ic light and gas plants
were flooded and the city was in darkness.

In the cemeteries the dead of years were washed from their graves and
carried across to the mainland. A tramp steamer was carried over to
Virginia Point, then sent like a shot through three bridges. The
steamers "Alamo" and "Red Cross" were dropped upon Pelican Flats, and
when the waves retreated were left high and dry upon the sand. Yachts
and sailboats were driven over the mainland and could be seen in the
grass far beyond Texas City. Railroad cars loaded and empty were carried
into the bay, and miles of track torn up and washed away.

THE RECEDING WATERS

Between ten and eleven the wind fell and the water began to recede,
almost as rapidly as it had come. Before daylight the streets were clear
of water, but covered with slime and choked with wreckage. It was not
necessary to go to the beach to find the dead. They lay thick along the
streets.

A Committee of Public Safety was organized, and all men, white and
black, were asked to assist in the removal of the dead. The
superstitious negroes refused, but were finally compelled at the muzzle
of guns to gather in the bodies. It was suggested that the burials be
made at sea. Society men, clubmen, millionaires, longshoremen and
negroes took up the work, loading the bodies on drays and conveying them
to barges. The dreadful procession lasted all of Sunday and Monday.
Three barge loads of dead were taken out to sea and given back to the
waves. The weights, however, were not properly attached, and soon the
corpses were back in the surf, washing on the beach.

After the storm the weather turned milder. By Monday the city reeked
with the smell of a charnel house and pestilence was in the air. The
bodies of dead animals lay in the streets; the waters of the bay and
gulf were thick with the dead. All the disinfectants in the city were
quickly consumed. An earnest appeal for more was sent to Houston and
other places. Tuesday a general cremation of the dead began. Trenches
were dug and lined with wood. The corpses were tossed in, covered with
more wood, saturated with oil, and set on fire. Later, bodies were
collected and placed in piles of wreckage, and the whole then given to
the flames. Men engaged in this horrible task frequently found relatives
and friends among the dead. The men wore camphor bags under their noses,
but frequently became so nauseated that they were forced to stop work.
The fire purified