What the People Said and Did
Wednesday, April 16, 1947
This RECORD of stark tragedy is given without attempt at literary adornment. Beginning in the dock area where the force was greatest, proceeding through the city and spreading out in all directions to neighboring towns, accounts of eyewitnesses follow.
The Monsanto Chemical Company covers some 40 acres, and incidents are related by employees at widely separated points.
A.H. Barth, from Monsanto drafting room:
"As I sat on my stool, looking through the window, a tremendous blast hit
me, knocking me to the floor. I was unconscious for a few minutes. When I came
to, I found I was blinded. Groping my way, I started toward a man who was moaning;
someone else came up and led me out, assuring me that he would get the rest."
JOHN F. DAVIS:
"I was on the second floor of the Monsanto Polystyrene Unit. I heard a
continual noise, of the building falling, water, oil, shell, crashing in all
around me. It was dark. I thought I was drowning.
"After a few seconds it began to lighten, as if it were about dusk, instead
of mid-morning of a bright, spring day.
"Dragging an injured leg, I hobbled toward the opening by the elevator.
The stairs were gone.
"The building behind me was burning.
"C. W. Braswell met me. Bodies were all around us. We saw injured friends
we could not help.
"Braswell and I decided to slide down one of the supporting steel columns.
At last we got to the ground. His leg injured, Vernon Linton was sitting among
the piles of rubble. He could not get up; he could not see which way to go,
the rubble was so high. He asked,
"'John, how about helping me?'
"I said, 'We're all in pretty bad shape, but if you can crawl, we'll try
to guide you.' "
FRED CONNOLLY, Chief Clerk of Maintenance Tool Room, Monsanto Chemical Company:
"I work in the tool room, located on the ground floor, facing northeast.
"I was knocked down. I don't know how long I was unconscious; when I came
to, a rain of
soot and sand hissed and poured over me. As I realized the danger, my first
thought was of my wife and little daughter, at home. Oh, God! Save me for them!
Please!
"Getting to my feet, I tried to grope my way through the pitch darkness
to the door, 30 feet away. I kept stumbling against heavy obstacles that bruised
and cut me.
"Before long, I could see daylight.
"I reached the pipe shop and tried to get out the west door. Flames from
the outside drove me back.
"I turned around and made it to the north entrance of the building. This
led me onto the field of the plant where 1 beheld a fearful sight.
"Massed wreckage was everywhere. Huge tanks, afire, belched flames skyward.
About three feet of oil and water covered the ground.
"I started wading toward the west fence."
MADELAINE ROCKEFELLER (Mrs. L. B.), in the storeroom of Monsanto:
"I was hit on the head by falling objects, probably bricks. They fell thick
and fast. I dropped to my knees and crawled under a large table. I figured it
was the end. I blacked out.
"Like waves on the beach, oil and water rushed in, reviving me. The next
thing I noticed was a 100-foot area near me, afire. All I wanted was to get
away before the Benzol tanks caught on fire.
"As I left the building, a bloody-faced man took my arm. We stumbled through
water half way up to my knees.
"The utter silence was awful."
WILLIE D. DAVIS, colored:
"I was up on a ladder by the Monsanto building. I hit the ground on the
side of my head and shoulder. Scrambling up, some kind of a way I ruint my neck.
I pulled a white man with a broke leg about 200 yards in the clear. Then the
fire boomed up and I got on out."
The Texas City Terminal Railway Company operated a half-mile of water front properties, with freight yards and warehouses extending inland a half mile.
HARLEY BOWEN, General Foreman, B. & B. Department, Texas City Terminal
Railway Company:
"I was getting into my car at the plant about 8:30 A.M. when Harvey Menge
came running up to me saying,
"'Mr. Bowen, there is a big fire in Warehouse "O"!'
"He got into the car with me and we went over. Volunteer Fire Chief Henry
Baumgartner, also a Terminal employee, sent Menge up the dock to the fire.
"Chief Baumgartner then asked me to telephone to have the fire alarm turned
on again. He said,
"'This is a dangerous fire. We need all the help we can get.'
"After I telephoned, I went back to the fire. Just before I reached the
ship, I met H. 0. Wray, Sr., our Company Engineer, coming away from the ship.
He told me to get some fire fighters assigned to the opposite side of the warehouse,
and compress shed, to watch for burning paper.
I assigned Mr. Yeager, Mr. Nelson and Jesus Torres to the job. By this time,
the fire trucks had arrived and there were several men standing around the ship.
I saw I wasn't needed, so I started off the docks.
"Before I reached the end of the docks, Mr. Mikeska, President of our Company,
told me to get some doors in the west section open so fire trucks could be on
the dock side of the ship. He went on up to the ship and I went in the opposite
direction.
"Mr. John Fuerst, our head policeman and the Custom Officer, seemed to
be having difficulty in keeping spectators away from the ship. I asked Mr. Fuerst
for the key for that section of the warehouse Mr. Mikeska wanted opened. He
sent Moonshine (Gilbert Reyes) for it. We opened the west end door and I saw
it was blocked with flour. I told Moonshine to go open some of the doors anyhow.
"I started toward Mr. Mikeska to tell him not to send any of the fire trucks
around through the warehouse.
"Then the Grand Camp exploded.
"With the first explosions I fell through the docks and went under the
water. With the second, I was blown completely out of the water, and it seemed
high in the air. I landed on my feet, but fell face forward, stunned but not
knocked out. I couldn't tell whether I had been blinded, or if it was the smoke-filled
air that made everything seem in total darkness.
"I guess I lay there a minute before the smoke cleared away. I got back
on my feet and saw I couldn't walk. 1 could see the Monsanto burning. I could
also see some oil tanks afire up near the Stone Refinery.
"1 knew I was in a dangerous place; so I started crawling. 1 crawled to
where Monsanto and Terminal Company roads intersect; there two fellows put me
on a stretcher and carried me to the intersection of 3rd Street and the Dock
Road.
"Many people were there. Harvey McGinnis flagged a truck and I was taken
to the Danforth Clinic. Without unloading me from the truck, Dr. Clarence Quinn
gave me a shot, somebody washed my eyes, and we started to Galveston."
W. A. JOHNSON, Jr., owner of Johnson Material Company, located on the Terminal
Docks:
"I had just left the scene of the fire some three to five minutes prior
to the explosion. The thing that still remains vivid in my memory is the fact
that no one seemed to dream that the ship would explode, and therefore the loss
of life was so heavy.
