Chapter I: Preface

In presenting to the people of this country and the world a chronicle of the frightful visitation of hurricane and flood upon the beautiful and enterprising City of Galveston, which unparalleled calamity occurred on September 8, 1900, the Publishers wish to say that the utmost care has been taken to make the record of the catastrophe complete in every particular.

No expense has been spared to obtain the facts; the illustrations contained in the work are from photographs taken by artists on the spot; the experiences of survivors were obtained from the victims themselves, their language being faithfully reported, while what they wrote is reproduced without a single change being made.

The situation in the stricken City of Galveston is portrayed day by day exactly as it existed, and is not the product of imaginings of writers who put down what the conditions should have been; the storm has been followed from its inception, just south of the island of San Domingo, to Galveston, through Texas and then along its course until it disappeared in the broad Atlantic off the Eastern coast; the horrors of the gale, the cruel killing of thousands by the winds and waters, the wrecking of thousands of buildings and the drowning of helpless men, women and children, are all given in graphic and picturesque language.

The fearful mutilation of the dead by the ghouls and vandals who afterward despoiled the corpses of their valuables and the swift vengeance which followed these unutterable crimes when the troops shot the vampires and harpies by the score, are told in the most vivid way; the disposal of the dead by casting their bodies into the sea, burying them hastily in the sands along the beach or cremating them by burning upon vast funeral pyres erected in the principal streets of the city are painted in the ghastly colors of truth; the wave of insanity which swept over the city and claimed hundreds who had escaped the perils of the deluge and the hurricane is set forth most graphically.

What caused the mighty elemental disturbance, the possibilities of its recurrence and the danger which constantly hangs over other seacoast cities are given in detail; the pestilential conditions set up in Galveston by the catastrophe, the panic-stricken people flying from the scene of death and desolation, the horrible spectacle of hundreds of dead bodies floating in Galveston bay and the Gulf of Mexico, the generous response of the people of the United States to the appeal for help--these are pictured with minuteness.

Nothing is wanting to make this work reliable and correct; it contains a full list of the identified dead, which is a feature no other publication has been able to do; in short, it is the story, well and accurately told, of a disaster which has not its like since the world began.

The Publishers are confident this volume will meet the approval of the country.

THE PUBLISHERS.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Preface 4

CHAPTER I.
West Indian Hurricane Descends Upon Galveston, Causing Immense
Losses of Life and Property--Catastrophe Unparalleled in the
History of the World--A Night of Horrors and Suffering 33

CHAPTER II.
Sad Scenes in All Parts of the Ruined City--Corpses Everywhere--
A Sombre, Solemn Sunday--People Apathetic, Dejected and
Heartbroken 51

CHAPTER III.
Crowds of Refugees at Houston--Fed and Housed in Tents--Regular
Soldiers Drowned--Government Property Lost--Fears for
Galveston's Future 64

CHAPTER IV.
Thrilling Experiences of People During the Great Storm--
Eighty-five Persons Perish by Being Blown from a Train--
Adventures of Survivors at Galveston 89

CHAPTER V.
Relief Sent from All Parts of the World as Soon as the True
Situation of Affairs Was Made Known--Millions of Dollars
Subscribed and Thousands of Carloads of Supplies Forwarded to
the Desolated City 117

CHAPTER VI.
Cremating Bodies by the Hundreds in the Streets of Galveston--
Negroes Faint While Handling the Decayed Corpses--How Some of
Those Rescued Escaped with Their Lives 133

CHAPTER VII.
Lives Lost and Property Damage Sustained Outside of Galveston--
One Thousand Victims and Millions of Value in Crops Swept
Away--Estimates Made 149

CHAPTER VIII.
Business Resumed at Galveston in a Small Way on the Sixth Day
After the Catastrophe--"Galveston Shall Rise Again"--How the
City Looked on Saturday, One Week After the Flood 159

CHAPTER IX.
Galveston Nine Days After--Great Changes Apparent--Life in a
Business Exhibited--Systematic Efforts to Obtain Names of the
Dead 172

CHAPTER X.
Magnitude of the Relief Necessary--Twenty Thousand Persons
to Be Clothed and Fed--System of Relief Organization--How the
Storm Effected Trade 180

CHAPTER XI.
Insanity Follows Frightful Sufferings of the Poor Victims--
Five Hundred Demented Ones--Indifferent to the Loss of
Relatives 188

CHAPTER XII.
Serious Danger from Fire--Scarcity of Boats to Carry People
to the Main Land--Laborers Imported into Galveston--Untold
Sufferings on Bolivar Island--Experience of a Chicago Man 196

CHAPTER XIII.
Two Women Tell How They Were Affected at Galveston--One
Arrived After the Catastrophe, While the Other Was in the
Storm from Beginning to End 206

CHAPTER XIV.
Twenty Thousand People Fed Every Day at a Cost of $40,000--
Incidents at the Relief Stations--Applicants and Their
Peculiarities--Great Mortality Among the Negroes 216

CHAPTER XV.
Total Dead and Missing at Galveston and Vicinity 8,661--Five
Million Dollars in Relief Necessary to Carry the Survivors
Through the Fall and Winter to Spring 246

CHAPTER XVI.
Galveston's Inhabitants Refuse to Heed the Lessons Taught by
Their Experiences--Carelessness in Failing to Provide Against
the Recurrence of Catastrophes 261

CHAPTER XVII.
Galveston's Storm Flies Over the United States and Does Great
Damage--Many Lives Lost--It Finally Disappears in the Atlantic
Ocean 267

CHAPTER XVIII.
The World Not So Heartless as Supposed--People Give Generously
to Aid the Suffering--A Social Phenomenon--Value of the United
States Weather Bureau 271

CHAPTER XIX.
Galveston Island Directly in the Path of Storms, With No Way of
Escape--What is the City's Future?--All Coast Cities in
Danger--New York Will Be Flooded--Hurricane Foretold--
Galveston's Settlement--Storm Will Recur 281

CHAPTER XX.
Comparisons Between the Galveston and Johnstown Disasters--The
Latter Not So Horrible in Its Features--Frightful Plight of the
Texas Victims 294

CHAPTER XXI.
Great Calamities Caused by Flood and Gale During Past Century--
Millions of Lives Lost Through the Fury of the Elements 299

CHAPTER XXII.
Overwhelming of Johnston, Pa., by the Waters from Conemaugh
Lake--One of the Most Peculiar Happenings in History--Actual
Number of Deaths Will Never Be Known--About Twenty-five
Hundred Bodies Found 321

CHAPTER XXIII.
Not More Than Half the Bodies of Victims Identified--Hundreds
of Corpses of the Unknown and Nameless Cast Into the Sea--
Others Buried in the Sand and Cremated--List of Identifications 361

THE GALVESTON HORROR.