The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1900-09-15
make better workmen than th
ordinary man.

make hotter workmen than the
ordinary man.
No effort was made Sunday TO
recover the dead, as the water
is still high. A large number
were collected before noon, and
the burial of the dead began, but
it was found impracticable to dig
graves on tho island for this pur-
pose. Messfs. McMaster and Nor
rissey then tookcharge of the duty
and, ,engaginga tugboat and barge
they began arrangements to send
the bodies to sea. Center street
wharf was used for the loading,
and every wagon dray, float or
cart 80 be found was impressed
into service and the bodies were
carted to the wharf.
"There was no time to stop for
identification. Decomposition
had set in, the town was full Of
the stencil, and at once every
one began to think of the pesti-
lence which would follow unless
The dead were disposed of. Vel
unteers were called for and few
responded. Others were impress.
ed, and Father Kerwin Of the
Catholic Church went through
the city calling for volunteers To
load barges. ! saw foatload after
floatload, fifteen and twenty boz
dies at a time, brought to the
wharf and put upon the barge,
The endurance of men was NOT
for long time, however. They
could not stand the stencil, and
others were called for; but the cu-
rious crowd which gathered at the
wharf would disperse whenever 1t
wrs said that more men were need
ed. Mr.. Morrissey said he found
it impossible to get the labor nd
oessary. Mr.. McMaster told me
that what Galveston wanted was
men to help dispose of the dead;
that 1t was impossible to handle
the bodies with the limited mum
ber of men at hand. While / was
there the barge was loaded with
1850 bodies and was towed out to
sea. Weights were attached to
each, and they were buried in the
Gulf. The captain ofthe steam
ship Pensacola, which was in thb
harbor at the time, volunteered
his ship for burial purposes, and
as | left the island arrangements
were being made to load his yes
sci.
"The estimates as to the loss Of
life are varied. The island did
not escape the fury of the storm
in any part of it, and every house
is damaged and nearly one half Of
them are total wrecks. The bus
mess portion of the city suffered
to a great extent. Provisions
could not be used because of the
damage by salt water and every
place visited | found destituticn
present. From what I.could learu
Ic0nsider that more than 5000 per-
sons were lost. / hesitate to say
5000 because 4 am told / am plac
ing the number too high, but / do
not think SO. The complete list
will never be known. Families
have been wiped out of existence,
and the condition of the minds OF
the people is such that they can
not remember who were their
friends and neighbors, and they
are thinking of only their own.
Thus q great many will be lost
sight of.
IL never saw people in such
condition. IL was ALMOST com
plete insanity. They knew not
which way to turn for succor.
They were cut off from commu-
nication with the mainland and
did not know what had been done
for them by the outside world.
They had started messengers for
Houston to give a report, but
they did not know the fate of
those messengers, and state of
complete frenzy existed. i had
but to say i am from Houston
and it brought about me a crowd
Of questioners. Charles Quinn of
the Houston police department
and q. III. Hartwell accompanied
me. From what ] could learn we
were the first to land on the is
land. 1t has been reported about
Galveston that Houston mad been
blown away, and they feared on
this account that the condition of
the Island City was yet unknown
to the world. They were reliev-
ed when informed of the arrange
ments being made to send them
supplies.
Up to Monday afternoon water
was very scarce article. The
waterworks plant was not in
working condition and what water
was on hand was used judiciously.
During the day the brewery and
ice plant began furnishing ice to
all who would call, and this sup
plemented the water supply. Lat
or than this it was announced that
water could be bad at the water
works plant, and that possibly the
system would be in working order
by Tuesday. This was a great re-
lief to the people.
#
Society Note.