The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-09-11

DETAILS OF THE DISASTER.
Site of the City Scene of Awful De.
structiOn.

Site of the City Scene of Awful De.
struction.
Houston, Tex, Sept. 11.-Richard
Spillane, a we'll known Galveston
newspaper man, and correspondent OF
the Associated Press in that city, who
reached Houston yesterday, after
terrible experience, gives the follow
ing account of the disaster at Calves
ton:
zone of the most awful tragedies of
modern times has visited Galveston.
The city is in ruins and the dead will
number probably 1,OO0 l am just
from the city. having been commits
stoned by the mayor and citizens COM
mite to get in touch with the outside
world and appeal for help. Houston
was the nearest point at which work
ing telegraph instruments could be
found. the wires, as well as nearly all
the buildings between here and the
gulf of Mexico being wrecked.
when l left Galveston shortly be-
! fore noon Sunday the people were or
| ganizing for the prompt burial of the
! dead, distribution of food and all nee.
essary work after a period of disaster.
'"The wreck of Galveston was
brought about by a tempest so terrible
that no words can adequately describe
it's intensity. and by a flood which
| turned the city into a raging sea. The
weather bureau records show that the
wind attained velocity of 81 miles
an hour, when the measuring instru-
ment blew away, so it is impossible to
tell what was the maximum.
''.The storm began about 2 o'clock
Saturday morning. About noon it be-
came evident that the city was going
to be visited with disaster. Hundreds
of residences along the beach front
were hurriedly abandoned, the fam
lilies fleeing to dwellings in higher por-
tions of the city. Every home was
opened to the refugees, black or white.
The wind was rising constantly and it
rained in torrents. The wind was So
fierce that the rain cut like knife.
!; Water Blown Over Island.
"By 8 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 &C
upon the streets was to court death
!. The wind was then at cyclonic veloc
: ity, roofs, cisterns. portions of build
ings, telegraph poles and walls were
falling and the noise of the wind anG
the crashing of the buildings was ter
: rifying in the extreme. The wind anG
waters rose steadily from dark unit
!, AS Sunday morning. During all this
!. time the people of Galveston We're like
!, rats in traps. The highest portion o1
the city was four to five feet unde1
: water, while in the great majority o.
. cases, the streets We're submerged tt
;. depth of ten feet. To leave a hous,
. was to drown. To remain was tt
court death in the wreckage.
:. "Such wind has seldom beel
!, equalled Without apparent reasol
+ the waters suddenly began to subsid,
a at 1:45 a. m. Within 20 minutes the!
$ had gone down two feet and before
e daylight the streets were PRACTICAL.
: freed of the flood waters.
! VERY few, if any, buildings es
n capped injury. There is hardly a hab
!, table dry house in the city. When tn
5 people who had escaped death wen
: out at daylight to view the work o
), the tempest and food they saw TIL
: most horrible sights imaginable. Il
e the three blocks from Avenue N t
!. Avenue P. in fremont street, say
|. eight bodies. Four corpses were il
s. one yard.
), "The whole of the business front 70
q three blocks in from the gulf wa
J. stripped of every vestige of habits
l. tion, the dwellings,, the great bathin
g establishments. the Olympia an
(, every structure having been either cal
+ ried out to sea or it's ruins piled in
t, pyramid far into the town. accordin
n to the vagaries of the tempest
y Helpless Suffer Most.
l. 1.-THE first hurried glance over th
. city showed that the largest struc
= ures, supposed to be the most substal
TALLY built. suffered the greatest. Th
= orphans home fell like house q
= cards. How many dead children an
= refugees are in the ruins could not b
:" ascertained.
"Of the sick in st. Mary's infirmar,
y together with the attendants, onl
" eight are understood to have bee
- saved.
:. "The old woman's home on Rosel
- berg avenue collapsed. the Rosenber
- school house is a mass of wreckag
!, The Ball high school is but an empt
a. shell, crushed and broken. Ever
- :; church in the city, with possibly one {
two exceptions, is in ruins.
:, SAT the forts nearly all the soldier
y, y, are reported dead, they having bee
9, in temporary quarters, which gay
~, 80 them no protection against the tempe
~ or flood.
= - "No report has been received fro
:, :, the Catholic orphan asylum down tt
~ island but it seems impossible that
w. " could have withstood the hurrican
~ If it fell all the inmates were no dou
- lost, for there was no aid within
!. mile.
w w ''The bay front from end to end
~ ~ in ruins Nothing but piling al
- wreck of great warehouses renal
The elevators lost all their superworl
~ and their stocks are damaged