gallons of water here from Houston but the supply is not enough to go around, and half the population is without any water. Breakfast at the $4 per day hotel Tremont was served to a fortunate few to-day, and consisted of a small piece of bacon and a single cup of coffee. The hotel was untenable yesterday, and guests were refused. It is jammed to-day with local citizens who have been made homeless.”

G. W. Ware, teacher of penmanship in a Dallas educational institution, was in Galveston during the hurricane. He reached Dallas on Tuesday, the 11th and made the following statement:

WORK OF HEARTLESS CRIMINALS.

“It was a godsend, the placing of the city under martial law. The criminal element began looting the dead, and the cold blooded commercial element began looting the living. The criminals were stealing anything they could with safety lay hands on, and the mercenary commercial pirates began a harvest of extortion. The price of bacon was pushed up to 50 cents a pound, bread 60 cents a loaf, and owners of small schooners and other sailing craft formed a trust, and charged $8 a passenger for transportation across the bay from the island to the mainland.

“Mayor Jones and other men of conscience were shocked at these proceedings, and the Mayor decided that the only protection for the citizens would be to declare martial law, confiscate all foodstuffs and other necessities for the common good, and thus stop the lootings and holdups.

“The price of bread was reduced to 10 cents a loaf, bacon was placed at 15 cents a pound, and the price of a voyage across the bay was set at $1.50 a passenger. A book account is being kept of all sales of foodstuffs, and other transactions and settlements will be made at the scheduled rates.”

Mr. Quinlan, General Manager of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad, said:

“It is in such cases as this Galveston disaster that the barbarity in some men is seen. I have seen enough in the last two days to convince me that a large element of civilized mankind are veneered savages. My policy would be to take nobody into Galveston except such persons as are absolutely needed to administer to the distressed. Thousands of residents of Galveston ought to be brought out of there as fast as boats can bring them to the mainland, and establish them in charity or detention camps on high ground, where they can get pure air and water and receive attention which cannot be given to them on the island.

“I hope Governor Sayres will find authority to enforce some such policy. This relief work is going to be an all-winter task. Persons who have lost homes and places of business must be taken charge of until they can properly take care of themselves.”

THE FINANCIAL OUTCOME.

The effect that Galveston’s disaster may have upon the financial obligations of that city was an interesting topic among local financiers. Whether the bonds will be paid when due or whether interest default will result when coupons are presented is a mooted question in certain circles. J. B. Adone, banker, of Dallas, and former member of the old banking firm of Flippin, Adone & Lobit, of Galveston, said concerning these points:

“Galveston’s bond and interest obligations will be promptly met, I feel sure. If left to their own resources in the face of the present calamity, the people of Galveston and their public officials would be probably temporarily embarrassed, but there will be no repudiation or defalcation. The people of Texas will respond to the needs of Galveston in her present terrible affliction, and out of the moneys contributed the city’s financial credit will be protected if this course should be found necessary.”

Pursuant to the proclamation of Mayor Brashear, issued Sunday night, a citizens’ meeting was held in the city council chamber at Houston and an organization effected for the relief of the victims of the storm. The following telegram was received by the Mayor from Governor Sayres:

“Austin, Texas, Sept. 10.—I have taken the liberty of directing that all supplies of food and clothing for Galveston be shipped to you. Will you undertake to forward them when received to Galveston for distribution? Answer quick.

Mayor Brashear immediately replied that all supplies would be distributed where mostly needed. A telegram from Areola was received, and there were twenty-five persons there, mostly women and children, in urgent need of relief.

TENTS AND RATIONS SENT.

Orders were issued by the War Department at Washington, for the immediate shipment to Galveston of 855 tents and 50,000 rations. These stores and supplies were divided between St. Louis and San Antonio. This represented about all such supplies as the Government had on hand at the places named, but it was stated at the Department that the order could be duplicated in a day.

Mayor Van Wyck, of New York, issued an appeal to the citizens of New York, on the 11th, for help for the sufferers of Galveston, heading the appeal with a $500 subscription.

