“Greatest Tragedy of the Century” (Part 2): “Martial Law”

On September 12, 1900—four days after the Great Storm of 1900 decimated Galveston (see Part 1)—the headlines in the Fort Worth Register remained horrific:

galveston 12September 12.

12 letterSeptember 12.

galveston 13September 13.

galveston 14By September 14 there was some light amid the dark headlines: “Crisis Has Passed,” “Galveston School Houses in Good Condition,” “The Lawless Element Are Now Under Full Control.”

galveston 14 new siteAlso on September 14 the Register reported there was talk of rebuilding Galveston in a safer location.

Ultimately, of course, Galveston stayed put and rose from the dead. Literally. The city pumped sand from the gulf floor to raise the grade of parts of the city as much as seventeen feet. This massive engineering project entailed elevating 2,146 buildings (including a three-thousand-ton church) and streetcar tracks, fireplugs, and water pipes. A six-mile-long seawall standing seventeen feet above mean low tide also was built. Bricks for the seawall and adjacent boulevard came from Thurber.

galveston 14 fwCities around Texas and around the country responded to the needs of Galveston. Local newspapers also reported on the status of friends and family as it became known.

galveston 14 death listThis grim list was a recurring part of Galveston coverage in the Register. Note that entire families were killed. At an orphanage near the beach ten nuns and ninety children were killed. People continued to find bodies into the next year.

It is human nature to try to enumerate the innumerable, to try to quantify the suffering, to count the people killed, the people displaced, the financial loss wreaked.

Before the hurricane Galveston was a handsome, progressive seaport of thirty-seven thousand people—fourth-largest city in Texas (1. San Antonio, 2. Houston, 3. Dallas). The hurricane killed an estimated eight thousand. Most of those who survived were rendered homeless.

Financial loss: $104 billion in today’s dollars. Hurricane Katrina, for comparison, was $113 billion.

The Great Storm of 1900 remains America’s deadliest natural disaster.

I have a copy of the book The Complete Story of the Galveston Horror, rushed into print before the end of 1900. Some of its illustrations:

galveston book crematinggalveston book burial at seagalveston book debris 2galveston book debris 1

galveston book 2-panel

Posts about weather:

“Greatest Tragedy of the Century” (Part 1): “Dead Outnumbers the Living”
Winter 1930: Lake Worth Ice Capades
Deja Brrr: The Deep Freeze of Fifty-One

Texas Toast: The Summers of 1980 and 2011
The Flood of 1889: The First of the Big Four
Double Trouble: The Twofer Flood of 1915
From Beneficial to Torrential: The Flood of Twenty-Two
The Flood of Forty-Nine: People in Trees, Horses on Roofs
Deja Deluge: Forty Years On, the Flood of 1989

 

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One Response to “Greatest Tragedy of the Century” (Part 2): “Martial Law”

  1. Colleen Pyles Godley, Tx says:

    Unbelieveably horrendous and sad. I suppose we will always have looters after a disaster…or an “incident”.

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