Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1900-09-13
MENAcED BY PEsTILENcE.
Bodies In the Debris VIII Be Gree
mated to Prevent Sickness.

GALVESTON, Sept. lathe citizens of
Galveston are straining every nerve to
clear the ground and secure from be-
aeath the debris the bodies Of human
beings and animals and to get rid of
Ahem. It is task of great magnitude
an& is attended with untold difficulties.
There is a shortage of horses to haul the
dead and there is a shortage of willing
hands to perform the gruesome work.
The work of burying the dead is pro-
crossing slowly, owing to the refusal of
the men to handle the corpses.
At nightfall three bargeloads contain
ing about 700 bodies had been sent to
sea, where they were sunk under
weights. Darkness compelled a suspen-
sion of the work until morning To-
ward night great difficulty was expert
enced in handling the bodies of negroes,
which are badly decomposed. The work
today was still more difficult.
No effort was made after 8 o'clock
yesterday morning to place the bodies
in morgues for Identification, for it was
imperative that the dead should be got
ten to sea as quickly as possible. Many
Of the bodies taken out are unidentified.
They are placed on the barges as soon
as possible and lists are made while the
barges are being towed to sea. q.
A large number of dead animals were
hauled to the bay and dumped in to be
carried to sea by the tides.
VIII Burn the Debris.
One hundred and twenty-five men
worked all day yesterday and last night
IN uncovering the machinery Of the
waterworlzs from the debris. 1t is hoped
that it will be possible to turn on the
water for a while today and it is planned
to set fire to the debris under the direc-
ton of the chief of the fire department
and cremate the bodies buried under it.
Mayor Jones has given very full scope
to Chief of Police Ketchum and Mr.. J.
H. Hawley, chairman of the committee
on public safety, to swear ia citizens of
good character as officers and has told
them that ablebodied men must be made
to work or get off the island. The city,
he said, was under martial law. Picket
lines have been established around the
large stores and guards placed on duty.
The soldiers and police are instructed to
shoot any one caught looting or attempt
ing to loot. The jails are full and sum-
mary measures are necessary.
As the work of collecting the bodies
proceeds and as reports come IN of
deaths, it becomes apparent that the
death list will run much higher than
was at first supposed.
Dead Will Number 5000.
Conservative estimates place the num-
Der of dead IN the city at 5000. Other
points on the coast also suffered and re-
ports are that the main land, Galveston
island and Bolivian peninsula are be-
strewn with dead.
A relief train from Houston with $50
men ON board and two carloads of pro-
visions came down over the Galveston,
Houston and Northern railroad yester-
day to q point about 5 miles from Vir-
ginia Point. 1t was impossible for them
to get the provisions or any considera-
BILE number of the men to Galveston, so
they turned their attention to burying
the dead lying around the main land
country.
Bridge Foreman Patterson of the
Gulf and Interstate railroad reached
here last evening from Beaumont, hav-
ing walked about half the distance. He
reports that Beaumont did not suffer
much from the storm. Two lives were
lost from live wires
Last evening Colonel L. J. Peck, gen.
eral manager of the Gulf, Colorado and
Santa Fe railroad, stated that all of the
bridges across Galveston bay are gone,
nothing remaining but the piles. He
said it would take ten days or two
weeks to restore rail communication to
Galveston, provided work can be insti-
tuted at once from the mainland. He
said he greatly feared that the line had
suffered further sonth.