The Mayor also sent the following telegram to Mayor Brashear, of Houston, Texas:

“Hon. S. E. Brashear, Mayor, Houston, Texas.—In response to your telegram I have issued a call to the people of the city of New York to contribute to the relief of those afflicted by the disaster at Galveston. Please express to the Mayor of Galveston the profound sympathy of the people of New York for the people of Galveston in this hour of their distress.

Ten doctors and twenty nurses from Bellevue Hospital, New York, volunteered to go to Galveston and help care for the injured and sick. They left New York by special train in the evening.

The following cablegram was received by the American representative of Sir Thomas Lipton:

“Very grieved to see press reports here regarding fearful calamity befallen Galveston. Sufferers have my deepest and most heartfelt sympathy. If getting up public subscription will be glad to give $1000.

This was a graceful act of sympathy from the gallant yachtsman who made the spirited attempt to capture the cup from the New York Yacht Club, and although failing, became a universal favorite in this country.

Official reports from Galveston to Governor Sayres at Austin, on the 11th, were that 400 bodies had been identified. 200 more were in an improvised morgue awaiting identification, and many more were thought to have drifted out to sea, and their identity will never be known.

CONDITIONS THAT BEGGAR DESCRIPTION.

A telegram from Adjutant General Scurry, who was at Galveston, to the Governor, was as follows:

“Have just returned from Texas City with several Galveston parties, who assure me that conditions there beggar description. Accounts have not been exaggerated. While a portion of the provisions has been destroyed by water sufficient on hand to relieve immediate necessities. The citizens seem to have the situation well in hand. United States troops and Company C., volunteer guard, with citizens, patrol the streets to prevent looting.

“I requested W. B. Wortham to go to Galveston from Texas City for the purpose of advising me of the city’s most urgent needs, and I returned here to report and ask for further instructions. I respectfully suggest that the distress is too great for the people of Galveston, even with the assistance of Houston, to stand, and that a general appeal for help would be welcomed. The estimate of 10,000 destitute does not seem to be excessive.

“From reports reaching the Governor this morning it will be necessary to co-operate with the Federal troops to place all the mainland opposite Galveston, as well as the island, under martial law.

“Thieves have begun to enter the city for the purpose of pilfering the bodies of the dead. The Governor has been informed that the commander of the Texas troops has been ordered to Galveston by the Federal authorities, and the Governor will lend him every assistance possible with State militia to keep vandalism down. There is only one road operating to the coast from Houston, and that will be placed under military supervision temporarily.

“Governor Sayres was in receipt of a telegram from Miss Barton, of the Red Cross Society, offering the assistance of that association if necessary, and he replied that he would call on the society if he found that its help was needed.

“A large number of State militia tents were shipped from Austin to Galveston for temporary use on the island.

MONEY BEGINNING TO POUR IN.

“Governor Sayres received upward of 1000 telegrams during the day from parties in the East and West offering assistance to the flood sufferers at Galveston, and from various portions of the State reporting the collection of money and supplies. During the day Governor Sayres estimated that the receipts in money from collections in Texas would amount to $15,000, though from reports a great deal of money has been sent direct to Galveston instead of coming through the Governor, and the amount may be much larger than that stated.

“Quite a number of Eastern newspapers are wiring the Governor offering to establish themselves as bureaus for relief funds if desired and asking what they can do to relieve the situation. A telegram from New York informed the Governor that two relief trains of supplies had left New York for Galveston. The Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce wires that it will send any relief desired that it can give. Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis and several other points did likewise.”

Acting Secretary Meiklejohn of the War Department at Washington authorized the chartering of a special train from St. Louis to carry quartermaster’s and commissary supplies to the relief of the destitute at Galveston.

The following telegram was received:

“Galveston, Texas, Sept. 9, 1900.—Quartermaster General, Washington. I report terrific cyclone with an eleven foot tide. All improvements, temporary buildings, property and stores at both Jacinto and Crockett destroyed and swept clean.

