Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1900-11-01
GALVESTON TeYaa Cc,oi

r. Hootf, of he First National Bank:
Galveston, Texas. Cc'ot r17.
III auy one has < ven the imprt ssiou thai
the needs OF this dey asisted city and ,untIy
are asst, and that il is too a'e to render AID
here aIe but two ways OF regarding that inn
preston. Ore is the result Of ignorancc, the
other Of malice. We who sre here iu tne
midst OF it, struggling with its necessities
hour By hour, have not time to tell you over
aud over again what my own pen has so often
| told-thst the losses were reater thsn can be
computed. the suf rings beyond word, TO
describe; that all the money thus far received
will be required to remove the debris OF
| broken houses, crashed to splinters and piled
twenty feet high, along miles OF sea coast
whore even two locks wide of tho city itself
is gone, and the SEA rolls and tosses over
what Was lately its fuest and most thi, k
populated avenues; that these heaps OF spliat-
ertd wood are filed with the furniture OF
once besuulul habitations beds, pianos,
chairs, tables, all that ma 10 up happy homes.
Worse than that, the bodies OF the owners are
rottiuR therein-twenty or thir of hem be-
ing taken out every day, as workmen re-
move the rubbish and iay 1t on great piles of
eveI-burning fire, covering the cOrpses with
mattresses, do0rs, boards anything that is
found near them-and then left to burn out
or 20 away in impregnat1d smoke, while the
weary workmen Toll on for the next. These
men must ba paid for n has a family 10
feed aud You people can estimate what you
yourselves, would ssk to do that work. For
all this work and for all expenses that have
to be met the tum has not yet reached one
mi lion dollars. know the truth whereof
speak, for 1 ain on tpe committees and know
the receipts
This for what has been. A word for what
is, and must be. Although six or seven thl IL
sand lives went out there are yet many lv
ing, for Galv, ston had popn alton of 80, 600
or these, 5000 have not ye' either house,
home, or shelt'r Of any kind, only as they
are hudOled into the poor, broken wrecks OF
the houses of other people which did not
qute.go down; aud there they are staying
crowded like cattle in pen under a shelter
barely net Condemned. These people have
nothing in the world left, for whom the house |
went 1t took the LAST thing they possessed
ard through terrible day of storm and a |
Dlvht of blatk horror, they hosud ard swan |
and struggl, d, amid the stoIm-besten waves |
with the brCk gu slate roofs of al these houses
hurled like cannonshot against them, cutting, |
breaking, crushing, meeting in the waves |
obstacles of every sort from a crazed COW |
fighting for its life to mad mo: casin snake |
perhaps to come out at least on some beach |
miles away, among people strange and BE-
wildeIed like themselves. Some of them
have struggled back 10 find possibly few
members Of the family left, the resi- among
The several thousands Of whom nothing is
known. These are the people OF whom am
trying to tell you who have now neither
homes, thelter, nor any other earthly posses
dollar, only the.foOd and clothing
that people have sent by carloads snd shi
loads, and which we are distributing
For them | have put out an appeal 10 the
umbermen and hardware merchants of the
United States, coly of which will send
you, to kindly send fome materials of which
houses can be made. They cannot be built Of
sp pinteTs; but suitable materials are needed for
little, rough, temporary homes, where these
people can be sheltered from the winter, now
.cal cely NOR tn away. They have 10 warm
clothing, bsdding, b sDket.; for of all the
hat has been sent, the kind donors
felt il must be for hot westher There is
plenty OF this summer clothing, but nothing
to protect against the blasts Of the northers
that comes uom time to time quick aud
sharp, even to freezing. OF the houses foI
which ask the materi, Al, not one is yet fl
ished. A few are In couIse of constIu tiop;
som7 little huts are going up, ou' of broken
Doe rds; but when you reflect that there was
rot one undt iged house lett In Galveston
scarcely roof or chimney left, and more
than half that rema ain partly upright are un-
der condemnation uutil repaired or torn
down, you VIII understand that there is
to do even 10 get ready to put up
The new houses, were there something TO
m Ike them of. Please undeGstsnd that there
s no one here wanting food, no one without
clothing, such AS it is, and no one uncsred
for, There are few orphans to tI0u ole over,
for where the storm was great enough TO tax
The father aud mother, what reflect Dg person
,upposes that the children would bs left?
The weakest always 60 first in these great
iisssters. We are caring for every orphan
nere but the homeless, houseless unprotN Nc
ed eight or teu thousand people mast !
lone something with, some homes must be
made for them, some furnishings must be
,iven them, and they must be placed in con-
iition to earn their living as Ihsy did before.
riue, Lealy ell b vel lost part of their
d mily; but that does not make the bu den
,asier for them to bear. | have msde as plain
10 estimate as possible Of what is needed for
he construction OF these homes, and am
ending it over thu entire United Ststee, t)
III .umbeImen, hsrdwsremen, furniture men,
md Other persons whose imsgir alton can
picture what might be needed in little new
zine house, where not even the smallest inn
,lement of living exists. have stated over
.ud over as to you, the amount OF money
nat has been rsceved by the committees OF
Galveston, showing what they have 10 do
his work with. Ii still the reports go cut
hat too much has already been sent, aud
Ii At nothing more is needed, and that IL Is
o) late for those even desiring TO do So TO
end more helm, eau only esy TO you tbai
he people who mske ,hese ststeme Is are
ot here and cannot tut their fingers Ia III,
gound; but il you can Sslieve me, your
sm here and my fingers
re in the wound, and assure you that the
ide was pierced and the nails Aid 20 through
Very sincerely yours,
RAuTON