The Great Galveston Disaster, Containing a Full and Thrilling Account of the Most Appalling Calamity of Modern Times Page: 208

208 DETAILS OF THE OVERWHVELMING TRAGEDY.
undertaking establishments had been crowded with the dead, that
it would be impossible to handle them in this way. Barges were
employed and into them the wagons unloaded the bodies, which
were taken to the bay and there deposited. It can be safely said
that there is not a single house in the entire town that has not
been badly damaged in some way and there are whole families who
will never be heard from again.
"Looting and vandalism are rife upon the island. The few
,soldiers they have are exhausted and unable to properly guard the
(city, and in my estimation the State troops should be sent there
:at once. Cases of where the fingers of women had been cut off so
:as to deprive them of their rings and their ears cut to get the ear-rings
are common. It is a hard matter to get a negro to assist in
-any way in burying the dead, as they all seem to be very much
:interested in accumulating all the wealth they can possibly get
from the dead and from the wreckage.
WHITE MEN AND NEGROES PLUNDER TOGETHER.
"They are not alone in this, but I am sorry to say that white
men are side by side with them in their damnable work. Women
could be seen on the first morning after the flood with baskets
over their arms taking everything they could possibly pick up,
without regard to whom it belonged to or what its value might be.
What the city needs most, in my estimation, is pure water, food
and able-bodied men who are willing to work, so the bodies can be
-removed from the wreckage and carried from the island and the
,carcasses of animals be burned or disposed of as quickly as possi'ble.
Whatever is to be done should be done at the earliest posble
moment, as provisions are scarce and it is next to impossible
to get fresh water. The sewerage system is also choked, and this
combined with the stenches from decaying animal matter makes
it almost impossible for people to exist for many days.
"Immediately on my arrival here a meeting of the Woodmen
was called and $200 in cash subscribed and turned over to me, and
,about $300 more pledged to be placed in my hands on demand.
All camps throughout the State are requested to immediately call