A second telegram followed:

“Galveston, Texas, Sept. 11, 1900.—Referring to my telegram of yesterday, via Houston, I urgently recommend that fair compensation be made to contractors for their losses, and that they be relieved of their contracts. If fortifications are rebuilt at or near their present sites I urgently recommend that quarters for troops be purchased and built on higher ground in the city, centrally located. Wharves destroyed; all railroad bridges swept away and building operations of any nature cannot be resumed under six weeks or two months.”

A VOICE FROM JOHNSTOWN.

Mayor Woodruff, of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, issued the following proclamation: “Later and more definite information of the fearful destruction of life and property at Galveston and other places in Texas recalls to our attention the awful calamity in Johnstown and vicinity eleven years ago. Whole squares of homes have been swept away, hundreds of dead are lying unburied and thousands of people destitute. This would be a fitting time to show our gratitude for what the world did for us in the hour of need. Any contributions left at the banks in this city will be acknowledged and promptly forwarded to the authorities in charge of the work of relief. Already over $200 without any call for aid has been subscribed to a relief fund.”

A special despatch from Galveston tells the following story of the great calamity, showing that scarcely a building was undamaged or a family that did not lose one or more members. It is roughly estimated that the death list will approximate 6,000 and the property loss will be many millions. Scarcely a building in the city escaped injury and the loss on stocks of goods cannot be estimated. All the extreme eastern and southern part and the western portion, south of avenue Q, to the Gulf, is either washed away or demolished and the dead are thrown in every direction. These are being rapidly gathered up and taken to temporary morgues on the strand.

Whole families are, in many instances, wiped out of existence. There is scarcely a family in the district mentioned that did not lose one or more members, while the hospitals are crowded with wounded beyond their capacity, and the county court house is being converted into a hospital for their care.

The Catholic hospital down the island, was completely demolished. All the Sisters and ninety inmates were drowned.

The waves dashed over and flooded Fort San Jacinto, demolishing the barracks, officers’ quarters, and drowning fourteen privates, two buglers, and First Sergeant of Company O, First Artillery.

BUILDINGS DESTROYED BY THE FLOOD.

The Opera House, City Hall, Masonic Temple, Moody’s Bank Building, Knapp’s publishing house, and Ritter’s saloon and restaurant, on the strand, are wrecked. From the latter seven dead bodies were removed from beneath the debris.

Parties are engaged in removing the debris of the Knapp Building. Beneath they expect to find the body of Oscar Knapp, senior member of the firm. Richard D. Swann, cashier of John D. Rogers & Co., was drowned during the height of the storm while heroically attempting to rescue two ladies from drowning. It will be days before the full extent of the frightful disaster is known or a correct list of the dead is obtainable. A meeting of citizens was held to-day and a general committee, with the Mayor as chairman, was appointed. Sub-committees on Finance, Relief, Burial of the Dead, and Hospitals were appointed, and are now actively at work to relieve the distress prevailing and give decent burials to the dead.

The terrific cyclone that produced such a distressing disaster in Galveston and all through Texas was predicted by the United States Weather Bureau to strike Galveston Friday night and created much apprehension, but the night passed without the prediction being verified. The conditions, however, were ominous, the danger signal was displayed on the flag staff of the Weather Bureau, shipping was warned, etc. The southeastern sky was sombre, the Gulf beat high on the beach with that dismal thunderous roar that presaged trouble, while the air had a stillness that betokens a storm. From out of the north, in the middle watches of the night, the wind began to come in spiteful puffs, increasing in volume as the day dawned.

By ten o’clock Saturday morning it was almost a gale; at noon it had increased in velocity and was driving the rain, whipping the pools and tearing things up in a lively manner, yet no serious apprehension was felt by residents remote from the encroachments of the Gulf. Residents near the beach were aroused to the danger that threatened their homes. Stupendous waves began to send their waters far inland and the people began a hasty exit to secure places in the city.

TWO GIGANTIC FORCES AT WORK.

Two gigantic forces were at work. The Gulf force drove the waves with irresistible force high upon the beach, and the gale from the northeast pitched the waters against and over the wharves, choking the sewers and flooding the city from that quarter. The streets rapidly began to fill with water, communication became difficult and the helpless people were caught between two powerful elements, while the winds howled and rapidly increased in velocity.

