The Great Galveston Disaster, Containing a Full and Thrilling Account of the Most Appalling Calamity of Modern Times Page: 204

204 DETAILS OF THE OVERWHELMING TRAGEDY.
ing stores and saloons particularly. The town was full of drunken
negroes Sunday morning at daylight.
"And the worst of it is that nearly all the soldiers were lost.
Of the detachment stationed at Galveston I don't believe there
are more than thirty left. At present the crying need of Galveston
is water and ice-and soldiers. The fresh water on the
island was ruined by the brine from the sea. The ice is needed
to prevent the decomposition of the corpses. The soldiers are
needed to keep down vandalism. And along this latter line I
want to say that the militia must come quickly. The negroes
should be sent to the cotton fields of north Texas. Those who
will work can be kept there, but the others should be sent away
just as soon as possible, for they merely eat up the supplies and
are a constant menace. They should either be killed or made to
get out, for one or the other is the grim necessity of the situation.
FLOATING BODIES IN THE BAY.
" As to the loss of life in Galveston, I can't figure it. We
counted ninety-three floating bodies on our way from the wharf
to Texas City. The prairies across the bay this side of Galveston
are covered with piles of cotton and wreckage of all descriptions-dead
bodies and the like.
"I got to Galveston at IO o'clock Saturday morning. My
wife and I took a car and started to the beach. The water was
rather high and we thought we would have a jolly good time
splashing around. When we got within five blocks of the beach
the motorman stopped his car and said that he could go no
further. We came back downtown and got on another car. This
time we could get within but seven blocks of the beach. This
shows you how fast the water was rising.
"We got back to the Santa Fe ticket office about I.30
o'clock. I made up my mind that I wanted to go over to the general
offices, but the water was in all the streets and I waited
awhile, hoping it would get lower. But at noon it was between
'knee and hip deep in front of the Santa Fe ticket office. At 2
o'clock my wife and I waded into the Washington Hotel.