Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 196, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 August 1915 — GREAT HURRICANE STRIKES TEXAS [ARTICLE]

GREAT HURRICANE STRIKES TEXAS

Death Toll More Than 100 Lives an< Property Loss Runs Into Many Millions of Dollars. \ V \ A A hurricane Tuesday afternoon and night swept southwest Texas and claimed more than 100 lives and destroyed many millions of dollars worth of property. There was an immense loss to cotton growers in the storm belt, some estimates stating that 25 per cent of the. crop was destroyed. The oil fields also sueered severely and it is probable that it will take $500,000 to rebuild the destroyed derricks, etc. That the death list did not approach that of 1900 was due to two causes, the strength of the Galveston sea wall and the haste with which residents of the coastal plains sought places of refuge in conformity with the warnings of the government bureau.

Four soldiers were drowned in Galveston and ten were lost at Texas City. The Fort Crockett camp was wiped out and the army transport •Poe destroyed. Martial law was proclaimed in Galveston and Texas City and in the latter place a large sanitary corps was organized by the military authorities. Twenty-five members of the crew of the government dredge, San Bernardo, which sank in the intercostal canal below Galveston, are believed to have been drowned. The crew of 56 are reported lost.