Читать книгу The Great Galveston Disaster - Paul Lester - Страница 30

Table of Contents

It was found to be impossible to send bodies to sea for burial. The water receded so far, however, that it was possible to dig trenches, and bodies were being buried where found. Debris covering bodies was being burned where it could be done safely.

Work on the water works was rushed, and it was hoped to be able to turn a supply on in the afternoon.

Outside of Galveston smaller towns were beginning to send in reports as telegraphic communication improved, and many additions to the list of the dead and property losses were received. Richmond and Hitchcock each reported sixteen lives lost. Alto Loma, Arcadia, Velasco, Seabrooke, Belleville, Areola and many other towns had from one to eight dead. In most of these places many houses were totally destroyed and thousands of head of live stock killed.

The railroads alone suffered millions of dollars in actual damage, to say nothing of the loss from stoppage of business. The International and Great Northern and Santa Fe had miles of track washed out, and the bridges connecting Galveston with the mainland must be entirely rebuilt.

The following is the description of an eye-witness on September 11: “Galveston is almost wiped off the earth. Fifteen thousand persons are homeless. The loss of life will reach into the thousands. Bodies are piled everywhere.

“When daylight broke over the expanse of floating bodies, rubbish heaps and ruins were all that remained of the prosperous city. A few leading citizens assembled in several feet of water at a street corner and called a meeting at the Tremont Hall, to which they adjourned. A committee of Public Safety of fifteen leading citizens was formed, and Colonel J. H. Hawley, one of the best known men in Texas, was made chairman. He, with Mayor Walter C. Jones and Chief of Police Edward Ketchum, formed a triumvirate, with absolute power, and declared the city under martial law.