"On a Navy ship, I was at Guadalcanal when the U. S. Coast Guard Ship,
the Cere pens, blew up. This ship was almost fully loaded with ammunition, and
the resulting devastation was much the same as here, except that there were
no buildings and plants to blow down."
GRANT WHEATON, executive of the Texas City Terminal Railway Company:
"I was sitting in the office of Mr. Sandberg, Vice President of our Company,
talking.
"I first noticed a peculiar smoke floating across the SS High Flyer and
the main slip, about 300 feet east of the General Office.
"Several minutes later, Mrs. Maude Bieg, the switchboard operators called,
"'A ship is on fire! They want the Galveston fireboat!'
"I told her, 'Call the Texas City Fire Department. Tell the powerhouse
to sound the siren, and get me the Chief of the Galveston Fire Department on
the phone.'
"I had the Chief's office on the phone within a minute. I said who I was,
and that a ship was on fire in the main slips and asked if they would send the
Galveston fireboat.
"Then I told Mrs. Bieg to get me the Bay Towing Company and the G. &
H. Towing Company. I told each of them a ship was on fire, and ordered all tugs
available, especially those equipped with fire-fighting apparatus.
"Mr. Mikeska, President of our Company had rushed out of the office at
the first alarm. He came hurrying back, and I told him what had been done.
"He returned to the fire.
"Then I left the office, walking directly north, along a path which led
to Frank's Cafe and the road into the property, until I could see along the
wharf of the North Slip, where the Grand Camp was berthed.
"Flames and smoke were pouring up out of one of her hatches, making the
hatchway look like a huge chimney. A large number of spectators were congregated
along the road near the west end of the North Slip, and I could see our Special
Officer John Fuerst and some of the other wharf employees waving them back,
holding them off the wharf.
"City fire trucks were there, and the firemen were up near the ship.
"I returned to the office.
"Mrs. Bieg told me that J. C. Tompkins, Vice President of Lykes Brothers
Steamship Company, owners of the High Flyer, was on the telephone.
"I told Tompkins it was the Grand Camp, the Frenchman, on fire. I described
the relative position of the two vessels.
"He remarked that the High Flyer was in no particular danger as yet. I
agreed with him, but told him I would rather see her moved away. He told me
'there were tugs on the way to move her if necessary.
"Then I saw Mr. Sandberg coming toward the office and held the phone until
Sandberg could give Tompkins a little later information.
"After Sandberg hung up, he described to me what was going on at the fire.
The Republic had sent foamite, which the firemen were getting ready to try when
he came away. He mentioned that he had heard several people describing the Grand
Camp as 'loaded with ammunition' and joked about the alarmists, but said there
were 15 or 16 cases of small arms ammunition on the ship.
"Without any warning, a terrific force struck me in my right eye and along
the right side of my face and head. I felt no sensation of falling, but was
on my face on the floor, having been spun half around. I raised myself on my
hands and felt warm blood raining down on my right arm and both hands. Then
I heard a terrible explosion, followed in a few seconds by a more terrible one.
"The air was filled with noise of falling objects. 'From' under his desk,
Sandberg called,
"'Are you all right, Grant?'
"I answered, 'Yeah, I guess so.'
"My head felt numb. I could see nothing from my right eye, and a red film
of blood seemed to cover my left eye. The blood was pouring over my face from
a head wound.
"When the sounds died away, I stood up and started walking out of Sandberg's
office, toward the hall. Blocking my way, debris that had just missed my head
was piled, as high as his desk.
"I turned and went around Sandberg's desk, feeling with my foot for him.
I had not heard him leave, but concluded he had.
"As if trying to look through a thick red fog, I could see very little.
I looked up, and saw the sky through holes in the roof.
"Stumbling over debris, I went to the front door. Someone called,
" 'Oh, Mr. Wheaton!'
"Two of them, I thought they were Sandberg and Mrs. Bieg, ran to me and
helped me down into the yard.
"I told them, 'I'm going to have to lie down.' They eased me to the ground.
I didn't know I was lying in nearly two inches of oil and water.
"I heard Sandberg say, 'There's not a car here that will run.' Then I heard
a small truck, wheezing asthmatically, approaching from the direction of the
Dock Road. It stopped near me, and someone asked if I could walk. Two people
led me to the truck. Mrs. June Hester, U. G. Davis, Horace Delgado and a young
Negro were stacked in the little truck with me.
"Driven by our General Yardmaster, J. W. Benedict, himself seriously injured,
the truck ground along in low gear, rolling up and down over hills of debris.
"At last we reached the concrete highway and stopped in front of the Republic
office. Ambulances from Galveston arrived at about the same time. I was led
to one of the ambulances. Enroute to Galveston, the ambulance stopped three
times for water, but otherwise we made excellent time in the trip to John Sealy
Hospital."
CAPTAIN LEONARD EDWARD FULLER, Master of the Pan I, Pan American Refining Company
tugboat:
"I came into Texas City at 7:40 A.M., and docked two oil barges carrying
about 80,000 barrels each, at 8:30 A.M. At about 8:45, the Company Safety Engineer,
Harvey Williams, telephoned the dockmaster, asking him to tell us to get away.
Bob Hayman, the dockmaster, relayed the message.
"By 9:00 o'clock, everyone was lined up watching the fire. KGBC was on
the radio, warning people away. I boarded the tug Record. They have a ship to
shore radio. I heard a message to the effect that the harbor tugs had left Galveston
and were coming. I was in the pilothouse.
"I had just turned my head to look at the new direction finder when part
of a window frame hit me on the head and face and knocked me against the bulkhead.
"I did not hear the explosion. The air was black with smoke, and I could
see the sun, like a tiny red light, dancing up and down. Evidently it was the
tug doing the dancing.
"It was raining iron. The mate and I got under a mattress. Falling debris
cut it to pieces.
"We came out finally, and I tried to get the Record started. She wouldn't
start. I have one rule with a ship: when she stops moving, I leave her.
"We went to the Pan 1, and tried to get her started. She wouldn't start.
"Some of the men were badly injured and had to be helped; some got around
under their own power. Some had their clothes blown off, and some had taken
them off, in case they'd have to swim.