Railroad communication was cut off shortly afternoon, the track being washed out; wire facilities completely failed at 3 o’clock, and Galveston was isolated from the world. The wind momentarily increased in velocity, while the waters rapidly rose and the night drew on with dreaded apprehension depicted in the face of every one.

Already hundreds and thousands were bravely struggling with their families against the mad waves and fierce wind for places of refuge. The public school buildings, court house, hotels, in fact any place that offered apparently a safe refuge from the elements, became crowded to their utmost. Two minutes of 6.30 P. M., just before the anemometer blew away the wind had reached the frightful velocity of 100 miles an hour. Buildings that had hitherto stood tumbled and crashed, carrying death and destruction to hundreds of people. Roofs whistled through the air, windows were driven in with a crash or shattered by flying slate, telegraph, telephone and electric light poles, with their masses of wires, were snapped off like pipe stems, and water communications were broken.

What velocity the wind attained after the anemometer blew off is purely a matter of speculation. The lowest point touched by the barometer in the press correspondents’ office, which was filled by frightened men and women, was 28.04½; this was about 7.30 P. M. It then began to rise very slowly, and by 10 P. M. had reached 28.09, the wind gradually subsiding, and by midnight the storm had passed. The water, which had reached a depth of eight feet on the strand at 10 P. M, began to ebb and ran out very rapidly, and by 5 P. M. the crown of the street was free of water. Thus passed out one of the most frightful and destructive storms which has ever devastated the coast of Texas.

ADDITIONAL DETAILS.

The city is filled with destitute, bereft and homeless people, while in the improvised morgues are the rigid forms of hundreds. Whole families are side by side.

The city beach in the southwestern part of the city was under ten feet of water, and the barracks there are destroyed, the soldiers having a marvelous escape from drowning. Many substantial residences in the western and southwestern part of the city were destroyed, and the death list from there will be large.

A heavy mortality list is expected among the residents down the island and adjacent to the coast on the mainland, as both were deeply flooded, and the houses were to a great extent insecure. The heaviest losers by the storm will be the Galveston Wharf Company, the Southern Pacific Railway Company, and the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway Company, and the Texas Lone Star Flouring Company.

Additional details by tug from Galveston show that west of Thirty-third street the storm swept the ground perfectly clear of the residences that once stood upon it and piled them up in a conglomerated mass five blocks back on the beach, strewing the piling with the debris and the bodies of its many victims. Many of these were lying out in the afternoon sun and were frightful to look upon. The fearful work of the storm was not confined to the district along the beach, but took in all the district in the city and the Denver resurvey, but it was near to the beach that most destruction to human life occurred.

The waves washed away the Home for the Homeless, and it is thought that the inmates, consisting of thirteen orphans and three matrons, were drowned. Out in the Denver resurvey the destruction was terrible, and victims of the storm were many. The government works were greatly damaged, the buildings on the beach were washed out into the Gulf and their occupants are thought to have perished.

COMMUNICATIONS ALL CUT.

In the north part of the west end the damage was great also, almost every building being damaged to some extent, and many completely wrecked. The cotton and lumber yards in that section of the city were completely razed, and much valuable machinery is ruined. However, the loss of life was not nearly so great in that district as it was out towards the beach.

A special to the “News” from Galveston brought to Houston by the tug “Brunswick” gave the following additional particulars of the storm:

“The big iron oil tank of the Waters-Pierce Oil Company was picked from the Fifteenth street pier and carried to Thirteenth street. The old Union Depot, in recent years used as the office of the superintendent of the wharf yards, was dashed to pieces, as were numerous small frame buildings along the wharf front. Men were sent out Sunday morning to report the condition of the bridges across Galveston Bay, but were unable to reach them.

“Telegraphic communication was also cut off on Saturday. The linemen who went out Sunday reported that the railroad bridges were all washed away, and there was not sufficient material in Galveston to rebuild the telegraph lines. The cables under the channel are gone. The lines will have to be built to the city from the mainland. Strenuous efforts were made on Sunday to repair the damage to the Mexican cable, but on account of the sea being high it was impossible to pick up the lost end of the cable.

