Daily New Dominion

APPALLING DISASTER.

More Than 2,500 Lives Blotted Out In Texas.

WORST HURRICANE EVER KNOWN.

Four Thousand Residences In Galveston Destroyed-Vessels Driven Ashore-Railroad and Wire Communication Shut Off Property Damage Cannot Be Estimated.

Austin, Tex. Sept. 10.-Information has just reached me that about 3,000 lives have been lost at Galveston, with enormous destruction of property. No information from other points.

Joseph D. Sayers, Governor.

Houston. Tex., Sept. 10.-The west Indian storm which reached the gulf coast Saturday morning wrought awful havoc in Texas. Reports are conflicting. but it is known that an appalling disaster has befallen the city of Galveston, where it is reported, thousands of lives have been blotted out and a tremendous property damage incurred. Meager reports from Sabine Pass and Port Arthur also indicate a heavy loss of life. but these reports cannot be confirmed at this hour.

The first news to reach this city from the stricken city of Galveston was received tonight. James C. Timmins. who resides in Houston and who is the general superintendent of the National Compress Company. arrived in the city at 8 o'clock tonight from Galveston. He was one of the first to reach here with tidings of the general disaster which has befallen that city and the magnitude of that disaster remains to be told because of his endeavors to reach home. After remaining through the hurricane on Saturday he departed from Galveston on a schooner and came across the bay to Morgans Point, where he caught a train for Houston. The hurricane. Mr. Timmins said, was the worst ever known.

The estimate made by citizens of Galveston was that 4,000 houses, most of them residences. have been destroyed and that at least 3,000 people have been drowned. killed or are missing. Some business houses were also destroyed. but most of them stood, though badly damaged.

Galveston a Complete Wreck.

The city, Mr. Timmins avers, is a complete wreck. so far as he could see from the water front and from the Tremont hotel. Water was blown over the island by the hurricane. the wind blowing at the rate of 80 miles an hour straight from the gulf and forcing the sea water before it in big waves. The gale was a steady one, the heart of it striking the city about 5 o'clock Saturday evening and continuing without intermission until midnight. when it abated somewhat, although it continued to blow all night.

Of his own knowledge Mr. Timmins knew of only one house succumbing with fatal results. though he heard of many residences being carried away with inmates. The house that he saw destroyed was Ritter's saloon and restaurant at 2109 Strand street, a principal business street of the city. This three story building was blown down and nine men-prominent citizens-were killed.

It was reported that the orphan asylum and both the hospitals were destroyed. and, if this proves true. the loss of life will be great. as these institutions were generally crowded and as they were substantial buildings. the chances are that many had taken refuge in them.

The water extended across the island. Mr. Timmins said it was three feet deep in the rotunda of the Tremont hotel and was six feet deep in Market street

Along the water front the damage was very great. The roofs had been blown from all the elevators. and the sheds along the wharves were either wrecked or had lost their sides and were of no protection to the contents. Most of the small sailing craft were wrecked and were either piled up on the wharves or floating bottom side up in the bay. There is a small steam ship ashore three miles north of Pelican Island. but Mr. Timmins could not distinguish her name. She was flying a British flag. Another big vessel has been driven ashore at Virginia Point. and still another is aground at Texas City. At the south point of Houston island an unknown ship lies in a helpless condition. The lightship that marks Galveston bar is hard and fast aground at Bolivar Point.

All Bemoaning Their Losses.

A wreck of a vessel which looked like a large steam tug was observed just before the party landed. In the bay the carcasses of nearly 200 horses and mules were seen. but no human body was visible The scenes during the storm. Mr. Timmins. said. could not be described. Women and children were crowded into the Tremont hotel. where he was seeking shelter. and all night these unfortunates were bemoaning their losses of kindred and fortune. They were grouped about the stairways and in the galleries and rooms of the hotel. What was occurring in other parts of the city he could only conjecture.