"We dropped those not too badly injured over the side of the barge into
about 2 feet of water.
I gave them sheets from the Pan I, and we started walking across the mud banks.
There were 14 men with me. The fire was behind us, coming closer."
ANTON HOKANSON, ship watchman under Marine Watchman Service:
"I was working with Mr. West on the High Flyer.
"Something knocked me flat on the steel deck and held me there. When I
felt no more pressure, I found I had two arms but just one good leg. I crawled
toward the rail and saw that the High Flyer had broken loose from her mooring
lines at both ends and was drifting toward the Wilson B. Keene.
"I held onto the rail, dragging my leg, and saw that Mr. West, Mr. Suttle,
the Captain and officers were all bloody. I asked Mr. West how he was, but did
not ask the others, as they were farther away.
"The High Flyer was now alongside the Wilson B. Keene; so all jumped to
that vessel. I swung and got hold of a line from the Keene and fell on the deck
in a pool of water. I kept on until I came to the side of a warehouse.
"Two kind-hearted fellows gave me a rope, so I climbed up out of the water.
"Two others picked me up. As they carried me along, I saw dead men along
the bulkhead. The Terminal offices were all gone. At Frank's place I was put
into a pick-up truck and taken to a clinic. Mr. West was picked up by the Coast
Guard and taken to Galveston."
E. L. DOUGLAS, steamship clerk checking cargo onto the Wilson B. Keene:
"It was awful. The fields were covered with balls of burning sisal that
had been blown from the Frenchman."
LUTZ FRIELER, Vice President of the Southwestern Sugar and Molasses Company:
"I had been on the docks about five minutes before the explosion. I asked
Customs Inspector Bima,
" 'What's on the ship?'
"He said, 'It has been confirmed that there are 13 cases of ammunition
on board.'
'Then why don't you leave?'
"'I want to see it puff up.'
"Back in my warehouse, I saw an orange flash. A 2 x 4 hit me, knocking
me against the tank that forms one side of the warehouse. There was a terrific
noise of metal hurled against the tank.
"A tremendous amount of water ran about 1 1/2 feet below me. I could barely
move my head. A 3 x 6 had all the weight of the debris on it, and was holding
the wreckage off me.
"I called to Ben Luhn, one of Frank Wagner's electricians working in the
warehouse at the time. Ben said,
"'I'm getting out with my screwdriver. I'll get you out, too. It's a good
little screwdriver; it saved my life.'
"My right arm was broken, my mouth was cut from ear to ear and hanging
down on my chest. My chest was all open. Every time I'd call, blood would spurt
out.
"I was afraid the Stone Oil lines, running under our plant, would catch
on fire. I did not want to burn. I passed out."
J. W. BRADFORD, Guard, on duty at Carbide Dock, just west of the South Slip:
"The first explosion took me off the platform and landed me in the street
40 or 50 feet away. Some of the Republic men picked me up, and we all lay alongside
the big cement wall to protect ourselves from falling steel. All the oil and
gasoline lines along the dock were broken; oil and gasoline were going 15 or
20 feet high when all the docks caught fire.
"All the men that could were running to get out of danger.
"I jumped into what was left of my car, loaded it with men and got it started.
We got out over the dike."
EDWARD L. VENS0N:
"I was standing in the middle of the floor of the machine shop at the Republic
Oil Refining Company. There was a great noise that sounded like the catalyst
cracking unit had exploded. I was pushed across the floor for several feet,
but did not lose my balance.
"Being a first-aid instructor, I assisted the nurse with the injured. Soon
it was apparent that there were more than we could care for. We went out in
the highway and began to load people into cars to send them to La Marque to
our Company doctor. These first people were Republic employees.
"Then the injured began coming in from the dock area. They walked, crawled,
rode in cars or trucks. There were men with their ears blown off, sides of their
faces hanging down, with holes in their sides, arms broken, bones showing. Except
for shorts and shoes, they wore no clothes. There were injured women, too, mostly
in cars, but in the same physical condition as the men.
"As soon as the ambulances began to come in, we had blankets to wrap the
people.
"One large man, about 6-4, came slowly walking up the road. He held a bloody
towel around his head with both hands. Blood ran down his shirt and pants, ran
off his shoes. "A man from the dock area reported that there were several
men trapped under debris in Warehouse '0.'
"Four or five of us started to the docks, going down beside the warehouses
as there did not seem to be any fire in that area. About halfway to the docks,
the road became so filled with steel and concrete debris that I was afraid to
try to go any farther in the truck, so we walked the rest of the way. The fire
in No. 2 Warehouse was fairly bad.
"When we got to the Texas City Terminal Railway roundhouse, about six men
were hunting for people in the debris.
"There were a number of the office force still in the wreckage of the Joint
Agency Building. Mr. Ludwig was going around the demolished building, calling
to people in the wreckage to try to be calm as we were doing all we could. I
soon saw we needed heavier equipment, and went back to get a dragline.
"When I got back to the Plant, the Fort Crockett (Galveston) wrecking crew
was moving in."
GEORGE GILL, Carbide & Carbon Chemicals Corporation:
"We loaded a flat bed truck with equipment from the plant fire truck and
first-aid supplies. Dr. Blair, meanwhile, had summoned Dr. Dernehl and one of
the nurses from the Dispensary, loaded some additional first-aid supplies into
a Company car and led us to the scene of the blast.
"At the Seatrain slip, we found many dead and injured. Advance by truck
at this point was impossible, because the road was blocked by a large barge
blown out of the water by the blast.
"Ted Nolen told me he had climbed a steel column in the Monsanto plant
and could hear
10 or 12 people crying for help. We tried to get into the area, but inflammable
material in and around the warehouse had started hot fires between us and the
building.
"We tried clearing out a path with our hand fire extinguishers, but to
no avail. The building was afire inside and out, a complete mass of flaming
rubble. I assumed all the persons inside were either dead or so pinned down
that it would be impossible for a small group such as we to clear away enough
rubble to effect a rescue."
"TUCKY" BOBBITT, Maintenance Department Head, Carbide:
"I saw that to effect a rescue of the people who were on the far side of
the drainage ditch running transversely from Monsanto in a general southwesterly
direction toward the Southport tank farms, some road building would have to
be done.
