Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1900-09-10
STORM DISASTER
Thousands of Lives Reported
Lost In Texas Towns.
GALVESTON IS INUNDATED
The Place Reported to BE Almost
a Complete Wreck.
DAMAGE TO OTHER TOWNS.

Only Menger Details Yet Obtainn-
ble-Bodies of Dend Strew the
Streets and Bay ut GnIveston-Lnte
Estimates Place the Loss of Life at
Twenty-Five Hundred.
Houston, Sept. 10.-Late reports re-
ceived here Indicate that the city of Gal
weston is entirely submerged A relief
train sent to the city was able to get only
to Hitchcock, which is within six miles
of Virginia City, suburb. The coast
was found strewn with corpses, wreck
| age, pianos and household furniture Two
hundred bodies We're seen. The water is
10 feet deep in Virginia City, and this
fact causes the gravest apprehension.
| Virginia City is on Galveston bay, and
with the water at that height the island
tirely submerged. The loss of life lesti-
mated) is placed at from 1000 to 1000.
Farms Laid Waste.
A train came in on the Columbia Tap
railroad late last night, and its crew
tell Il story of death and desolation
through the country which they passed.
Conductor Ferguson states that houses,
| barns, crops and orchards have been de-
stroyed, and great damage has been done.
a. l.. Forbes, postal clerk, reported
that at Oyster creek the train crew and
| passengers heard cries coming out of
mass of debris. Several persons answer
| ed the cries and found Il negro woman
fastened under roof. They pulled her
| out, and she informed her rescuerS that
there We're others under the roof. A
further search resulted in the finding of
nine dead bodies, all colored persons.
When the train arrived at Angleton,
all the churches, the Jail and a number
of houses had been blown down. Three
fatalities are known to have occurred at
| Angleton, but the train stopped there
only a few minutes, and the number kill
ed or their names could not be learned.
| AT Angleton the conductor decided to re-
| turn to Houston, so the extent of the
| damage beyond Angleton is not known.
| On the return trip the crew saw the
debris of dozens Of demolished houses.
AT Sandy Point several persons were
badly injured, but no fatalities were re-
| ported
AT Arcola Il family named Wofford had
gathered in the second story of their
house. The upper portion of the house
was blown away, and Mr.. Wofford's
mother was instantly killed
The hurricane was particularly severe
at Brookshire, y miles west of Hous-
ton, on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas
| railroad. -Four dead bodies have been
taken from the debris of wrecked houses,
and it is believed that others have been
killed. 1t is reported that only four
houses are left standing in Brookshire,
| which had a population of 600 people.
The names of the dead at Brookshire can
not be learned.
Later reports received from Alvin
state that many persons We're killed
there. Eleven bodies have been recov-
cred.
AT Seabrook Mrs. Jane Woodstock
was killed by Il falling house, Mrs Nick
elson and Louis Broquet We're drowned,
and J, *, Mcllhenny, wife and daugh-
ter and Mrs. Leroy and two children
are missing They are known to have
been in their cottages which were de-
stroyed. The dead body of sailor was
found under "A cottage
AT Brazoria six people We're killed by
falling houses or were drowned includ-
ing George Duff, son of Hon. j. +. Duff.
Judge Duff was himself severely injur-
ed. Reports state that only the court
house and two other buildings are stand
ing there.
a report from Chenango says that eight
people were killed.
Saw $50 Dead Bodies.
Among the passengers who arrived
here on a relief train from. Galveston is
Benjamin w. Dew, an attache of the
Southern Pacific. Dew had been at Vir-
ginia point for several hours and said
that he saw 100 dead bodies floating out
on the beach at that place.
Conductor Powers reported that %
corpscs had been recovered by the life
saving crew, many of them women; that
the crew had reported that many bodies
were floating, and they We're using every
endeavOr to get them all out of the water
The water swept across the island, and it
is presumed that most of these were Gal
weston people, though none of them has
been identified.
One of the refugees who came in on the
relief train and who had sad experience
was S. w. Clinton an engineer at the
fcrtilizing plant at the Galveston stock
yards. Mr.. Clinton's family consisted of
his wife and six children. When his
house was washed away, he managed to
get two of his little boys safely to a raft,
and with them he drfted helplessly
about. His raft collided with wreckage
| of every description and was split in two,
and he was forced to witness the drown
Ing of his sons, being unable to help them
10 any way. Mr.. Clinton says parts of
the city are seething masses of water.
Mr.. Jennings, slater by trade, got to
the mainland in about the same manner
as Clinton. After losing his wife he set
out and by swimming and drifting
around reached the mainland
William Smith, "A boy about IS years
old, whose home is in west Texas, had
narrow escape. Young Smith was blown
off the docks and came ashore in the
drftwood. Despite the difficulty he ex-
perenced in keeping afoat he held out to
the end and reached the shore safe and
sound. A. England and his wife of Tex
ms City. who were on the relief train, re-
port that the whole of that town is blown
| awnV and n nunbpr of liyps yara LIST