The city of Galveston, he says, is now entirely submerged and cut off from communication. The boats are gone: the railroads cannot be operated and the water is so high people cannot walk out by way of the bridge across the bay. even should that bridge be standing.

Provisions will be badly needed, as a great majority of the people lost all they had The water works power house was wrecked and a water famine is threatened. as the cisterns were all ruined by the overflow of salt water. This. Mr. Timmins regards as the most serious problem to be faced now. The city is in darkness. the electric plant having been ruined.

There is no way of estimating the property damage at present. So far as he could see or hear, Mr. Timmins says the east end portion of the city. which is the residence district. has been practically wiped out of existence. On the west end. which faces the gulf on another portion of the island. much havoc was done. The beach has been swept clean, the bath houses are destroyed and many of the residences are
total wrecks.

Houston, Tex.. Sept. 10.- At Walter half the houses in the town were demolished. The South Texas Baptist college is badly damaged and the schoolhouse is a wreck.

Not a house in the town of Chappel Hill escaped damage. and many were demolished. Business houses also suffered and a fine gin is a complete wreck.

At Brenham the courthouse was nearly wrecked and the city hall completely so. Every business and residence house suffered to a greater or less extent. The fire apparatus is under the ruins of the city hall. and a guard is maintained for fire duty.

At Houston stores were unroofed and residences destroyed. At Rock Island the Baptist church was totally wrecked and several residences unroofed.

At Eagle Lake the damage amounts to $350,000 to the rice and cotton crops and to residences.

At Altair fruit trees were blown out of the ground and residences leveled.

At Rosenberg. in addition to the damage to residences, the opera house and the Baptist church were wrecked.

Several persons were injured in Coots. an aged lady probably fatally. Three persons were killed in the country near here.

Many houses were unroofed at Lexington and their contents ruined by the rains.

Forty-two dwellings were wrecked at Wallis.

At Fulshear 50 houses were blown down. One person was killed in the town by a falling house.

In Hardin county a large amount of timber was blown down and there was much damage to property at Village Mills. No damage was done at Corpus Christi or Rockport. at the lower coast.

At Richmond three negroes were killed by the collapse of a church and three others were killed near there. One also was killed at Booth. No names obtainable.

Awful Scenes of Desolation.

New Orleans. Sept. 10.-A special from Houston. Tex., says:

In the relief train which Conductor Powers brought in from Virginia Point tonight was his own son, who lay in the baggage car a corpse. Powers was employed at Virginia Point as a baggage watchman, and was 20 years old. He had distinguished himself as a life saver at Texas City, having rescued many people. After saving the lives of others he himself was drowned by an accident.

Conductor Powers reports that the two freight trains. one on the I. & G. N.. the other on the M.. K. & T.. which left Houston at 10:30 Saturday morning. arrived at Virginia Point in safety but could get no further. In the storm Saturday they were both overturned and the cars were washed entirely off the right of way. the crews escaping. and they set about the work of rescuing people who lived there. Up to Saturday afternoon they had recovered 25 bodies. 10 of whom were women. and the work is still going on. G. Rossing. a contractor who lives in the Bruner district, came in from Genoa. where he had been constructing a school building and reported that every building in the town was blown down and made a total wreck. with but one or two possible exceptions.

New Orleans. Sept. 9.-A Times Democrat special from Port Eads. in South Pass, says that the storm there was most violent and that six lives were lost off Southwest Pass. The tug Monarch. towing six barges from Sabine Pass to Fernandina. broke her tiller Thursday. anchored the barges and proceeded to South Pass for repairs. She was caught by the storm and when she went out today to look for the barges no trace of them could be found, or of the six keepers.

The water was waist deep over the shores of South Pass and most of the population took shelter in the light house.

Taylor. Tex.. Sept. 10.-A heavy wind and rain storm visited this place early Sunday morning. causing considerable damage in the business part of the town, and continuing with a steady gale from the north until 7 a. m. The blow was accompanied by a continuous and drenching rain. Great damage has been done to crops. Electric lights and telephone wires were blown down all over the town.