Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-09-20
At Galveston Described by Eye
Witness. Force of Wind and Wave
Spanish Steamship Ramondc LarrInaga
Arrives In Norfolk Captain Bengoa
Gives Vivid Picture of tho Appalling
Disaster Thousands Lose Their Lives :
A Thousand Dead with Bags of Rock
Weighted to Their Necks are Thrown
Overheard.
Overheard.

was related yesterday morning in the
shipping office OF Col. William E. Lamb,
in the Citizens Bank building. 1t was
told by Capt. +. de Bengoa and pres
ents Il vivid picture Of the appalling
disaster.
Captain Bcngoa is the commander of
the Spanish steamship Ramon de Lar
rinaga. the first vessel TO arrive in
Norfolk from Galveston since the ter
rifle storm there on the Sth and 9th OF
September. He sailed from Galveston
on the 18th and arrived at Lambert's
Point yesterday for bunker coal. He
has aboard l37. 965 bushels of wheat for
Newcastle on the Tyne. in Scotland
Captain Bengoa's ship was lying at a
pier in Galveston when the storm first
began to develop. He had finished
taking OH cargo and was ashore get
ting his clearance papers for Norfolk
when the tide began to sweep over the
"island city"
BY the time he had Cleared at the
Custom house the wind was blowing
with great violence. and when he
essayed to return to his ship there was
two feet Of water in the street.
Neither car or other conveyance was
to be had and people We're wildly
wading about through the water en-
numbered thoroughfares.
He was warned not to attempt to
reach his vessel, but in face OF the pro-
tests of the customs officials. he de-
termined to reach his boat. BY the
time he had gone two blocks from the
Custom house the water was four feet
deep. Through it he waded and man
aged to reach the Larrinaga. which he
caused to be moored to the pier with
every rope aboard. The portion of the
wharf to which she was moored is all
that remains of the structure. The
rising waters burst the deck off the pier
and one by one it's component parts
drifted away
The whirling wind. the captain said.
increased in violence and the waters of
the Gulf steadily rose over Galveston.
Soon houses began to crumble and sink
into the water as though they were of
pasteboard. Frame houses noated and
toppled over and brick blocks shook
and reeled and settled where they once
stood.
Six streets along the water front fell
one after another. and of the houses
which faced them none remain.
When the sun rose on Sunday morn
ing and the storm was past Galveston,
for six squares from the water front
was mass of ruins. among which only
portions of roof-denuded houses stood
The dead were everywhere. When the
captain Of the Larrnaga ventured on
deck that Sunday morning. among
COTpScS Oh COWS ana QOSS and
horses floating about the Larrinaga,
Captain Bengoa counted fifteen bodies
of men. women and children. Three
days were spent in clearing lumber and
other wreckage upon the Larrinaga's
deck. and she then sailed.
The velocity of the wind on Saturday
was illustrated by Captain Bengoa in
telling Of the death of the mate of the
Spanish steamer Telesfora. This
steamer lay to windward of and against
the steamship Comma and caught the
full force of the fierce cyclone 1t
caught up the mate. carpenter and two
seamen of the Telesfora and. raising
them. hurled them through the air
They landed on the steel deck of the
Comma. All were hurt, the arms OF
some the legs of others being broken
When the mate was found he was dead; ;
through CHASTITY wound in his head
brains and blood exhuded.
Captain Bengoa says that all the aid
Galveston is receiving She needs, and
more.
Thousands of people. among whom
are five representatives of various
steamship companies, lost their lives.
and many men died while struggling
to make their way to their wind swept
and water-encompassed homes, intent
Oh saving tircir-wivcs and Cf1ttIfrcn. or
dying. Death overlook hundreds of
husbands in the streets and wives and
children in their homes, which are now
ruins.
Captain Bengoa shrunll from telling
all of the havoc he saw and was
greatly affected in telling that which
he told.
Captain Bengoa said he saw 900 hui
man beings cast into the water. Rocks
were placed i'm bags fastened to ropes,
which were tied around the necks of
the dead as they were thrown over
hoard. He said he left ten big steam
ships on the beach at Galveston. his
vessel being one of the few that was
not wrecked.
None of the crew OF the Larrinago
were injured. though the vessel was
considerably damaged about her decks
Fraternity News.
Mr.. James H. Hill. secretary of