gathered and laid away for good. The city is one awful stench of decaying animal matter. Nearly every animal on the island was killed, and the thousands of human remains still scattered beneath the vast piles of debris add to the danger of the situation. Too much time was lost in consigning the dead to the sea, and the workers were compelled by the exigencies of the situation to pile the corpses where found, and cremate them as well as this could be done.
PEOPLE DELAYED FLIGHT TOO LONG.
Oswald Wilson, editor of the Texan, who arrived with the refugees, says that the situation cannot be painted any blacker than it really is. Fully one-third of the city has been destroyed absolutely and every building damaged. He says that one reason that the loss of life was so excessive was due to the fact that they delayed leaving their homes until too late. The water rose rapidly for several hours until the centre of the city was six feet deep and the outlying section covered to a depth of over ten feet. The people of Galveston were accustomed to high water, although they had never witnessed so great an inundation, but their fears were calmed by the fact that during this period the wind had not risen above thirty miles an hour, and every year they had seen this condition during the equinoctial periods.
REALIZED THEIR PERIL TOO LATE.
Men waded about the city laughing at the rise of the water for hours, for the sea gradually encroached during the morning, and it was only when they realized the bay was forcing its contents to meet the tide from the Gulf that they lost their confidence that the present was but another attempt of the elements to create a disturbance, and seriously endeavored to reach a point of safety. Then it was too late, for the tide swirled in the streets and the wind had begun rapidly to increase in violence. It howled and screamed in great gusts, which increased in strength every minute, and one by one the houses along the Gulf front and in the Denver resurvey and about Fort Point began to go to pieces and pile one against the other.
The waters were filled with debris and the debris with men, women and children seeking to save their lives. Wading was impossible, save in the centre of the city, and the unfortunates were swept to and fro, dashed by the waves and bruised by the flying fragments, until death resulted in one form or another. Many were the deeds of heroism, but rescuers and all fell victims to the storm, for human efforts were unavailing.
MORE HORRORS DETAILED.
J. C. Roberts, of the firm of Behring Brothers, Houston, was sent to Galveston to learn of the family of his employers. His journey was arduous, for he was one of the first. Arriving in the city worn out, he entered a little drug store and asked for whisky. He was refused. A doctor was present and gave him a prescription for the stimulant. The druggist charged $2.50 for the whisky, and the doctor $5 for his services. He landed at Galveston at Twentieth street, and walked through dead bodies.
His description of the scenes is horrible in the extreme. The dead were everywhere. They were scattered on every hand, and nearly all in a complete state of nudity. He saw an Italian woman standing in the street holding in her hand the foot and leg of an infant severed from the little body. She was unclad, but alive and insane, and refused to leave the pile of debris which contained the remains of her little one.
Roberts witnessed one of the guards shoot five negro looters. He observed one of the men robbing a dead body. The man refused to desist and the guard shot him dead as he knelt on the sands. Four companions of the ghoul started to assault the guard, when he threw himself on his stomach, and, firing rapidly, killed them all.
NINETY NEGROES EXECUTED.
It is said that ninety negroes have been executed for robbery, and it is unsafe for any one to stir at night unless provided with a passport from the officer in charge. A description of the burning of the dead and the burial at sea is beyond reproduction. All sentiment is at an end. It has become a matter of self-protection and in order to avoid pestilence rapid disposal of the corpses is necessary. Several loads of lime have been sent from here, with other disinfectants. The people of Galveston have had no bread since the storm save what little has been sent from Houston. A cracker factory opened its doors Sunday and sold its entire contents in a short time. Some food was left after the storm, but this is rapidly being distributed.
Bonfires are burning all over the city. They are the funeral of a thousand festering corpses cast back upon the shore at high tide yesterday. Cremation has become a necessity to prevent an epidemic. The negroes refuse to work, and the townspeople are paralyzed with fright and suffering, or are making preparations to leave the doomed island.
The first train to carry refugees to Texas City, seven miles across the bay, was announced this morning, and since daylight a thousand men, women and children have been crowding into catboats, lifeboats, sloops, schooners and a single steamboat, the Lawrence, all bent on escaping from the city. Nearly all of them have lost some member of their families. The women wear no hats, are unkempt and ill-clad. They look as if haunted.
THE CITY OFFICIALS IN A LIVELY QUARREL.
The situation has gotten beyond the control of the authorities. The powers in control have been quarreling. Last night at 7 o’clock every citizen soldier under command of Major Fayling was called in, disarmed and mustered out of service. Chief of Police Ketchum then took charge, and the Major was relieved of his command. During an hour and a half the city was unguarded. Negro looters held high carnival.
As the Major’s work was unusually brilliant, the citizens are furious. This morning the situation from the police standpoint is improved. A hundred of the State militia of the Houston Light Guards, Houston Artillery and Houston Cavalry have arrived. They are patrolling the west end of the city. General McKibbin, Commander of the Department of the Gulf, and Adjutant General Scurry, of Texas, are on the ground, and are advising with Mayor Jones and the Chief of Police Ketchum.
In all other respects the city is worse off than on the morning after the tragedy. A terrible stench permeates the atmosphere. It comes from the bodies of a thousand unburied dead festering in the debris, that cannot be removed for weeks on account of the paucity of laborers. Every tide brings scores back to the shore. During the early part of yesterday trenches were dug and the bodies thrown into them, but it soon became an impossibility to bury all, and the health authorities decided upon cremation as an expedient.
WORK OF THE RELIEF COMMITTEE.
At a meeting of the Relief Committee held this morning reports were received from the various wards. The chairman called for armed men to assist in getting labor to bury the dead and clear the wreckage, and arrangements were made to supply this demand.
The situation in the city to-day
