Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 October 1875 — The Destruction of Indianola, Texas. [ARTICLE]

The Destruction of Indianola, Texas.

The New Orleans Bulletin of Sept. 23 gives the following particulars of the ter* rible effects of the inundation at Indianola: Thursday at ten a m. the wind was blowing fearfully, the water still coming in higher, and in two hours rose six feet, submerging most of the town. The alarm spread nke wildfire. Those who had boats were plying about in the waves taking women ana children to places of fancied security. Families were sent up to the. highest portions of the dwellings, household goods were confusedly hurried into garrets and the whole town was one scene of terror. There were no means of leaving the town and so all had to secure themselves as best they could. Midnight Thursday a heavy current set in, running through the town, and then commenced the dull crash on all sides of falling houses. The water by this time had reached a point covering the whole place fully six feet. Looking out, nothing could be seen except housetops and the white foam on the . heavy rollers. With every crash, above the screaming of the wind and the roar of the waters, could be heard the wail of despair from drowning women and children. Frantically clinging to the remnants of the wrecks, mothers with children in their arms vainly implored for help when all around were unable to render any. The scene beggared description. Strong men, overcome with emotion, wept like children, and some .wanted to rush forth to certain death rather than suffer to see the victims perishing before their eyes whilst they were powerless to resider assistance. 'Not an eye was closed that night in Ihdianola. The loud splash and cracking of limbers proclaimed another house gone and the sound was echoed by piercing screams. About daylight Friday morning the wind lulled and the water fell as rapidly as it had risen, and by noon it was possible for people to get about in the higher portions of the town. The severity of the damage done was then fully appreciated. Not a house in the place but showed evidence of the gale. Squares completely vacant, stores and houses having been carried off by the current, leaving only the foundation to mark the spot where once they stood. As soon as the citizens were able to get out they set to work relieving those still in peril. Those confined in the upper stories of the dangerous buildings were taken out and the corpses caught by falling timbers removed. It was a sad work, and nobly did the people respond to the call for duty. It was then that the most heart-rending scenes were met. Here a little girl, almost nude, wading in the water in search of father, mother and sisters, whose bodies lay bleaching on the sand, miles distant; there, old men, pale with emotion, looked for. their grandchildren whose prattling voices were forever stilled by the treacherous waters. No pen could portray the sad picture of Friday at Indianola. A town of 3,000 inhabitants under water for twelve hours, with 250 of their number suddenly stricken down, could not but tear-slain the paper and make the hand of the chronicler tremble. Up to Monday evening last ninety bodies had been recovered and given Cliristian burial. As there were no coffins left after the storm in Indianola, friends of the deceased were forced to dewise from dry-goods boxes, in fact, from everything, a covering for those Who died. Fathers bore to their last resting-place the flowers of their < family flock, and alone buried those who were dearer to them than life itself; husbands laid away beneath the sands tlie remains of wives, children and fathers. Singular to say, most of tlie bodies were not found in the town. The tremendous current swept even many of those who were caught beneath fallen buildings, and carried them back to the lake in the rear of Indianola. Along the shores of this could be seen, protruding through the sand, almost buried, the arms or heads of the victims. It was next to impossible to recognize a single one. The action of tlie waters and waves had been such as in cases to completely behead the drowned. The last remnant of clothing was torn from them, and only in cases where a bracelet or finger-ring remained could friends identify the lost. It would seem though the demon of cruelty had been at work. Headless trunks, armless bodies, all were scattered about on the beach, memorials of the storm’s dreadful work.