THE GALVESTON DISASTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2433, 31 October 1900, Page 9

THE GALVESTON DISASTER.

A NIGHT OF TERROR.

(Per Moana, at Auckland.)

Galveston*s cry that she had been overwhelmed by. the disaster of the century was only too sadly verified. The work of restoring the stricken city to some semblance of order was necessarily slow owing to the completeness of the devastation. More than 5000 bodies of dead were identified, and these were cremated or buried as fast as possible that the living might be guarded from the clanger of pestilence, which was feared for a time. Aid for sufferers poured in from all parts of the United States, and special trains were rushed to the devastated district as early as possible. A late report i:>uis the number of dead at 12.000, and the loss of properly at 20 million dollars.

Richard Spillane, a well-known Galveston newspaper man and day correspondent of the Associated Press in that city, gives the following account of the disaster : — The wreck of Galveston was brought about by a tein pest so terrible that no words can adequately describe- its intensity, and by a flood which turned the city into a raging sea. The weather bureau records shows that the wind attained a velocity of 34 miles an hour, -nhe.i the recording instrument blew away, so it i& impossible to tell what was the maximum." The storm began about 2 o'clock on Saturday morning. Previous to that a great storm had been raging in the gulf, and the tide was very high. The wind at first came irom the north, and was in direct opposition to the force from the gti]f. While the storm in the gulf piled the water upon the beach side of the city, the north wind piled the water from the bay on to +he bay part of the city. About noon ie became evident that the city was going to be visited with disaster. Hundreds of residences along the beach front were hurriedly abandoned, the families fleeing to dwelling? in highei portions of the city. Every home was op.ened to the refugees, black or white. The wind was rising constantly, and the rain lell in torrents. The wind was so fierce t^at the rain cut like a knife. By 3 o'clock the wate-s of the o'ulf a nd bay met, and by dark the pntitc city v,-ap submerged. The flooding ol the electric lighh plant and gas x^lants left, the city in darkness. To go out into the streets" was to court death. The wind was then at cyclonic velocity. Rooms, cis terns, portions- of buildings, telegraph poles, and walls were falling, and the noise of the Avincl and the crashing of buildings was terrilying in the extreme.

The wind and waters ro&e fteadily from dark until 1.45 o'clock on Sunday morning. During all this time the people of Galveston were like rats in a trap The highest portion of the city was 4ft to sft under wate", while in the great majority of cases the streets were submerged to a depth of 10ft. To leave the house was to drown, to remain was to court death in the wreckage. Such a night of agony has seldom been equalled. Without apparent reason, the waters began to subside at 1.45 a.m. ; within two minutes they had gone down 2ft, and before daylight the streets were practically fvecd of the flood waters. In the meantime the wind had veered to the eouUi-eafiti YSSY. * e Wi it any, buildings gg-

cuped injury. There is hardly a habitable dry house in the city.

When the people who had escaped death went out at daylight to view the work of the tempest and the floods they saw the mosl horrible sight imaginable. In the three blocks from Avenue N to Avenue P in Tremont street I saw eight bodies. Four corpses were in one yard.

The whole of the business front for the blocks in from the gulf was stripped of every vestige of habitation — the dwellings, the great bathing establishments, the Olympia, and every structure^ having been either carried out to sea or its ruins piled in a pyramid far into the town, according to the vagaries of tho tempest. The life-saving station of Fort Point was carried away, the crew being swept across the bay 14- miles to Texas City. Eight persons who were swept across the bay during the storm were picked up there alivs. Eight ocean steamers" were" torn from /their & moorings and stranded in the bay. Some schooners, barges, and smaller craft are strewn bottom side ur> along the piers. A despatch dated" the 4th says:— The Galveston horror proved immensely more destructive to life and property than was at first apprehended by the half dozen survivors. The site of the city is valuable, and the harbour is the only one available in that region, else it is likely that the town would never be rebuilt, so complete was the destruction. It has been estimated that the damage to the Texas cotton crop during the storm will amount to 20 million dollars, and the clisKsler all told is almost incomprehensible. The city of Galveston is bankrupt, and will be a heavy load for the State of Texas to bear, despite the prompt assistance from outside.

The height of the storm came about midnight, after a terrible day, and in the darkness people lost their children and children their parentb. or else they were drowned with their dear ones clasped in their arms. Thousands of tho-e who escaped alive Mere wounded, and all the survivors suffered from exposure, and were half-crazed by their experiences.

A telegram from Galveston to San Fran-ci-co, dated September 13. says: — Galveston is beginning slowly to recover from the stunning blow, and though the city appears desolated, the authorities and commercial and industrial interests are setting their forces to work, and a start has at least been made towards tho resumption of business on a moderate scale. Here and there business men have already nut men to work to repair damage done, but in the main the commercial interests, seem to be unable to follow the lead of thoao who show faith in the rapid rehabilitation of the island city. The bulk of the population is only temporarily panic-stricken, and there are hosts of those who helped to make Galveston prosperous who look upon the catastrophe as involving only a temporary halt in the advancement of the city. The Relief Committee is striving to systematise its work, and there is undoubtedly distress here which ought to be relieved. Weazenfaced, bare-footed children were engaged yesterday in the streets in eagerly, appropriating spoiled and cast-off stocks of food. The committee has instructed the local drug stores to provide the-poor and needy with medicines at the expense of the relief fund.

Bronchitis and stubborn Coughs yield quickly to the effects of TUSSIOURA. Try