“Thousands of telegrams were filed at the telegraph office during the day, with the expectation that they would be sent to Houston for transmission, but the captain of the only small tug available would not venture on the trip with a new crew, his engineer and fireman having been lost, while tugs which might be hired were of too deep draught to go up the bayou.

IN THE BUSINESS DISTRICT.

“In the business district not a building escaped injury. The Grand Opera House is caved in, and the fourth story of the Hotel Grand, a part of the same building, was blown off. The third story of the City Hall was blown away. The three story building of the Ritter Cafe was demolished, and crashed into the rear of the News Building. The fourth story was torn from the Moody Building, at Twenty-second street and the strand. The Masonic Temple was partially unroofed and the tower torn away. The upper stories of the Harmony Club Building were caved in, and the frame building across the street was demolished.

“Among other buildings damaged or destroyed was the Galveston Orphans’ Home, all the children being reported unhurt. The Sacred Heart Church, one of the largest churches in the city, is a total wreck. St. Mary’s University, adjoining it is considerably damaged, and the athletic building was destroyed. The First Baptist Church is a wreck. The parsonage adjoining St. John’s Methodist Church was wrecked. The Ball High School building is badly damaged.”

“Over thirty persons were rescued from St. Mary’s Infirmary but quite a number perished. A mother and child, a Mexican woman and child and an elderly lady, while going to the cotton mills, were drowned. While the mill was crowded with people the tower fell in, killing and injuring several persons. Over one thousand persons sought shelter in the County Court House. A lady and child from St. Louis, names not ascertained, who were visiting the family of police officer John Bowe, were lost. Mrs. Burns, mother of motorman Burns, and daughter, also perished, motorman Parker, wife and children, were killed. Mrs. Benhill and child were drowned.

“Three undertaking establishments are all being utilized as morgues, and a fourth morgue was opened in a large building on the Strand. Some of the draymen at first refused to haul more than one body at a time, demanding the price for a full load for each trip. On Sunday evening, however, the few who made this demand agreed to bring as many bodies as their carts would hold. Owing to the streets being full of debris it is only possible to use the two-wheeled carts.

CARING FOR THE DEAD.

“Many of those who escaped tell of thrilling experiences. Mr. and Mrs. James Irwin got out on the roof of their dwelling. They were seated on the side of the comb, and when the building blew over they floated off separately on sections of the roof. Mrs. Irwin was on the raft alone all night. Mr. Irwin, who had found refuge at the Ursuline Convent, and who despaired of seeing his wife again, heard a cry for help. Hoping to rescue a human being, he pulled off through the water, and was surprised and overjoyed to find his wife still afloat on the roof.

“The city is not without a water supply, but it is in total darkness. The city street railroad has suspended business, much of its track being washed out. It will be a month before cars can be operated by electricity, but horse car service will be substituted at the earliest possible moment. The plant of the Galveston Gas Company is partially demolished, and is out of commission. Those who use gas for fuel are helpless. Fire wood was swept away, but there is plenty of drift wood to be had.

“Several members of the police force were lost, and others lost their families. The force is greatly reduced in numbers, and at present is insufficient to meet the demand upon it.”

The foregoing is a horrifying account, truthful and not over-drawn. In fact, the picture is far short of the reality.

RESISTLESS POWER OF THE HURRICANE.

It is a misnomer to call the violent revolving storm which devastated the city of Galveston and the adjacent coast of Texas a cyclone. It was in reality a hurricane, and more specifically what is known to meteorologists as a West Indian hurricane. A hurricane has a much smaller centre or diameter than a cyclone, travels with far greater rapidity, and its blasts often reach a velocity of 100 miles an hour. The hurricane of the West Indies, which is really born in the heated waters of the South Atlantic, and which as a rule curves when it reaches the Yucatan Channel and follows the course of the Gulf Stream, decreases in intensity as it travels further north, broadens in diameter, and becomes the cyclone of the North Atlantic.

