The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1900-09-15
SUMMARY OF THE SITUATION.
An ExamplifIcation Of the Lords Pa.
rabIe of the rlan Who Built Ills
House Upon the Sands.

| Summarizing the situation as i
now appears, every business edi
flee In Galveston has been destroy
ed or damaged. The entire ship
ping in port wrecked, tho graii
elevators demolished in part, til,
wharyes almost totally destroyed
food supplies damaged by waite,
supply cut off, 10000 persons
homeless, 600 TO 1000 persons kil
led, communication broken--des
ltrnction everywhere.
The story Of Galveston in IL
grewsome entirety is yet To b,
written. The press details whicl
have so far been given to the re-
gular reading public contain ap.
parently the preamble to til,
chapters which must thrill th,
country with their weight of ira,
gedy and human sufferings. As to.
ry OF death in not a new one, but
recurit ever so oftcn--misery OF
men, women and helpless babies
beset by the AImighty's unswerv.
ing elements-must of necessity
open the we'll springs of human
sympathy and cause the check OF
multitudes to soften with tears q
commiseration.
This is an exempli6cation in
this storm of Galveston Of the
Lords parable of the man who
built his house upon the sands,
For q half century people famil.
lar with the location of tho ill-fa-
ted seaport have awaited the day
when the parable should have
been vindicated.
Galveston, or its broken frag-
ments, is still isolated. Wires are
down, bridges demolished, CON-
munication still matter of wild
conjecture, although the railroads
and telegraph companies are
bending every energy to repair
the damage. Rumors are rife and
pregnant with fearful reports
Bits of news are drifting in, each
freighted with death and destruc-
ton. Stragalers, barefooted and
hungry, the fotsam and jetsom of
the storm, each the relif trains,
but aside from Il confirmation in
"a general way of the terrible
wreckage, details are incoherent.
There is manifest inclination to
exaggerate tho death rate.
+ Details are horrible in the evil
dences of wildstrugglcs for life.
Families have been washed
out and fathers have witness
ed their children drown be-
fore their eyes, overwhelmed by
the gulf waters. Buffeted by the
waves, hundreds passed the hours
of the night battling for life on
timbers or hastily constructed
RATS. In the fremont Hotel the
water was five feet deep, while in
the street it was anywhere from
six to eleven feet. Brick build
ings crunbled as their foundations
were washed out, and frame
structures were literally torn
apart, plank by plank, by the
mere force of the wind. Hum
dreds of homes were washed into
the Gulf, and many more into the
inner bay. Everywhere is death
and destruction in one form or
another. To remain within doors
was to risk death from one cause !;
to leave, death from the waters
which swept with terrific force
across the narrow island on which
Galveston is located.
The damage to property will
reach to the millions of dollars.
and terrible feature Of this con-
dltion is found in the destruction
of food and loss of drinking wa
ter.
Ships are high and dry on the
beaches, steam and other power
completely prostrated, and man is
helpless in the demolition of ma
terial things. Thoroughly arous-
ed by consideration Of those
facts, the citizens of Houston.
storm-tossed themselves but uns-
cathed in the matter of loss OF
life, save one, have been actively
ut work all day, and even du-
ring the hours of all night, en-
deavoring to mitigate the evils of
the,situation.
Morgan's Point, Laporte, Sea-
brooke, Alyine, Dickinson,
Brookshire. Texas City, Virginia
Point, Bolivar, Pearlin and nu-
merous other towns between this
place and Galveston have all suf-
fered severely in property and
life losses. Bodies are being re-
covered on the mainland, and
Others are constantly drifting on
the bay shores, miles from ilI-fat-
ed Galveston. Two hundred cof-
iins We're sent down this morning.
All English cotton buyers in Gal
weston are reported safe.
,. II. Mcllhenry, a prominent
cotton man of this place, lost his
entire family at a bay resort, and
it Is reported he, with little boy,
were found wandering and insane
IN the marshes near Webster.
Teddy the Terrible had nc
terrors for the Chicago working.
men. When they passed in review