Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1901-04-05
A STORY OF THE GALVESTON
STORM.

of last September destroyed the beautI-
tiful city of Galveston, Texas, ranks as
the most awful calamity of modern
times. The exact number Of deaths
caused by the storm will never be
known, but it is believed that twelve
thousand would be j conservative eSti-
mate, while the property loss aggre-
gated more than twenty millions OF
dollars. In this estimate no attention is
given TO the heavy losses resulting from
the necessary delay in business in all
lines nor from the commerce lost to the
port on account Of the damage to wharf
facilities. Though these damages were
quickly repaired, the rumor was cireu-
lated that the wharves had been totally
destroyed, and thousands Of bales of
cotton which should have been shipped
through Galveston were diverted TO
other ports.
The horrors Of that awful night can
not be told /; they may to some extent
be imagined, but to be known and I'M
derstood they must have been felt.
Children were torn from the arms Of
their mothers BY the mad waves and
hurled to their death in the black tor
rent which swept over the town, hus'
bands saw their wives struck down by
flying debris and borne away with the
current, and IS they realized how utterly
powerlesS they were TO save their loved
ones they flung themselves into the
seething flood and disappeared forever
Mr.. n. B. Johnson, who is now in
Elko, had b-en a resident of Galveston
for years. He and his wife and two
children escaped death by 4 fortunate
chain of circumstances. ave left our
home" said Mr.. Johnson, Sin June,
and came TO Colorado to try the effect
Of the mountain air upon my wife's
health, which had not been good for 4
few months previous, expecting to re-
turn September /. We were having i
good time in the mountains when the
end Of our vacation approached and fol-
one reason and another postponed oul
return until the news reached us that
our beautiful island city had been dc
stroyed. | left my family in Denver
and started Immediately for Galveston
where | landed after | had smugglet
myself through the line of soldiers ans
aboard the relief steamer Lawrence car
rying a sack of mail. II was late in tn,
evening and quite dark when our traiT
=, got to Texas City, just across the bay
| from Galveston, and | counted thirteeI
sacks of mail unloaded. While | wa
trying to persuade the guards to pas
ME through the lines ! heard twelv
Red Cross men told off to go out an,
; get the mail. The lucky - saved m
for ! rushed along with the soldie
boys, grabbed up a big mail bag an,
dashed down the line in the darkness
} singing out Red Cross carrying tn
NALL and soon was walking up tn
g%ang-plank of the steamer. Then | hil
, out till we were alongside the battere,
wharf, where ! managed to dodge tn
} inspectors and went ashore,
"Do you know, | WAS bewiIdered-
absolutely lost in 4 town every foot q
which | had known for years; cOuldn'
. even recognize fremont street, the mai
Z t%horOughfare in that part of the town.
I "A long row Of smoldering fires la,
along the water front in which bodie
Of humans and animals were slowl,
being consumed, and across the islam
on the gulf side the sky was illumine,
by the light from an immense pyrt
whose greedy flames all day long ha
fed upon the swollen corpses OF mer
, women and children with which tn
beach was strewn. Pools Of black WI
. ter stood in the street where the pawn
blocks had been torn out by the wave:
: Tin roofs, rolled up like cigarettes, Ia
where they had fallen, and bricks, roo
, ing states, window glass and debris
, all sorts were everywhere. No light
were visible, except once in awhile II
faint glimmer Of a candle, and the onl
persons to De met were the guards ST
= toned at intervals. The gloom an
stiffness was like that Of a Sepulche
i and everywhere that awful sickenin
stencil from burning and decaying h,
man bodies. 1t was a miserable hon
coming for me. But the sunshine
= the next day was to show me the no
= rors which then | only felt. This va
:, on the north or bay side Of the cit,
where the destruction was least.
81 found a bed in the Washingto
hotel, getting to my room by the lig,
Of a stub Of candle stuck in Il pOp-bottl,
The carpets were covered with mu
and slime washed up from the bay, an
the walls were drenched with rain, &c
most of the windows were broken an
the roof was full Of holes.
Next morning | started out to fin
my old home. II formerly stood o
the south side Of tile town, about thre
blocks from the beach of the Gulf G
Mexico, in a beautiful district Of home
surrounded by gardens, ~shrubbery an,
flowers. To reach this place climba,
over piles Of wteckagc many feet Il
height and covering block after blocI
Of ground. Many Of the street intcrscc
tons were totally obIiterated by tn
sand which had been swept up from
the gulf during the storm.
81 finally discovered the track Of tn