Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1915-08-18

ieLL SL%N4lnS IN LItdL pace
| Houston is reported to have suffered
damage variousIy estimated at from
one to five million dollars but only two
lives are reported lost there
The storm is said to have done little
damage along The coast from Corpus
! Christi to Brownsville and no lives
are reported lost in that district.
No word mas been received this at
EernoOu from Beaumont
/ Reports from San Antonio were that
Point Isabel reported yesterday as
being flooded. was safe
Great Loss at Galveston
+ Houston, Texas, Aug. is via Temple
and telephone TO Dallas THE Hous-
ton Chronicle prints the following in
terview with J. r. Montgomery. 81
. Houston correspondent Of the Calves
ton News, who got as far as Virginia
+ Point the north end Of the caUseway,
Wednesday, ana viewed the wrecked
city of Galveston:
Il am confident the number of dead
. in Galveston is large. I could not see
an elevator on the port side of the city
and my opinion is that the number Of
buildings destroyed viii run into thou
sands
7 believe the property loss viii be-
+ greater than that of 1900
Montgomery made his way to the
draw bridge Of the Galveston causewav
and owing 10 the fact that the draw
bridge was swept away he was forced
TO return TO Houston in an automobile.
We encountered indescribable con-
didons,' he said. The road bridges at
F Clear creek and Dickinson were wash
ed out and we ran our automobile over
the railroad bridges and across the
ties.
eve saw thousands of bales Of cot
ton on the prairias all the way from
/ Virginia Point lthe mainland end Of
( the Galveston causewayJ to the town Of
La Marque, far inland These were
washed from Galveston docks by the
great tidal wave.
THE water must have been severed
/ feet over the cauaeWaE and serious
damage must have been done by -he
+ washing out of large quantities of fu-+
+ ing i'm the center"
Sees Thousands Dead Animals.
7 The Chronicle also reported that Il
+ received information that so persons
are dead at Texas City but accounts
for only II soldiers who persisted when
/ the Thompson building at Texas CITY
collapsed It is said these were all.
private soldiers, no commissioned Of
dcers having lost their lives.
The railroad draw bridge has been
washed away at seabrook, about 20
miles from Houston. Three persons
T are reported to have lost their lives at
that point.
Mr. Montgomery described condl- i
tons along the prairie similar 10 those
that obtained in the 1900 storm.
We saw thousands of dead animals
along the way" be said.
He said that he could see the build
tngs at Fort Crockett and ali seemed
unchanged. He could recognize some
of the tall buildings in the city, with
which he was familiar but was most
impressed with the gravity of the sit .
uatjon by the fact that the grain ele- !
vators were gone.
Houston Heavily Hit.
Houston, Texas, Aug "a, Thy mail T
to Dallas, aug. l8)-Though only one
person, a negro, lost his life Houston .
has sustained a loss estimated at from
two TO five million dollars in the worst
tropical storm in the history OF the /.
Texas coast. Not a single business
house. not a single residence escaped /
damage and at 4:30 this morning. .
when the storm reached its height the
barometer fell to 2S.2I the third low
est reading in the history OF the world. .
At that time wind puffs attained the
terrific velocity Of 90 miles an hour.
Five Thousand Refugees.
Five thousand refugees from Gal /
weston are in Houston, coming over /
on special iuterurbans and trains dur /
ing Monday afternoon after storm .
warnings had been issued. 1t is +
thought here that Galveston's sea wall I
and causeway acted as buffers and pre- /
vented wholesale destruction of hui I
man life Notwithstanding. gravest
apprehension is expressed. and Hous- /
ton, in spite Of it's own disaster, fears .
lor its sister city.
The storm here ragged without inter I
mission from 7:30 p. m. to a m The I
wind blew from all directions. whip .
ping from the south to north and from (
east to west.
Two furniture concerns alone have .
losses amounting to $250,000, due to .
broken plate glass windows which let 4
into their stores seven and half inch /
es rain.
This was the largest 24-hour rain in
the history Of Houston The storm is
thought 10 have struck the mainland
between Houston and Galveston, pos
sibly visiting its full fury on Houston.
Cotton Crop Hard Hit.
Austin, Texas. Aug. f8--DamaEe
which viii run into millions Of dollars
has been done 10 the cotton crop il