The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-09-11
WHEELING. w va TUESDAY SEPTEMBER leOO
MOST AWFUL TRAGEDY

HlVol hWi VI L6lhAuLUl
OF Modern Times Visited the Beauti-
Y ful City Of Galveston--story Re-
lated by IN Eyewitness.
HOUSTON, Texas. Sept. 1o,-Richnrd
spillane. a well known Galveston news
paper man, and the day Correspondent
Of the Associated Press In that city.
who reached Houston to-day after a
terrible experience, gives the following
account Of the disaster at Galveston:
One OF the most awful tragedies Of
modern times has visited Galveston.
The city is in ruins, and the dead will
number probably one thousand am
just from the city, having been COM
missioned by the mayor md citizens
committee to get In touch with the out
side world and appeal for help.
When left Galveston. shortly before
noon yesterday, the people were organ
.izing for the prompt burial OF the dead.
distribution OF food and all necessary
work after a period OF disaster.
The wreck of Galveston was brought
about by q tempest SO terrible that no
words can adequately describe It's in
tensity, and by. flood which turned
the city into a raging sea- The
weather bureau records show that the
winds attained velocity OF eIghty-four
miles nm hour, when the measuring In
strameRt blew away, so 1t Is impossi-
Bile to tell what was the maximum.
The storm began at 2 o'clock Satur-
m mr. inc fnt hnt ant
storm had been raging In the gulf, and
the tide wac very. high.
Entire City Submerged.
By o'clock the waters OF the gulf
and bay met, and by dark the entire
city was submerged. The flooding Of
the electric light plant and the gas
plants left the city in darkness. To
go upon the streets was to court death.
The wind was then:at cyclonic velocity,
roofs, cisterns, portions Of buildings.
telegraph poles and walls were falling,
and the noise of the wind and /. the
crashing of the buildings was terrifying
In the extreme. The winds and water
rose steadily from dark until 1:45
o'clock Sunday morning. During all
this time the people Of Galveston were
like rats In traps. The highest por-
ton of the city was four or iive feet
under water. while In the great major
lty of cases, the streets were sub
merged to depth Of ten feet. To leave
a house was 10 drown. To remain was
to court death In the wreckage.
Such a night OF agony has selGor,
ben cqualled. without apparent rem
son, the waters suddenly began to sub
side at las n. m. Within twenty MIN
utes they had gone down two feet. and
before daylight the streets were prae-
tically freed OF the flood waters. In
the meantime the winds had veered 10
the southwest.
Very few, II any, Of the buildings es-
capped injury. There Is hardly a habit
able dry house in the city. When the
people who had escaped death went out
at daylight TO view the work Of the
tempest and the flood they saw the
most horrible sight imaginable. In
the three blocks from Avenue N TO Az
enue P, in fremont street, saw eight
bodies. -Four corpses were In che
yard. p
The whole OF the business front for
three blocks In from the gulf was
stripped OF every vestigc of habisation,
The dwelltngs. the great bathing estftb-
the Olympia and every Struc-
ture having been either carried out TO
sea or its ruins piled In q pyramid far
Into the town, according to the vagaries
of the tempest.
The first hurried glance over the
city showed that the largest structures,
supposed to be the most substantially
built, suffered the greatest, the Or
phans' Home, Twcnty-frst street and
Avenue NJ, fell like house OF cards.
How many dead children and refugees
are in the ruins could not be ascer-
tanned.
or the sick In st. Mary.s infirmary,
together with the attendants, only
eight are understood to have been
saved.
The Old Woman's Home, on Rosen-
berg avenue. collapsed. and the Rosen-
berg school house. Is u mass of wreck
age. The Ball high school is but an
Every church In the city, with possibly
one or two exceptions. is in ruins.
Nearly All Soldiers Dend.
AT the forts nearly all the soldiers
are reported dead, they having been in
temporary quaters, which gave them no
protection against the tempest or the
food. 80
The bay front, from end to end, is In
ruins. 7fN
In addition TO .the living and the dead
which the storm casts UP Mt Texas City,
caskets and collins from one OF the GEM
etcrles at Galveston were being iished
out of the water there yesterday.
In the business portion of the city two
large brick buildings, one occupied by
Knapp Brothers, and the other by the
Cotton Exchange saloon, collapsed. in
the Cotton Exchange saloon there were
about fifteen persons. Most OF Them
escaped. Up to the time I left CAL
weston, three dead had been taken from
the ruins.
Now many more corpses are there
Will not be known until the search Is
finished. Nearly all the industrial es-
Establishments of the city are either
wrecked or crippled. The flood left u
slime about one inch deep over the
whole city. and unless fast progress Is
made In buryinE corpscs and carcasscs
of animals there is danger Of pesti-
lcnce.
The Galveston News asked to have 1t
announced that all the men OF Its stan
are safe.
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