The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-10-08

da1lOns. Bnrylng Forty Human Beings
Ina the General RuIR.
New Orleans Special to Chicago Times
From passengers who arrived from Gal
weston tonight the most narrowing ac-
counts of the effects Of the cyclone were
gathered, as it is estimated that some for
ty lives were lost and near 200 houses
were swept away by the flood, which COW
cred the city for fully two days, besides
others made untenantable by the losing
of their foundations by the water. The
scene between the hours of II, mid
night, on Thursday, and o'clock on
Friday morning, witnessed
THE MOST FEARFUL SCENES
in the island city, the events occurring
then being of the most thrilling and
heart-rending character houses being I'M
dermined and sent with their inmates
whirling through the streets, some lodg-
ing and others being turned over in their
progress to bury alive the inmates in the
debris or drown them as they attempted
to escape. Not until O'Clock Friday
morning, did the wind change to the
south and drive the water from the city,
the fall being almost as rapid as had been
the rise, and at o'clock scarcely any
water was left in the streets, boats in the
meantime being used, and busily plying
| between the suburbs and the heart of the
city
| REMOVING WOMEN AND CHILDREN
to places of safety, the greatest alarm ex
listing, as the waves during the night
swept with immense force from the gulf
to the bay. Scarcely had quiet been re-
stored, with the disappearance of the wa
ter, when the wind shifted, and increasing
in force gradually wore around to the
southwest, again sending the water
through the city from the west end, and
! by 3 O'clock in the afternoon the strand
| and bay front, which but few hours be-
fore were nearly dry, became covered
with water to the second floor, covering
the wharves, the wind blowing at forty
miles an hour, and sending the water up
with immense force, and
AGAIN FLOODING EVERYTHING.
The storm continued until nightfall,
| when the wind went down, and the
water fell as suddenly as it rose, leaving
innumerable wrecks of churches, houses,
barns, and leaving many ships and sloops |
high and dry in the streets of the city, |
or upon the beach, and damaging the |
stock Of goods in some of the stores to a |
large extent, but to what exact amount |
could not be ascertained up to Saturday |
morning, when the steamship Mary left |
the harbOr. At that time the stores
were closed, the merchants and citizens
generally assembling to devise ways for
the immediate
RELIEF OF THE DESTITUTE
in the way of food, shelter, etc, hun
dreds of them being without homes or
anything to eat. The Howard associa-
ton was also being organized, but even
with its full force they would hardly be
able to meet the wants of the distressed,
who numbered at least five hundred.
Every house in the city, east of South
street, from A street to the Gulf, was
wrecked or damaged to such an extent
that they were untenantable.
THE RAILROAD BRIDGES,
it seems, were badly damaged, some
stating that it would require a week in
repairing them, while others were equally
as confident that it would require two
weeks to repair the new Santa Fe
bridge, and a much longer time to re-
place the Houston bridge. The city
bridges were entirely swept away, some
of them being carried several miles from
their original location. Not a tree, not
a shrub, is left standing upon the island,
the scene presenting, as the Mary left
the harbOr.
A BARREN WASTE,
not unlike a desert, excepting that the
houses gave a token of life.
The steamship Mary started from her
wharf at Galveston on Wednesday morn
ing while the wind was blowing gale,
and evidently it was the intention Of
the Galveston agent to send her to Bra
shear, but knowing it perilous to put to
sea during such a storm, Capt. Benson
concluded to go no further than the
bay, and, after getting a safe distance
from the dwarf, let go both anchors, his
Judgment forbidding him from proceed
ing further, notwithstanding the, as
your reporter learned, imperative
order" to 90 to sea. Had he done so,
the boat with all on board would doubt
less have been lost, as she could not have
withstOOd
THE TERRIBLE GULF SEAS
that prevailed all that night About
one O'clock on Friday morning, when
the gale ragged the fiercest and the seas
dashing over the boat and when moth
ing could be seen boats length dis
tant, the English bark Mary Mcdowell,
a three mast vessel and the largest in
the harbor, was driven against the
steamship Mary, even while the former I
had her anchor out.
Houston special to New York Herald.
The following dispatch was sent by a
special reporter, who pushed through to
the city on a schooner. 1t is the first re-
liable news from Galveston since the
storm began: ~ reached here about
FIVE o'clock this evening QSth), coming
over in a schooner from Virginia Point.
The city shows but little signs of the
storm. In the business part of the town
the wharves are safe and sound, and the
streets show but little sign of the forty
eight hours inundation.
TUE LOSS OF LIFE.
A great many houses were unroo{ed,
and a great number of shade trees were
blown down. The water has subsidized at
this time, except what may be standing
in the low places. The destruction of
life in the city was small. 1t cannot be
truly estimated yet, but not more than
dozen lives have been lost. A woman
was crushed by the falling of her house.
DR.. Peet, the city physician, was lost at
the quarantine station, together with his
grandson, Willie Blunt. He moved his
family into the city and then went back
to the station, which was destroyed.
Sixty men at work on the breakwater
were cut off from the city.
A NINE MILE DRIFT.
All were saved but four. One of these,
Patrick Landagan, drifted to Virginia
Point on a plank mine miles) and struck
the Santa Fe bridge and hung to it.