Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1900-09-11
DESTRUCTION OF GALVESTON
A Newspaper Man Declares 1t One o.
the Most Awful Tragedies of
Modern Times.

houston, lex, Sept. 1l.-Richard
Spillane. well-kuown Galveston news.
paper man and day correspondent OF
the Associated Press in that city, who
reached Houston after a terrible ex.
perience. gives the following account
of the disaster at Galveston:
One of the most awful tragedies of mod
ern times has visited Galveston. The city
Is i'll ruins and the dead will number pro
baby LOCO. ! am just from the city, hay
ing been commissioned by the mayor and
citizens committee to get in touch with the
outside world and appeal for help. Hous
ton was the nearest point ut which work
Ing telegraph instruments could be found
the wires as well as nearly all the build
fngs between here and the Gulf of Mexico
being wrecked.
When / left Galveston shortly before
noon yesterday the people were organizing
for the prompt burial of the dead, distri
button of food and all necessary work after
a period of disaster.
The wreck of Galveston was brought
about by tempest so terrible that nc
words can adequately describe its inten.
sitY and by a food which turned the city
Into a raging sea- The weather bureau
records show chat the wind attained We
locity of 81 miles an hour when the meas.
uring instrument blew away, so 1t Is i'm.
The storm began at 2 o'clock Saturday
morning Previous to that great storm
had been raging in the gulf and the tide
was very high Pie wind at first came
from the north and was in direct opposi.
tlon to the force from the gulf. While the
storm in the gulf piled the water upon the
beach side of the city. the north wind piled
the water from the bay on to the bay part
of the city.
About noon 1t became evident that the
city was going to be visited with disaster
Hundreds of residences along the beach
front were hurriedly abndoned, the fam.
lilies fleeing to dwellings in higher portions
of the city. Every home was opened TIC
the refugees, black and white. The winds
were rising constantly and it rained IN
torrents. The wind was so fierce that
the rain eut like knife
By 3 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 a,
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 were terrifying
In the extreme The wind and waters
rose steadily from dark until 40 O'Clock
Sunday morning. During all this time the
people of Galveston were like rats In
traps The highest portion of the city
were four or five feet under water while
In the majority of cases the streets We're
submerged to a depth of 10 feet. To leave
n house was to drown. To remain was to
court death in the wreckage
Such Il night of agony has seldom been
equaled. Without apparent reason the wa.
tiers suddenly began to suhside at AS a.
m. Within 20 minutes they had gone down
two feet and before daylight the streets
We're practically freed of the food waters.
In the meantime the wind had veered to
the southeast.
Very few of any buildings escaped in,
jury. There is hardly a habitable dry
house In the city When the people wha
had escaped death went ont Mt daylight to
view the work of the tempest and the
foods they saw the most horrible sights
Imaginable. In the three blocks from Ave
nue. n to Avenue L. in fremont street,
saw eight bodies. Four eerpses were In
one yard.
The whole Of the business front for
three blocks in from the gulf was stripped
of every vestige of habitation. the dwell
ings. the great bathing establishments. the
Olympia and every structure having been
either carried out to or its ruins piled
in Il pyramid far into the town according
to the vagaries of the tempest.
The first hurried glance over the city
showed that The largest structures sup
posed TO De the most substantially built,
suffered the greatest. the Orphans home,
Twenty first street and Avenue NJ, fell like
house of cards. How many dead chill
dren and refugees are in the ruins could
not be ascertaned.
OF the sick in st. Mary's infirmary, to-
gether with the attendants, only eight are
understood to have been saved.
The Old Womans home, on Rosenberg
avenue, collapsed, and the Rosenberg
schoolhouse Is a mass of wreckage. The
Ball High school is but an empty shell,
crushed and broken. Every church In the
city with possibly one or two exceptions,
is In ruins.
At the Forts nearly all the soldiers are
reported dead, they having been In temper
airy quarters which gave them no protec-
ton against the tempest or the food.
No report has been received from the
Catholic orphan asylum down the island,
but II seems impossible that 1t could have
withstood the hurricane. If 1t fell all the
inmates We're no doubt lost for there was
no aid within a mile.
The bay front from end to end Is In
ruins. Nothing but pling and the wreck
nge OF great warehouses remain. The ele-
vators lost all their super works and their
stocks are damaged by water.
The life saving station at Fort Point
Continued on Fourth Page.