"I rounded up 15 dump trucks, several dozers, dumped 30 tons of dirt into
the ditch, and utilized two dozers to blade off the ground, then hauled 15 loads
of shell to cover this new road. This operation took approximately 1 1/2 hours."
NORMAN EUGENE OLIVER, Business Agent for the A. F. of L. Union workers of the
Tin Smelter:
"I went into the Monsanto area, in search of my brother Dell (William Adell
Oliver).
"The place was strewn with mangled, dead bodies. One was blown into the
fence. I don't see how they ever got him out.
"Treet and I carried out five all together, wading through oil and water
up to our knees, taking them to the intersection of the Dock Road and the Monsanto
Road.
"There was a big Negro who helped carry bodies out, He'd say, 'There's
somebody in there I can get out.' He kept working after I gave out. He was the
strongest man I ever saw. He could carry a man by himself."
RICHARD BENEDICT, Labor Leader, and Demolition man with the 847th, 337th and
296th Combat Engineers, World War II:
"I was knocked into a pit. When the big wave passed, I was surprised I
was still alive, and knew I'd better pull myself together and crawl out.
I came to '0,' 'A' and 'B' Warehouses, turning people over, looking for my brother.
"Between the grain elevator and the Molasses Co. I met Bill Howell. His
wife was dragging him down the road. I saw he had a broken leg and his throat
was cut. I helped her carry him. We set him up in the old Coast Guard area."
HAROLD BAUMGARTNER, age 12:
"I was studying my lessons by the window and watching the boat on fire.
I got on my bicycle and went near the fire. I was blown off my bicycle about
20 feet. I got up and started running, and the second time I was blown about
20 feet again.
"It was a lot worse than a hurricane. I crawled in a hole about 4 inches
wide. There was a Negro in a garage praying for all he was worth. He was not
hurt.
"I ran by plenty of dead, hurt, dying people. I ran all the way home as
fast as I could. I knew my dad (Chief H. J. Baumgartner) was right in the middle
of it all. I will never go to see a fire again."
ROGER B0LINO, colored:
"I was lying across the bed and received a few glancing licks across the
head and the left side of my face was cut real bad. I made it to the door when
the room I had just left went down.
"I broke out of the house and ran down the road and wound up in Dickinson
(10 miles) where I was treated."
MRS. L. H. McINTIRE
"We were given a tiny baby whose identity we did not learn for several
hours."
MILDRED WILSON:
"When I got home, my mother, Mrs. Dick Wilson, had the premature Reeves
twins, Mike Reeves and Carol Sue Gately and Terry Boyd to care for.
"There was a hole in the ceiling, a hole about 12 feet deep in the front
yard, a mile away from the docks.
"Mrs. Joseph B. Smith, our neighbors had her face bashed in by a door.
Her husband rushed her to the hospital, where they wired all her bones and teeth
back in place."
FRED LINTON, Emken Funeral Home:
"I went to the City Hall. About 9:30, 20 minutes after the blast, a girl
and I put Father Roach on a bus. He didn't say a word. He was beyond talking.
"I lined up trucks and got an old ambulance I'd sold to Lawrence Smith's
brother. Anything on wheels served.
"People began bringing bodies in. Emkens has been here so long, people
have come to think of it as a place for the dead."
MRS. H. B. MOORE, former State Representative from this District:
"I stood at the window of my home, 8 Ninth Avenue North. The first explosion
showered me with glass, knocking me down. My home, a mile from the scene of
the explosion, of brick and hollow tile construction, rocked on its foundation.
"I was on the stairs when the second blast threw me against the wall. Glass
and parts of window frames and doors split and torn from hinges, along with
furniture, flew across rooms facing south. The house was materially damaged,
but I sustained only cuts and bruises. Several pieces of steel weighing from
several pounds to 20 or more are in my yard."
Mrs. C. P. GREMILLI0N:
"I threw my hand over the top of my baby's bead and ran to the north part
of the house. Later the doctor said, 'How fortunate that glass was sent into
your hand!'"
ELIZABETH COOPER (Mrs. Gordon):
"I saw fire shoot upward, huge pieces of debris reached a plane that was
flying overhead, then the plane broke into pieces and fell into the fire."
SALLY WEHMEYER, Wehmeyer-Powell Funeral Chapel:
"Mr. and Mrs. T. G. Graham called to me that Mrs. L. D Griffith was seriously
injured.
"I got our emergency ambulance and drove her to the Beeler-Manske Clinic.
"Everything was utter bedlam. Cars were being driven on the wrong side
of the street; men, women and children were running about in their night clothes,
some screaming and crying and others just standing with blank, stunned looks
on their faces."
LITTLE JILL DUGAT:
"Mattie put me in the closet. When she let me out, I saw she had done something
bad to our house."
EVA HOWARD, first grade teacher, Danforth Elementary School:
"Hazel Wafford, a pupil in my afternoon class, ran up. She was oil covered
and panting. She had run from the docks. She sobbed,
"'My daddy was on a boat, working. He was thrown in the air. I saw him.'"
HOWARD LYNN MEREDITH, third grade pupil:
"When the first explosion came, one wall caved in. All the windows blew
out. My teacher said, 'Run!'
"When I was at the door, I saw two children fallen down.
"When I was a block from school, I heard a boy say,
" 'I wonder if my mother is dead?'
"I ran the rest of the way home, because I thought my mother and father
might be hurt or dead.
"I was happy to find that they were not hurt or dead."
ELOISE CAMERON, substitute teacher:
"The blast knocked me down. The children crowded at the door. I discovered
the knob was blown off. The children were screaming hysterically,
"'I want out! I want out!'
"I thought of the New London disaster. We'll all be dead when they find
us!
"Charlie Rivers, a boy from H5, crawled in over the transom. With his help,
I passed each of the 27 children over the transom to be caught on the other
side by two teachers. I don't know who they were. Then Charlie and I crawled
over."
KARL BURNS, at Central High School, on the opposite side of the block:
"I think I was the first one out in the hall. Glass was everywhere.
"I started outside by one door, but metal was falling so much that I went
out another."
LEVERIA WILLIAMS, colored:
"I was at Booker T. Washington School. I'm in Miss Rosalie Curry's room.
She helped the children out. My arm was cut bad. I ran home to get my blind
65-year-old grandfather. Mabel helped me with him. Bertha King, my grandmother,
met us and we walked out onto the Kemah Road."
