Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-08-18
PROPERTY LOSSES GREAT;
RUN INTO THE MILLIONS
Casualties and Damage to Galveston
Still Unknown-Wires Re-
main Broken.

The water system, lighting
system, gas and street car sys-
TENS are out of commission.
There is no drinking water
in the city.
Three hundred feet of the
causeway has been destroyed.
All officers, classified en-
ployes, enlisted men and their
families are safe. (This refers
to garrison at Fort Crockett.)
DALLAS, Tex, August 18.-
Scores of persons perished in the
West Indian hurricane that
swept Texas coast points, ac-
cording to roundabout reports
received here today from the
stricken district. Property dam
age will run into the millions.
Twelve soldiers, it is said, were
killed at Texas City, the regular
army camp near Galveston, and
thirty or forty civilians also are
reported dead.
Six deaths are reported from
Laporte, Tex, eight from Nor
gans Point and three from Syl-
van Beach.
Between fifty and sixty SOL
diers are said to have been injured
at Texas City.
Military rule has been estab-
ished at Texas City, and soldiers
are taking bodies from the water
as fast as they can be located.
Galveston Damage.
Disappointingly brief wireless re-
ports received from the army trans
port Buford by the station in Fort Sam
Houston, at San Antonio, gave only
the most meager account of conditions
at Galveston. No mention was made
Of loss of life, but report of de-
molished buildings along the water
front left the inference in the minds
of many that deaths resulted.
Reports from Houston brought by
trainmen late last night told of two or
ki11a1 a1fbonoh
ports declared there was no loss of
matter of the probable damage, at
Houston. Conflicting. reports as to
damage to property in Houston were
received. Some placed it at $1,000,Q00,
some at s5.000,000.
All reports early today indicated that
the force of the tropical storm had
spent.
which it was possible to communi-
cate reported a falling of the wind,
and it is believed recovery from the
storm would be speedy.
Prepare for Relief Work.
While no measures had been taken
for relief because the extent of the
needs of the distressed cities was not
known, the state officials announced
that they were prepared to take the
situation in hand and promptly extend
help where required.
That thousands of residents in the
coastal plains country about Port
Lavaca, a hundred miles west Of CAL
weston, are sufferers was said in re-
ports received here. The district is
one Of fruit and truck farms. and the
character of the country is such as to
offer full sweep to the gale. 1t was
feared considerable loss Of life may
have resulted.
A long distance telephone message
received today from Eagle Lake. Tex.
sixty miles west of Houston. said the
hurricane had completely subsided
there at II o'clock last night. There
had been some property damage at
Eagle Lake. but no loss of life reported
in that immediate vicinity. All means
of communication with Houston, it
was said, still was interrupted.
Transport Mcclellan Aground.
A wireless message received late yes
terday by Fort Sam Houston. at San
Antonio. told of the army transport
Mcclellan being left high and dry
half q mile inland. The tug Waverly
of the Gulf Steamship Company. which
had been towing the lost Guyton barge
No l. containing $1,000 barrels of oil,
arrived at Corpus Christi late last
night She had battled for thirty-three
hours with the storm in the Gulf of
Mexico and put into port in a battered
condition. 1t was believed the aggre-
gate damage to craft would be heavy.
Loss of Life Detailed.
WACO. Tex, August 1S.-A copy of
the sixth edition of the Houston
Chronicle Of Tuesday says:
Twelve soldiers were killed at Texas
City during last nights storm when
the Thompson building, a new three
story structure, collapsed. Eight were
killed by falling brick, while four
drowned later. About thirty or forty
civilians, many of them women and
children. also lost their lives
"Those killed were enlisted men and
no commissioned officers lost their
lives
military rule has been esta blished at
Texas City and the soldiers are fishing
corpses out of the water IS fast as they
can be located"
The first rumor to reach Houston was
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