The complete story of the Galveston horror (1900)

Author: Coulter, John
Subject: Storms
Publisher: [Chicago, J.H. Moore & Co.]
Language: English
Digitizing sponsor: Brigham Young University
Book contributor: Harold B. Lee Library

THE GALVESTON HORROR.
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.
THE frightful West Indian hurricane which descended
upon the beautiful, prosperous and progressive, but illfated,
city of Galveston, on Saturday, September 8, 1900,
causing the loss of many thousands of lives and the
destruction of millions of dollars' worth of property, and
then ravaged Central and Western Texas, killing several
hundred people and inflicting damage which cost millions
to repair, has had no parallel in history.
When the gale approached the island upon which Galveston
it situated, it lashed the waves of the Gulf of Mexico
into a tremendous fury, causing them to rise to all but
mountain height, and then it was that, combining their
forces, the wind and water pounced upon their prey.
In the short space of four hours the entire site of the
city was covered by angry waters, while the gale blew at
the rate of one hundred miles an hour; business houses,
public buildings, churches, residences, charitable institutions,
and all other structures gave way before the
pressure of the wind and the fierce onslaught of the
raging flood, and those which did not crumble altogether
were so injured, in the majority of cases, that they were
torn down.
Such a night of horror as the unfortunate inhabitants
were compelled to pass has fallen to the lot of few since
the records of history were first opened. In the early
evening, when the water first began to invade Galveston
Island, the people residing along the beach and near it.......Read more