New-York tribune., 1900-09-14
CITY NEARLY ANNIHILA7ED.
REPORT TO GOVERNOR SAVERS on THE
LOSSES IN GALVESTON.

Austin Tex, Sept. l3-Ex-State Senator
worthar,l who went to Galveston as the special
AID TO Acknowledgement Scurry. TO investigatS'
the true conditions there. Fas returned here ana
makes the following report to Governor Sayers:
The situation at Galveston beggars description.
/ convinced that the city Is RtacIieatry . any
wrecked for all time TO come FUZZY q" p PEI Csti'
OF the business portion Of the town Is lrTepard
bly, wrecked. and the same percentage OF dainaee
Is 20 he found in the residence district Alone
The wharf front great ocean steamships nave
bodily bumped themselves on the big piers anu
lie there great masses OF iron and wood that
even fire cannot totally destroy. The great
warehouses along the waterfront are sHnasIleu
in side, unroofed and gutleo thIousnou1 @
their length the contents either piled in heaps
on the wharves on the streets Sflai tusss
and sailboats have Jammed themselves nan
into buildings where they were landed by the
Incoming waves and left by the receding waters
Houses are packed and jammed IN great con
fusIne masses in all Of the streets Great pres
Of human bodies, dead animals, rottlng Feseta
tion household furniture and fragments OF the
houses themselves are piled in confused heaPs
right in the main streets or the citN. ATOMS tIi
C-s1if front human bodies floating around
ike cordwood. Intermingled with then are 10
he found the carcasses OF horses, chickens doss
ana rotting vegetable matter. Above all rises
the fouiest stencil that ever emanated from any
cesspool absolutely sickentng in It's intensity
and most dangerous to health in its eftects.
Along the Strand, adjacent to the CUR 'front.'
where are located ali the big wholesale ware
houses and stores the situation almost denes
description. Great stores OF fresh Ntset@S'I I
have been invaded by the incoming waters ahu
are now turned into garbage pies or thosI n th ~
fouiing odors The Gulf waters Wh1le on tHe
land played at will with everything, smashlne
in doors of stores. depositing bodle6 OF huIldll
beings and animals where they pleased' anu
tben rereded leaving the wreckage to tell its
own tale Of how The work had been done AS d
result the great houses are tomps wherein a., o.
~ he found the dead bodies of human beings
and carcasses almost defying the enorts OF reliel
parties. 49,, .o. i, the
u,star and scattered throughout the residence
norton of the city are masses of wrecKage, anu
in these great piles are TO be Iouna mort a
bodies and household furniture OF every uescliP I
ton Handsome pictures are seen lying along
side OF the cream freezers and resting 9gsdee ,aa
the nude figure Of some man or woman; Ihese
sreaf masses OF debris are not confined to any
one particular section of the city .,,aro5
The waters of the Gulf and the Winos Io sPa[ee
NO one who was exposed. Whirling houses
around In IT'S grasp, the wind piled their shat,
tered frames high in confusing masses anu
dumped their contents on top. Men ana women
we're thrown around like so many logs or woou
and left 10 rot in the withering sun e
believe that with the very pest eAeI Illolis ~ %
the men il will require weeks 10 Secure sJiii it
sennhlance OF physical order in the city ana II
is doubtful even then that all the oeoris VIII Oe
There is hardly family on the island whose
household is not short a member or more ana
IN some instances entire families nave 5 peeI5
washed away or killed. Hundreds who escaped
from the waves did only to become the We
tims Of a worse death, being crushed by 1aiilns
Tov,r IN the business section of the city the
foundations OF great buildings have given way,
carving towering structures 10 thelr rum
These ruins falling across the streets' ioIIiiea
Farricades on which gathered all the noatlng
debris and many human bodies. Many Of these
bodies we're stripped Of their clothing by the
Forre of the water and the wind, and there was
nothing 10 protect them from the screening
sun the millions of flies and the rapid invasion
Of decomposition that set in. -,
Many OF the bodies decayed so rapidly mat
they could not be handled for burial
some of the most conservative men on the
island place the loss of human beings at not
less than Z 800 and possibly 10000, While o'hers
saw that IL will not exceed 0OVU.
The live stock the island has oeen com
nletelv annihilated. and their decayng bodies
add 10 the foulness of the air. The island, when
left II. surrounded by a SlcKehihs oooi
that bodies i'll for the future
I consider that every interest on lne lslaiLo
has suffered. Not one has escaped. hTotl tl'
-es+ 5ocl cornpany to the humblest individual
the loss has been felt and in many instances j
Is irreparable. In cases where houses nave peer
left standing the contents are more or less uaIn
aged hut in the large majority OF cases th'
houses themselves did not escape INJURY