The Great Galveston Disaster, Containing a Full and Thrilling Account of the Most Appalling Calamity of Modern Times Page: 375
xiv, 17-536 p. : front., plates ; 24 cm.View a full description of this book.
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DIED IN EFFORTS TO SAVE OTHERS. 375
The winds dipped and seized the debris and hurled it on.
The air was filled with missiles of every kind. The water held
them and threw them from wave to wave. The winds grasped
them as they were thrown and hurled them further. Stoves, bath
tubs, sewing machines, slates from roofs-these were as light in
the hand of the two giants, wind and water, now in their fury, as
the common match would be in the hand of the strong man.
From the northeast it is generally conceded the storm came.
Galveston island runs nearly east and west. So it will be seen
that it had a clean sweep from end to end of it. The streets are
numbered across the island. They are lettered as they run with
the island, east and west. For instance, the street running east
and west nearest the bay is A street. Then there is B, and so
on toward the Gulf. P and Q streets may be said to be two-thirds
across the island, that is to say, they are three-quarters of a mile
from the bay and a quarter of a mile from the Gulf. This is not
an accurate statement and is only given to illustrate. Between
Q street and the Gulf were hundreds and hundreds of houses.
While many were fine mansions, the great majority of them were
the houses of the poor.
HAMMERED INTO SHAPELESS MASSES.
Coming down the island from the east, the storm struck
these habitations.
It was in this area, east and west, from one end of the town
to the other, it did its worst. The large houses were overthrown.
Where they fell they were hammered into shapeless masses. The
small ones were taken up. A man can take two eggs and mash
them against each other. The waters took the remnants and
pushed them forward. One street of buildings would go down.
That would be next to the Gulf. The timbers were hurled against
another street. It would go down. The debris of the two would
attack the third. The three would attack the fourth, and thus
on till Q street was reached. Here the mass lodged.
It is said by some, though I know nothing of it, that about
it is the back-bone, or high part of the island. The great mass
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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/m1/433/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.