TEXAS by Felix Conway

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 13, 1900

TEXAS

By Felix Conway

GALVESTON AND HOUSTON.— When Galveston is mentioned, the minds of the REVIEW readers will instantly revert to the awful destruction brought upon our Texas coast by the great hurricane of September 8.

I know our brethren elsewhere are anxious to know how our people here fared during the storm, and that they would also like to know how the brethren who survived the storm are now situated.

I would have reported the situation sooner, but have waited to hear from our people throughout the storm-stricken district.

The storm was terrific here at Houston, wrecking about three hundred houses, and greatly damaging several hundred more. It also did great damage to telegraph and telephone lines. Three lives were lost. The storm was much harder east and south of here, seeming to center about Galveston. It is impossible to describe the destruction brought upon that city by the wind and waves. The results of the storm are horrifying in the extreme.

Nine of our people perished in Galveston. Their names are as follows: Sister H. C. Travers and little boy, Sister B. A. Whitcomb and baby, Sister S. Loyd and two children, Sister M. V. Slatham, and Sister M. Marshal. We deeply mourn the loss of these dear sisters and these little lambs, but we hope to meet them again when the sea gives up her dead. None of our people perished on the mainland, but they suffered heavy loss of property, and some are in needy circumstances.

Being very anxious about our people in Galveston, I went there as soon as the strict martial law would admit me into the city. On my journey I found that the prairie for twenty miles inland was covered with all kinds of valuable property and débris, interspersed with carcasses. The human bodies along the public route had been previously buried, though there were still hundreds on the prairie. Some were picked up even a month later.

When I reached the island, I found that a large portion of the western part of the city had been entirely swept away, while the eastern and southern portions were swept clean for several blocks inland, the waves throwing up a high breastwork of débris. Had it not been for this storm-made fortification, I suppose the whole city would have been practically destroyed.

It is impossible to imagine the force of the waves. Think of railroads being swept from their beds, the rails being snapped and twisted as if they were cords! It would be useless for me to enter into details. One noticeable feature was the desolation of the church buildings, most of them being total wrecks, and those remaining, greatly damaged.

As I viewed the awful scene, beheld the sorrow depicted on hundreds of faces, and listened to the stories and heartbroken sobs of those who had lost dear ones in the storm, I felt heartsick, and thought of the final destruction soon to burst upon the world. As I write, the following passages of Scripture come to mind: Isa. 24:1–5; 26:5–10; Luke 21:25, 26; Ps. 148:8.

There are still a few of our people in Galveston to hold up the light of truth. The Lord is blessing the work of the message in Houston. There are now thirty-five Sabbath-keepers here.

FELIX CONWAY. 2717 Congress Ave., Houston, Tex.