It is a curious feature of the Galveston hurricane that, like the great hurricane of September, 1889, which devastated Vera Cruz, it did not follow the course of the Gulf Stream, but curved westward instead of eastward, after passing the Yucatan Channel, and rushed in upon the Texan coast. Galveston was not up to this time considered as within the hurricane belt, and its awful visitation is proof that the laws of storms have exceptions to their rules.

The late Padre Vines, of Havana, the venerable and learned Jesuit priest, who made a lifelong study of the birth and course of West Indian hurricanes, was accustomed to warn by cable the many friends that he had among the captains of the vessels plying to and from West Indian ports of the approach of hurricanes and their probable course.

In September, 1889, he cabled to Captain Joshua Reynolds, commanding one of the Ward steamers, and who was just leaving Vera Cruz for New York, that a hurricane was approaching from the eastward, and that he would better steam slowly to and past Progresso and let the great storm pass up and along the Gulf Stream. Captain Reynolds acted in obedience to the warning, but this particular hurricane, like the one that struck Galveston, curved to the westward instead of to the eastward, after passing the Yucatan Channel, overcame an area of high barometer that, hung over the Mexican coast, and rushed into Vera Cruz, carrying death and destruction in its wake. Captain Reynolds and his ship safely weathered the hurricane and were received at Havana with great rejoicing, where it had been thought they were lost.

It was in 1859 that still another West Indian hurricane curved the wrong way and swept the waters of the Gulf over Last Island, then the great summer resort of Southern society, situated a few miles west of the mouth of the Mississippi off the coast of Barataria. Those who wish to obtain some conception of the horrors attending the Galveston hurricane should read Lafcadio Hearn’s story of “Chita: The Romance of Last Island,” in which that skilled word painter depicts the scenes of the awful tragedy which decimated the households of the South.

STIRRING APPEALS FOR HELP.

One of our leading journals made the following timely comments upon the Galveston calamity and the urgent necessity for quick help:

“The cry for help which comes from the stricken city of Galveston and the surrounding country is a moving appeal which should receive the readiest and most generous response. The extent of the disaster which has overtaken the city and the coast country of Texas has not been over-drawn, it seems, in the reports from the scene, and it would be impossible to exaggerate the horror of the catastrophe and the distress and suffering that follow in its wake.

“A fair city of 38,000 inhabitants was wrecked in a night. Thousands of men, women and children were drowned or killed in the wreckage of the flooded, crumbling city; whole families suddenly blotted out; the great mass of the survivors bereft of their habitations, goods and clothing, and by the wreck of business houses and the stoppage of industry deprived of the means of earning subsistence for a long time to come. No one need hesitate about making a contribution to alleviate the suffering of Texas on the grounds that others will give enough to supply all needs.

TERRIBLE SUFFERING AND MISERY.

“However generous or lavish may be the aid proffered, it will not be enough to repair the mischief of that storm, and however prompt the aid may be, it will not be quick enough to prevent terrible suffering and misery. Delay in providing for the impoverished and homeless means peril to more lives, deprivation and sickness, and, under the most favorable circumstances in getting aid to the district, thousands are fated to undergo the severest suffering.

“Fortunately, the Government has stepped in and, through the War Department, is lending prompt and effective aid. Tents and rations are being rushed to Galveston with all possible speed, and private liberality and relief committees are coming to the rescue. The scope of the Government’s efforts will be limited to such supplies as are available in the War Department, and, in addition, vast quantities of food, clothing and medicines are needed, doctors and nurses are required, and a large sum of money is an absolute necessity to pay for these things and to form a fund for the purpose of maintaining relief until the sharp period of distress shall be tided over. Our city, in every cause that appeals to benevolence and humanity, has always been in the forefront of the generous, and, in such a case as the Texas disaster, the city’s liberality should be maintained. The Citizens’ Permanent Relief Committee has taken steps to render aid to the hurricane sufferers, and, through that useful and beneficent organization, every person in this vicinity will have the opportunity to join in giving aid for a purpose which must excite universal pity and sympathy.”