p. 9 | A TERRIBLE VISITATION

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Sep 26, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 39.

A TERRIBLE VISITATION.

ONE of the most fearful calamities of modern times has just befallen the city of Galveston, Texas, and the wreck and ruin have reached out far toward the interior of the State. A hurricane which visited the West Indies on September 7 arrived in the Gulf of Mexico on the following day, driving before it a veritable tidal wave, which engulfed the entire island on which Galveston is situated. A strong wind from the north piled up the waters of the bay on the shoreward side of the island, and between the two contending forces the city of Galveston became a raging sea, the waves and the hurricane uniting to rack and beat to pieces every building that was not of the most substantial character. The storm continued from the evening of the 8th till the morning of the 10th, completely wrecking upwards of 4,000 buildings, and burying many of their occupants. The number of dead will never be accurately known, for hundreds of bodies have been carried out to sea. Many of these are being washed up on the beach along the coast, but others will never be found. Barge loads of the dead have been taken out into the gulf and thrown overboard, and many others have been cremated in piles of débris, as the number of dead is so great as to make ordinary burial impossible. It is estimated that as many as 5,000 persons lost their lives in Galveston alone, while scores, if not hundreds, were drowned or killed in towns on the mainland. The railroad bridges and wagon bridges connecting the city with the shore have been completely demolished, and all the wharves and docks and grain elevators have been destroyed. The property loss will amount to many millions of dollars. Soldiers have been sent to the scene, and the whole island has been placed under martial law. Human ghouls have busied themselves in stripping the dead of clothing and valuables, and have not hesitated to hack off the swollen fingers of the dead to secure the rings they wore. An urgent appeal for help has been sent out by the governor of the State, and liberal responses are being made from many quarters. The storm is spending its fury along a line from Texas to the Great Lakes.