Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1900-09-19

THE SITUATION At GALVESTON
BEGGARS Observation-Disclosures uF
THE CITY DEMOLISHED.
THERE WILL Be A GENERAL EXODUS.
Description OF the Grewsome Sight the Doomed
City Presents in the BIlstering Sun.

| CITY Presents in the Biistering Sun.
AUSTIN, Texas, September 12.-
This morning ex-State Treasurer
Workman, who went to Galveston as
the special aid to Adjutant General
Scurry to investigate the true condi-
tions there, returned home and made
his report. 1t is az follows:
"The situation at Galveston beg
gars description. l am convinced
that the city is practically wrecked
for all time to come. Fully rs per
cent Of tho business of the town is
irrcparably wrecked and at least the
percentage of damage is to be found
in the residence portion. Along the
wharf front great ocean steamers
have bodily bumped themselves on
the big piers and lay there, great
masses of iron and wood that even
fire cannot totally destroy. The
great warehouses along the water
front are smashed in on one side,
unroofed and gutted throughout
their longth, their contents either
piled in heaps on the wharves or on
the streets. Small tugs and sail
boats have jumped themselves half
in and out the great doors where
they were landed by the incoming
waves and left to their fate by the
reccding waters. Houses are packed
and jammed in great confusing
masses in all the streets. Great
piles of human bodies, dead animals,
rotting vegetation, household furni-
ture and fragments of the houses
themselves are piled in confused
heaps right in the main streets OF
the city. Along the gulf front
human bodies are floating around
like corse wood. Intcrminglcc
with them are to be found the car
casses of horses, chickens, dogs and
rottng vegetable matter. Above
all rises the foulest stencil that ever
emanated from any cess pool, abso-
lutely sickening in it's intensity and
most dangerous to health in its
effects. Along the Strand adjacent
to the gulf front where are located
all the big wholesale warehouses
and stores, the situation almost de-
ties successful review.
"Grcat stores of fresh vegetation
have been invaded by the coming
waters, and are now turned into gar
bagespiles of most befouling cdors.
The gulf waters, while on the land,
played at will with everything,
smashing in doors of stores, deposit
ing bodies OF humans and animals
where it pleased, and then reccded,
leaving the wreckage to tell its own
tale of how well the work had been
done. AS result, the great ware
houses are tOmbs wherein are to be
found the dead bodies Of human be-
ings and carcasscs, and almost defy
ing invasion from relief parties. In
the piles Of debris along the street,
in the water and scattered through
out the residence portion of the city
are to be found masses Of wrcckage,
and in these great piles are to be
found more human bodies and house
hold furniture of every description
Handsome pictures are seen lying
along side of ice cream frcezcrs and
resting beside the nude figure of
some man or woman. These great
masses Of debris are not confined to
any one particular section of the
city. The cruel waters of the gulf
and the shrieking winds spared no
one who was exposed. Whirling
houses around in its grasp, it piled
their shattered frames high in con
fusing masses and dumped their con
tents on top. Men and womcr were
thrown around like so many logs of
wood and left to rot in the withcr-
ing sun. | believe that with the
very best cxertions Of the men it
will require weeks to secure some
semblancc of physical order in the
city, and it is doubtful even then if
all the debris will be disposed Of. |
never saw such a wreck in my life.
"From the gulf front to the cen.
ter of the island, from the ocean
back, the storm wave held high
revclry and left death and destruc
tion in its wake. SO complete was
the wreck, and 80 awo-inspring the
remains, that no one can do Justice
to the scene. 1t is certainly the
greastest calamity that has ever be-
fallen this community.
"Thcrc is hardly a family on the
island whose household is not short
a member or more and in some in
stances entire families have been
washed away or killed. Hundreds
who escaped from the waves only
did so to become the victims of a
worse death by being crushed tc
death by falling buildings. Down
in the business portion of the city
the foundations of great buildings
have given way, carving towering
structures to their ruin. These ruins
falling across the streets, formed
barricadcs on which gathered all the
floating debris and many human
bodies. Many of these bodies were
stripped of their clothing by the
force of the water and wind and
there was nothing to protect them
from the scorching sun, the millions
of flies and the rapid invasion of de.
composition that set in. Many OF
the bodies have dccaycd 80 rapidly
that they could not be handled fol
burial.
"Somc of the most conservative
men on the island place the loss o.
human beings Mt not less than 7,5O(
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