Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-09-14
.RAVAGES OF The STORM.
The Tornado Which was Reported
from the West Indies as Travelling
North Switched otto the West and
Did Fearful Damage.

North Switched otto the West and
Did Fearful Damage.
One of the most awful tragedies
of modern times has visited Calves
ton, Texas. The city is in ruins
and the dead will number from $500
to 5000.
The people have organized for the
prompt burial of the dead, the distri-
button of food. and all the necessary
work after period of disaster.
THE TEMPEST TERRIBLE.
The wreck of Galveston was
brought about by tempest so terri
bic that no words can adequately de-
scribe its intensity, and by flood
which turned the city into n raging
sea. The wind attained velocity
of 100 miles an hour.
The storm began at : o'clock Sat
urday morning. Previous to that a
great storm had been raging in the
Gulf, aud the tide was very high.
The wind at first came from the
north, and was in direct opposition
to the force from the Gulf. While
the storm in the Gulf piled the wat
er upon the beach side of the city,
the north wind piled the water from
the bay on to the bay part of the
CITY.
Hundreds of residences along the
beach front were hurriedly aban-
doned, the families fleeing to dwell.
ings in higher portions of the city
Every home was opened to the refu-
gees, black or white. The winds
were rising constantly and it rained
in torrents.
CITY SUBM ERGED.
By 3 o'clock the waters of the
Gulf aud 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 go upon the street
was to court death. The wind was
then at cyclonic velocity, roofs, els
terms, portions of building, telegraph
poles and walls were falling. The
noise of the wind and the crashing of
the buildings were terrifying in the
extreme. The wind and water rose
steadily from dark until las o'clock
Sunday morning. During all this
time the people of Galveston were
like rats in traps. The highest por-
ton of the city was four to five feet
under water, while in the great ma
iority of cases the streets were sub
merged to a depth of ten feet. To
leave house was to drown. To re-
main was to court death in the
wreckage.
Such a night of agony has seldom
been equalled. Without apparent
reason, the waters suddenly began to
subside at LAS a. M. Within TWEEN
ty minutes they had gone down two
feet and before daylight the streets
were practically free of water. In
the meantime the wind had veered
to the Southeast.
NOTES.
Every church in the city, with
the exception of two, are DESTROYED.
Eight large ocean steamers, which
were at anchor in the harbor, were
wrecked.
The inmates of the Orphans Home
and s.. Mary's Infirmary are nearly
all dead.
The government has come to the
relief of the distressed and is distri-
buting rations and tents.
At the fort nearly all the soldiers
are reported dead, they having been
III temporary quarters, which gave
them no protection against the tenn
pest or the flood.
The streets are filled with corpses
and the work of burying the dead is
rapidly going on. Scores of bodies
have had to be thrown into the sea
to avert pestilence.
After the tempest had subsidized
the first hurried glance over the city
showed that the largest structures,
supposed to be the most substantially
built, suffered the most.
The food left a slime about one
inch deep over the whole city, and
unless fast progress is made in bury
ing corpses and the careasses of ami
mails there is danger of pestilence.
1t will take week to tabulate the
dead and the missing, and TO get any
thing near AN approximate idea OF
the monetary loss. 1t is safe to as
sumo that one-half of the property
of the city is wiped out-that one
half of the residents have to face
absolute poverty.