The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-10-12

I the WINTER season..
Galveston, Texas, October Miss
I Clara Barton, president Of the National
: Red Cross, has issued the following
statement to the manufacturers and
business men of the country, in which
she appeals to them for aid in the way
; of material to be used in the building
the recent storm:
ITO the Manufacturers and Dealers
in Lumber, Hardware, Builders Ma
teriaIs and Household Goods. and To
the Business Men in General Of the
United States-Gentlemen: This unfcr-
tunate seaport island and town had
four weeks g d population of about
4o'oVo persons. In n day and night it
Is estimated that approximately 10, 900
VI tneSe We're either drowned or killed
by the fury of the storm These build
ing wre largely slate or metal rooted:
this broken rock and metal must have
been hurled through the air like can
non shot. The bodies found are badly
mangled.
I'VE believe it is reliably stated that
there is not one house in the area Of
~ H. ldISS
proportion of those persons formerly
occupying them are entirely without
homes or even shelter, save such as per-
sons as destitute as themselves can Of
Ter them temporarily, to their own
great inconvenience and cost.
THE number of this homeless class is
estimated at 5000 or more. Winter is
less than two months away. Although
a mild climate still snow and ice are
known here. If tents would protect,
which they would not, the seas and the
~qu1cksand would not hold them down;
the first norther would leave their oc-
as unsheltered as before, and
hardshlps, colds, pneumonia. and con-
sumption would finish what the storm
has left.
Some substantial shelter must be
had at once for these people, and it
would seem to be the duty of those on
the ground to put the facts in an intel
llgent form before the people of the
country, who are not here and cannot
see for themselves, and who could not
comprehend without seeing.
with this view the National Red
Cross, has, with the cooperation of the
general committee, obtained estimates
of the best architects of the vicinity
regarding the material needed for the
construction of the necessary numbr
of houses, tenements or homes for the
suitable sheltering of these now un-
sheltered thousands of suffering peo-
pie.
THE following summary represents
substantially the lumber and building
material that would be required to shell
ter about 5000 persons in the most or
binary one-story weather-proof houses,
built singly o. in blocks of m
Summary:
Rough lumber, spruce or pine, So, 600
pieces. 2x10, 16 feet long; 1000 pieces,
; 6x6, 16 feet long; $500 pieces, Axe, 16
feet long; $500 pieces, AKA, 16 feet long;
pieces, 1X12, II feet long; SO,0 900 pieces,
1x3, II feet long; $4,000 pieces, 2xS, DC
feet long; 1000 pieces, 2x4, 16 feet long;
10000, Ike, 16 feet long.
"Tongued and grooved flooring, 80, 900
. pieces, Ike, 16 feet long; 1000 window
door frames and doors, 2 feet, Sx6 feet;
400 hinges, 2-inch, n screws; 1000
door hinges, Pinch, and screws; 1000
banks and staples; So 900 brick for CHM
neys; 1000 squares of felt roofing, 3 ply;
80 kegs S-penny nails; IL kegs 2O-penny
nails.
Carpenters tools for 100 carpenters.
"Bedsteads, bedding, chairs, tables,
stoves, crockery, cutlery and sewing
machines sufficient to furnish about 700
four-room houses in a modest, comfort
able manner.
Some 1000 dwellings and all of their
contents were absolutely washed away
or lie in the piles of wreckage-a worse
than worthless mass, a menace to the
safety of the remaining portion of the
city.
1.-The havoc wrought by the storm in
Galveston a. once was much larger in
loss of life and property than at Johns
town, but the donations in money so
far have aggregated one-third less for
both the city and mainland tina was
given at J~ohnstown.
while the bountiful o~utpouring of
the peoples generosity has enabled the
general relief committee and the Red
Cross to feed the hungry, clothe the
naked and render the streets of Gal
weston partially passable, nothing has
as yet been done toward reinstating
the impoverished survivors in houses
where they can soap disease and en-
joy the slight s of the comforts
of which the storm deprived them.
ut is for the purpose of awakening
the sympathies Of the American people
and further appealing to their bounti-
full instincts to rescue these sufferers
from the hardships still confronting
them that the foregoing statements
have been put forth.
"Of the material named 1t is believed
that Texas and louisiana would pre-
fer to furnish a large portion Of the
lumber. The other building material
and household goods must come from
those states which produce such arti-
Giles.
American National Red Cross,
Clara Barton, President.
Stephen E. Barton, Second Vice Presi-
dent"