The Great Galveston Disaster, Containing a Full and Thrilling Account of the Most Appalling Calamity of Modern Times Page: 509
xiv, 17-536 p. : front., plates ; 24 cm.View a full description of this book.
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GREAT STORMS AN)D VAST I)ESTRiCTION.
Johnson is a young man about 25 years of age. He -^
bony young fellow, and, aside from being a fine specimen of manhood,
he enjoys the distinction of being the double of a wellknown
prize-fighter. Beckway is about 20 years of age, and is a
perfect specimen of a vigorous, healthy young Englishman. Both
Johnson and Beckway are employes of the Galveston Cotton
Exchange, and have been for a long time. They both have occupied,
as a sleeping apartment, a little room located in the northwest
corner of the Exchange building, situated about fifteen feet
above the ground.
SLEPT AND WERE SAVED.
As has been their wont for some time, Johnson and Beckway
retired to bed on Saturday evening, September 8, I9oo, about 7
o'clock P. M., central time, and, as far as they are able to state,
they must have gone to sleep very sooii tlierctafter. Be that as it
may, howevNer, what happened to the Cotton Exchange building
on that night is a part of the history of the storm. It was ren-dered
unfit for use as an Exchange. A portion of the roof was
torn away; windows were smashed and floors flooded with water,
but Johnson and Beckway were not for one minute disturbed in
their sleep.
Just thirty feet by the tape line from their downy couch, two
three-story buildings went down with a crash that almost shook
the island, burying a number of men beneath bricks and timbers,
and as many of the victims after the collapse could be heard
beneath the debris calling for help, every man in the vicinity
went to work in an effort to rescue the unfortunate; and the howling
of the storm, the cries of workingmen and calling of poor
men beneath the debris caused a tremendous hubbub in the vicinity.
But the whole thing seemed to have acted as a sort of lullaby
for Johnson and Beckway, for their sleep was not in any way disturbed.
The wind, with a velocity of over Ioo miles an hour,
tore through the city with a roar and a crash never to be forgotten
by those who were in it, carrying death and destruction before
it. The water rose some inches in the Cotton Exchange, but
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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/m1/567/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.