The Great Galveston Disaster, Containing a Full and Thrilling Account of the Most Appalling Calamity of Modern Times Page: 234
xiv, 17-536 p. : front., plates ; 24 cm.View a full description of this book.
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CHAPTER XII.
Thrilling Narratives by Eye-witnesses-Path of the Storm's
Fury Through Galveston-Massive Heaps of RubbishHuge
Buildings Swept into the Gulf.
AT GALVESTON on that fatal Saturday_ night there were
deaths far more horrible than any of which even a Sienkiewicz
could conceive. Mothers and babes, fathers and
husbands, were hurled headlong into the world beyond without a
chance to make peace with their Maker, vith a farewell kiss or
a last fond embrace. Upon every hand t9e dead were piled up like
drift-wood cast up by the sea, even as they were at Waterloo and
Gettysburg and behind Kitchener in the Soudan. The bodies of
men that the day before were perfect specimens of physical development
were swollen and discolored by the fierce rays of the autumn
sun, and were food for flies and maggots which buzzed or crawled
hither and thither unceasingly. In the bay the sharks were overfed,
and on the prairies the buzzards could no longer be tempted.
If those who live far from the awful scene of woe, believe that
this is over-drawn, let them ask the pale-faced nerve-racked refugees,
from that terrible place, and they will be told that it is impossible
for either pen or brush to give the picture as it is. The photographer,
with all his art, stands baffled. The artist, with all his
talent, is incompetent. The newspaper man, accustomed to the
dark side of life, shudders and turns from description to the work
of reciting details, horrible enough in themselves, but far more
pleasant.
There arrived in Dallas a score or more of men who told of
decomposed bodies, and mlaggots and flies and starvation and distress
until their hearers rushed away in horror. Some of these
heart-breaking tales are given herewith.
Ed. A. Gebhard of The Dallas News came in from Texas
City. He said:
"Among the many stories of the Galveston disaster I have
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The Great Galveston Disaster, Containing a Full and Thrilling Account of the Most Appalling Calamity of Modern Times (Book)
This book covers the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, the United States' deadliest natural disaster. It includes accounts from survivors and eyewitnesses, and photos of the devastation.
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Lester, Paul. The Great Galveston Disaster, Containing a Full and Thrilling Account of the Most Appalling Calamity of Modern Times, book, 1900~; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth26719/m1/288/: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.