CHARLES LERMAN, owner of Clark's Department
Store:
"I fell or was thrown to the floor, pulling my wife with me. We glanced
at the ceiling, the walls seemed to expand, and the roof came down upon us.
My wife said, 'God help us!'
"We were pinned under the ceiling. My brother-in-law, Leon Kauftheil, pulled
us out
"Abe Klotzman, 33 months in the Pacific said,
" ' If this would have happened in the Navy, the orders would have been
scuddle the ship!'
R. J. MESKILL, Lt. Col. U. S. Army, Ret., Texas City Postmaster:
"I felt as if I were lifted from the floor, chair and all, and as suddenly
put back down. I dropped on my hands and knees to the floor. An instant later
I was covered with glass, window screen, light bulbs and what have you.
"As soon as I could get up and shake the debris off my back and shoulders,
I instructed the post office personnel to go home and look after their families,
but if possible to return within two hours.
"Accompanied by Mr. Gee, I checked all money drawers and safes."
THELMA DYESS, veteran telephone operator:
"The girls on the picket lines dropped their signs and ran for the office,
but there was so much debris that many were unable to take their places at the
switchboard. Standing up, reaching over, they worked as best they could. As
a position was put into working order, an operator took over.
"The plant department boys were busy setting up telephones in front of
the traffic department for public emergency use."
BEN POWELL, Showboat Drug Store:
"The streets were jammed with cars carrying the dead and injured to the
clinics, all located on Sixth Street, as is our store. People swarmed about.
Tommy Green and I set up a first-aid station in front of the store. Some ladies
came by and helped. We bandaged everyone, whites, Negroes, Mexicans."
PETE PETERMAN, Manager of Michael's Jewelry Store:
"I had just stepped out of my private office at the back of the store.
The front of the store came toward me, like a shower of rain.
"J. L. Wilson came in with his hat full of diamond rings he had picked
up off our sidewalk. I put them, hat and all, into our safe."
GORDON COOPER:
"Searching for my father-in-law, I drove from clinic to clinic, and then
toward the docks. I was stopped in the Latin-American quarter and told I might
proceed on foot.
"The dead and dying were everywhere. I saw the quiet bodies of small children.
But others
were alive and could be saved, so I joined men near the wreckage of Warehouse
'O,' getting the living out into the open where they could be seen and picked
up. I never recognized anyone; they were all so black with oil and molasses."
VINCENT SCHMITT:
"I went to the Schmidt.Twidwell Clinic to help. I saw blood and misery
that day I don't care to witness again: a man minus an arm, a 12-year-old boy
with his face split open, the anxious faces of people looking for relatives."
MRS. SALLIE V00RHEE5, Texas City Heights, about 21/2 miles west of the dock
area:
"A long iron rail accompanied by a large bundle of small pieces of iron
sailed by in the air."
J. D. GRIFFIN, teacher at the Heights Elementary School:
"The first thing I knew, I was outside, knee deep in kids hollering, 'Daddy!
Daddy! My daddy works down on the docks!' We lost a few windows- nobody was
hurt."
MRS. F. 3. WHITE:
"I arrived at the Schmidt~Twidwell Clinic about 10 minutes after the blast.
Glass, mixed with insulation from the walls, covered the floor. The place was
crowded with bloody patients, women and children at first, and then the men
from the docks began coming in.
"Wilbur Strong, Kermit Agee and Mr. Moon, a first-aid man from one of the
plants worked like Trojans.
"All the staff was there: Mrs. Helen Landry, Nurse in charge; Mrs. Louise
Luke, Mrs. Ray Huey, and Mrs. Edith Carrague, nurses; and aides like myself,
Mrs. Charles L. Garner, Mrs.
C. P. Landry, and volunteers Mesdames Seth Gibson and Louise Willis; Mrs. Blair
Peterson came in with the wives of Dr. Schmidt and Dr. Twidwell. Dr. Duke and
Dr. Lilley of the DukeLilley Clinic in Goose Creek were there, too."
MRS. J. C. EVERHART:
"I was seated on the Texas City side of the bus, about four miles from
Texas City. I watched a plane headed toward the scene of the fire.
"The detonation raised the bus, dropping it back down, almost throwing
it off the highway. 1 saw the forms of men thrown into the air. I saw the men
in the plane thrown out and the plane spinning downward into the burning inferno."
FRED DOWDY, Assistant Chief of Texas City Volunteer Fire Department:
"I was in San Leon, watching the fire. I saw two explosions one on the
ship, one in the air above it.
"When I got to the docks, I found two fire trucks, completely dilapidated,
and then I went looking for firemen, but could not find any.
"I went back to the road where there was no debris and found the Texas
City Heights fire truck driven by Joe Ripley. Then the Dickinson truck came
in; then Camp Wallace, Ellington Field.
"The Fire Chiefs from Ellington Field and Camp Wallace went with me to
see where we could locate water. Before long we had a warning to get out. All
fire equipment in that area was dispatched back to a lot across from the City
Auditorium."
MRS. HELEN CLOUGH, of Station KLUF (Galveston):
"Our first airing of the disaster was at 9:15 A.M., April 16.
"Our station was soon flocked with persons looking for friends and relatives,
many of them crying and begging for help. All of them were dazed."
JOHN OBENDORFER, County Tax Assessor & Collector:
"My offices are in the Galveston County Courthouse, 16 miles from Texas
City. Windows were blown out, chairs were cut as glass flew 20 feet across the
room.
"Everyone ran out of the Courthouse, into the street. A handbag belonging
to one of my women employees had blown out the window and was found on the lawn
20 feet away."
BILLIE CALDWELL, office employee of John Sealy Hospital, Galveston:
"The percussion made my ears pop. I thought the end of the world had come.
"We had the news on the teletype machine immediately. The hall filled with
doctors, nurses, assembling by my window, ready to go to Texas City with emergency
equipment. The office staff-Mr. F. D. Dorsett, Mrs. Mary Evers, Miss Mary Gutierez
and Miss Sadie Saltz - and I were very busy after that."
MRS. VERA M. WANDLESS, Assistant Housekeeper, John Sealy Hospital:
"Dr. B. I. Burns and Dr. Chauncey Leake were issuing orders for every available
bed to be put in the clinic building. Work went fast."
MARION KELLER, Secretary in Pharmacy, John Sealy Hospital:
"Doctors were running in and out to get supplies to take to Texas City.
Among the first to leave were Dr. Darwin and Dr. Cooley. Miss Coleman was busy
helping them get supplies to take.
"Mr. Willis rushed to Camp Wallace to get a special solution to remove
oil and dirt. Mrs. Willis came in to help.
"Eula Henderson filled large containers with vaseline, Fred Hayward delivered
supplies within the hospital. Eula Mae Jacquo filled bottles with medicines
we thought might be called for. Marion Keller was locating all available tetanus
antitoxin and tetanus antitoxin gas gangrene.
"Mr. Galloway from Central Drug brought us all available biologicals. King
Holly and Bob Campbell, Upjohn and Squibb salesmen, helped obtain supplies and
filled prescriptions and dispense drugs, as did Jess Moreman.
"Ida and Worth Walton made up large quantities of penicillin solutions.
Joel Bugg, Winthrop salesman, got novocain from headquarters.
"By this time, they were calling for Gas Gangrene Antitoxin, and although
we don't keep a large supply, we were able to meet the first demands before
E. R. Squibb had a large shipment sent in."
The first awful moments of the disaster were over. News was reaching the outside world through means of radio, telephone, telegraph. Help had come and more was coming. Some of the victims had been given 'first aid and dismissed. People with bandaged heads, arms in slings, walked along the streets. Storekeepers swept glass from their places of business.
OSCAR JORDAN, fireman:
"When I got to the docks, around 10 o'clock, crews were already at work.
Dan Woods joined Joe Clement and me. We looked in Warehouse 'O.' They were putting
the dead aside, just looking for the living. We tried to help identify victims,
but they were so bloated we could hardly tell they were men, much less who they
were.
"We went to the morgue to help out there. Many of the victims just looked
like people asleep. One Negro had only a foot missing; he looked perfect, otherwise.
Then there were others completely mangled."
MARY STAFFORD (Mrs. Earl):
"In less than an hour after the explosion, the tiny Texas City airport
became a buzz of activity. Until CAA established an emergency control tower,
there was no tower to direct traffic, and the fellows stood in the middle of
the runways, directing aircraft, large and small, as best they could with gestures
of their hands and arms."
CHIEF W. M. PAYNE, who came to Texas City shortly after the blast, helped organize
the out-of-town police officers sent there to help:
"I saw 21 blackened and twisted bodies taken into one store building. The
explosion twisted their arms and legs off in some cases, while in others it
split their heads open like a watermelon."
ELIZABETH COOPER:
"About one o'clock, Gordon came back and said that someone had told him
Dad was in a Galveston hospital, seriously injured. Together, we searched all
the hospitals.
"We met many people we knew, searching, searching-"
LUTZ FRIELER, pinned under the wreckage of the Southwest Sugar and Molasses
CO. plant:
"When I woke up, there was an airplane flying overhead. I heard cars being
moved about me. I hollered. Nobody seemed to bother.
"About 1:30 P. M., a party was hauling out cars around my Company's premises.
"Someone said, 'Still one alive in there, close to the tank.'
"A loudspeaker blared, 'Run!'
"Someone else said, 'Just get this one man out.'
"They dug me out. There were several people; I recognized Jimmy Matthews
and one of his boys, Lester Lee.
"Someone said, 'God, you look awful.'
"An ambulance took me to the Schmidt-Twidwell Clinic. My wife was there
and gave me some blood. A Venetian blind was used for a splint for my arm. Dr.
George Bruce assisted Dr Schmidt in sewing up my face, taking 80 stitches. They
cut off my clothes, wrapped me in blankets and we started to Houston for Dr.
Duncan McKeever's office."
MRS. LUTZ FRIELER:
"I'll never forget that wild ambulance ride. I thought, If this thing turns
over, our child will be without either parent!"
North of town, on the Kemah Road, by two o'clock many people had collected.
Some sat listlessly about, eating sandwiches, drinking bottled drinks. Others
stared toward the pillars of smoke that darkened the landscape to the south.
Many had pets: a monkey chattered quietly, a parrot ruffled his feathers, dogs
sniffed about. Small children huddled near frightened parents. Some were in
cars. More were afoot. A bus came by and picked up those who wished to leave.
The homes of these people were demolished or badly damaged. Many had neither
present
nor future plans, only a dull, aching, apprehensive misery deepened by an incomplete
family
circle.
MRS. M. N. NELSON, at Danforth Clinic:
"I have been here since early morning, right after the explosion and the
clock says 3:00. There have been so many worse cases; Armelia's little head
has not been stitched up yet.
"Once this morning they told me to put my baby on the operating table.
Just then one of mothers neighbors brought his wife in. They had been watching
the fire. Although shocked himself, he had carried her here in his arms. The
nurse said,
'Put your wife on the table, sir.'
"He said, 'I can't; I can't let go of her. I'm holding her insides in.'
"Somehow, they got her on the table. She recognized her pastor, Rev. Roland
P. Hood.
"'It's too much, I just can't take it, Brother Hood!'
"When they took her off the table, she was dead."
BEN C. POWELL, Showboat Drugstore:
"We started giving out whiskey at about 3:00 p.m. The doctors used it for
shock and the morticians were beginning to need something to keep them going
in their horrible job."
NORMAN EUGENE OLIVER:
"At the Marine Hospital, while searching for my brother Dell, I saw a 190-pound
man, the first person Treet and I had taken out of the Monsanto area. The doctor
asked me if he had breathed gas, but he had not. There was not a mark on him,
yet he died."
MRS. HELEN CL0UGH, Station KLUF:
"The afternoon of the 16th, we began to see the need of some sort of file
systems in order to keep track of the names, to avoid too much repetition. This
filing was done by my son, Braden Clough, and by John Wagner."
THEROLE T. LEMEN, Night Superintendent, Pan American Refining Co.:
"When I got out to the plant, about 4:00 P.M., I found it still running
except the "Cat" (catalytic unit) which was down for reconditioning.
"By that time, the State Police had thrown a block around the place and
a number of our men could not get into the plant. We were short about 34 men,
and had to hold over that many from the day shift."
FINE G. BEDFORD, Galveston attorney, in Texas City:
"If I'd stayed home and listened to my radio, I'd know more than I do now.
I've been everywhere, and still I don't have a clear overall picture.
BILL SPRAGUE from KPRC Newsroom to NBC, 5:02 P.M.:
"A KPRC representative in Galveston reports that there is still no way
to estimate accurately the number of casualties brought into Galveston.
'The John Sealy Hospital, St. Mary's Infirmary, the Marine Hospital, the post
facilities at Fort Crockett and an aid station set up at La Marque, Texas, are
full to overflowing."
PAT FLAHERTY, 5:45 P.M., KPRC, from Texas City:
"In the temporary morgue 100 yards from our broadcast points there are
an estimated 200 bodies being identified and embalmed. Once the bodies are identified,
they are moved several blocks away to the floor of the High School Gymnasium.
From that point the bodies are moved to the regular mortuaries in the Texas
City area as directed by relatives or friends claiming the bodies. At this point
of our broadcast, hearses are lined up as far as two blocks away, waiting to
transport the dead."
BILL SPRAGUE, KPRC Newsroom, to NBC, 6:15 P.M.:
"All neighboring cities and towns have mobilized their resources to lend
aid to the disaster victims. Ambulance and firefighting units have flocked to
the stricken area from points as far away as Port Arthur. Troops from Fort Crockett
in Galveston are in control to guard against looting.
"In Houston, the City Auditorium has been converted into an emergency ward,
with a makeshift staff of military and civilian personnel still receiving patients."
PAT FLAHERTY, from Texas City to NBC, 6:20 P.M.:
"Governor Jester of the State of Texas and General Wainwright, commanding
General of the United States Fourth Army, are on the scene. They are inspecting
the disaster area, checking for further relief from the standpoint of the State
of Texas and the United States Army.
"There is a state of emergency. but no martial law has been declared.
"Gas masks are still in order, but as yet the offshore wind is still in
effect, blowing the heavy black smoke out into the Gulf.
THEROLE T. LEMEN:
"About 8:00 P.M., we received a report that another ship was expected to
blow up any minute. While I was trying to find out the particulars, Dr. Broderson
came out. He got busy on the phone and was told there was no foundation for
the report. He decided to let the plant continue to operate."
THELMA DYESS:
"About 8:00 P.M., gas masks were brought to the telephone office and distributed.
The Company sent all the women employees home."
BILL SPRAGUE, from KPRC Newsroom, 8:24 P.M.:
"Texas City is anticipating another explosion. According to reports from
the scene, the entire city has been ordered abandoned. Another ship carrying
explosives has caught fire."
BILL SPRAGUE, from KPRC Newsroom, to NBC,
10:19 P.M.: -
"Last minute details of police officers went from house to house early
this evening warning all residents to get out of town. A sound truck rumbled
through the wreckage of the devastated community bawling the evacuation instructions.
"But, after a while, when no explosion took place, the panic began to die
down. Then fire department officials issued the word that the second explosion
probably would not take place after all.
"These reports and counter-reports are only typical of the confusion which
has reigned all day in the city whose trim white cottages have been reduced
to lifeless shells."
PAT FLAHERTY, from Texas City to NBC, 10:30 P.M.:
"At this time, Texas City is very much deserted. Most of the residents
heeded the warning to evacuate because of the imminent danger of another ship
exploding in the dock area."
BILL WHITMORE, from KPRC Newsroom to NBC, 10:34 P.M.:
"Here is the picture as I saw it through the day at Texas City. The center
of the rescue and relief work is the town's damaged City Hall, where headquarters
have been set up to handle all activities.
"The High School Gymnasium and a nearby garage have been turned into a
morgue where
throughout the day several hundred victims were brought through. The wounded
were quickly evacuated from the area.
"It is safe to say every house in Texas City, a town of 15,000 residents,
suffered at least some damage. The business district, about half a mile or so
from the scene of the blasts, is a shambles. A residential area between the
downtown sector and the plants that suffered the greatest damage on the waterfront
also is all but destroyed.
"Huge hunks of steel lie in the streets, blown many hundred yards from
the ship whose initial explosion caused the conflagration. Every house in at
least a 10-block.square area is no longer livable."
EARL BRANCH, Texas City florist:
"It was a horrible day. A day when men and women went to work and did not
come home."
Wednesday, April 16, was over. Without change in tempo, without cessation of labor in the still burning dock area, without promise of release from pain except through narcotic unconsciousness or at the hand of the Grim Reaper, Wednesday, April 16, merged into Thursday, April 17. Truly a horrible day, a day to be remembered by those who had endured the long, cruel hours.
THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 1947
PAT FALHERTY, KPRC, from Texas City, 12:05 A. M.:
"There is a feeling of tenseness throughout the city. Everyone in the area
here is on special duty-all working to relieve the state of emergency, but it
is evident that the explosion warning of earlier this evening left its mark
on these relief and rescue workers.
"It has been definitely established that the warning was well founded and
authoritative. There is an impending danger of another explosion in the Texas
City dock area. Another ship is said to be on fire, and it is feared that the
vessel will explode.
"The identity of the ship has not been established, nor has there been
any definite information as to its cargo. However, there is danger of another
explosion."
MRS. DALLAS WHITE, John Scaly Hospital:
"At last my search has ended, Bill and I found his father, my husband,
just before he died at 12:50. It was some comfort to tell him goodbye."
BEN KAPLAN, KTHT, from Texas City:
"Guy and I have been on the water front so long that the flames, the smoke,
the agonies, have become all too familiar. We filled our wire recorder and headed
for our KTHT mike near the telephone building.
"We interviewed Sandberg, who told us he had ordered the removal of the
High Flyer from the harbor. We interviewed two Houston nurses, and a young war
veteran who'd been through Coventry. 1 urged our County Judge Glenn Perry and
the County Psychiatrist, Dr. C. W. Dwyer, and their wives to take a trip to
the water front.
"I was at the mike, the sky lit up and seconds later the blast came. (At
1:10 A.M., the High Flyer blew up.) This explosion was broadcast, along with
the honest fear in my voice, the zoom of a piece of debris that fell within
feet of us, and the honk of a horn as one of our number scrambled from the station
wagon.
"I was frightened, but kept talking. All of us hit the dirt. Then we continued
with detailed descriptions of 'live' interviews with victims of the second explosion,
many of whom were Houstonians."
THEROLE T. LEMEN:
"It looked just like a giant bomb they send up on the Fourth of July with
sparkles shooting out in all directions.
"Then a tank in the Humble tank farm went up, then a tank in the Republic
tank farm, just across the fence from our tank farm. Then there was another
explosion down between me and the docks which sounded as though it might be
a butane tank.
"The fire in the Republic tank farm was too close to our tanks and to a
Mae West and three spheres of the Warren Petroleum Co. butane and propane to
suit me, so I decided it was time to shut down."
BERT TUCKER:
"All the windows we put back in so carefully this morning are out again!
And we're a mile and a half away."
ELIZABETH COOPER:
"The furniture fell over, part of the stucco fell from the outside walls, the lights went out. We all crawled from the front to the back of the house, to the back yard. A huge piece of the High Flyer had buried itself in the yard. We decided to leave town."
LT. L. D. PYLE, of Houston Police Department:
"While I was en route to the docks, the SS High Flyer blew up, and for
the second time
in less than 24 hours, Texas City was screaming alive.
"As though a giant's hand had tried to push it into the grounds the patrol
car in which I was riding was squashed down. After the air stopped raining metal,
I drove back to help the wounded. As the roof of the car was a good six inches
lower, we all had to bend over. I sustained an injured arm."
A. E. BOEHLER:
"My back was to the ship when it exploded. Although I was 500 feet away,
the concussions, which came in waves and lasted about 3 seconds, knocked me
flat.
"A man about 5 feet away from me was hit by a piece of steel which almost
ripped his head off.
"Some object hit the Red Cross woman who had served me; it knocked her
down, but I don't think she was killed. She was about 200 feet from me."
C. D. MILES, SR.:
"Douglas was thrown 20 feet from the tractor. Four tractors were working
in the dock area at the time, and the others (none belonging to me) were torn
up while mine was undamaged."
MRS. HELEN CLOUGH, of Radio Station KLUF, Galveston:
"Lee had just finished talking to the editor of a London, England, newspaper
who had called trans-Atlantic. He wanted to know about the earlier explosions
of course."
PETE PETERMAN, Galveston:
"My wife had heard the High Flyer would blow up; it was all over Galveston.
I told her it was just a rumor. When it did blow up, our windows rattled, and
she said, 'Well, there goes your rumor.'"
LINDA LOU SCARBROUGH, near Vidor, about 80 miles from Texas City:
"Windows rattled; I woke up. Although the morning explosion did no damage
to our school, this one broke windows and cracked plaster."
MRS. F. C. PLUMMER:
"The jar woke me in Port Arthur, about 90 miles from Texas City."
ON THE EDITORIAL PAGE of The Galveston News, April 17:
"The News asks Galvestonians to demonstrate their inherent warmness of
heart by contributing funds now for the relief of those in Texas City who are
in need as a result of this major disaster. Contributions will be received at
the business office of the News, and will be distributed through the proper
channels.
"Galveston, whose experience with catastrophe on a major scale still remains
in the
minds of many of its citizens, extends its warmest and most heartfelt sympathy.
"Texas City's homes, schools, business houses and industries are all damaged;
we do not yet know how many of her citizens are dead; thousands are injured.
But Texas City will recover, and Galveston will help her."
JANET WOOD, St. Mary's Infirmary, Galveston:
"I came on duty at 7:00 A.M. We have three Frenchmen from the SS Grand
Camp in the same ward. They cannot speak English. They just lie, sometimes saying
something to each other. Fate has placed them in such an equivocal position!
I do what I can for them."
FRED DOWDY, Asst. Fire Chief:
"Plenty of men and plenty of foamite, but no water to dissolve the foamite.
Foamite is poured into a big hopper, water goes through underneath, and the
foamite comes out in liquid form. Only time we can do anything with oil fires
is when we use water from Stone Oil's reservoir."
ELIZABETH RHYNE:
"Thursday was a quiet day in Texas City, a dazed day. There was a solemn
stillness that hung over the wrecked buildings, the shattered glass, the waiting
people, and even on us outsiders who came in to help."
MRS. CARL A. RUST, writer for The Galveston 7s~Tews:
"Mrs. Howell told a harrowing story about putting her four children into
the car and driving toward the dock area to see if her husband was all right.
"The blockade had not yet been put up, but policemen yelled to her to get
out of the way of the fire trucks. She went forward regardless. Another and
another yelled at her to get out of the way. At last, at the railroad tracks
in front of the Monsanto, a policeman bawled,
"'Get that car off the road!'
"Immediately she parked, thinking she would leave as soon as the fire trucks
got by.
"Her 13-year-old son, Lewis, jumped out, and, although she called to him
to come back, he ran toward the fire.
"She told her 12-year-old daughter, Mary Rowe, to go after her brother.
Mary Rowe returned, reporting she could not locate Lewis.
"Soon after the first explosion, the mother jumped out of the car and started
running toward the scene. She saw her husband, covered with blood, crawling
up the railroad tracks from the docks. She told him that their two children
were in the area, adding,
"'Go after them and don't come back without them.'
"Just then the second blast came, throwing her into a pool of oily water.
A policeman pulled her out and started to send her by ambulance to a hospital.
She told him she would not leave without her children.
"The policeman found Lewis dead. Mary Rowe, who had run home to 15th Avenue
North, with a broken jaw, burst eardrums and other injuries, could not then
be found.
"The father died in the dock area. Mother and daughter were hospitalized
and will recover. The children that remained in the car were uninjured. Mr.
Howell's brother also died."
JOHN OBENDORFER:
"I worked in the morgue all day, mainly identifying people. At first, I
thought I couldn't do it, but I soon found that to help someone in trouble,
I could."
SGT. R. V. SCHORM
"I was supervising a crew of rescue workers searching for bodies when I
saw a 30-year-old Texas City man pick up a woman's purse from the debris and
take from it a small coin purse, which he slipped into his pocket. I threatened
to search him 'before all your townspeople.' The man handed over the purse containing
$26 and a gold wrist watch. The man was then escorted through the angry crowd
and jailed. The police were too busy to watch everything, though, and there
was some looting."
Thursday, at midnight. Under cover of the darkness there approached the Texas
City water front little boats, unlighted, moved by oars dipped with swift quietness
into the darksome waters of the Bay. Far above the cordon of police set up to
keep out just such as they, swarthy men, roughly dressed, crept quietly ashore,
joined rescue parties searching the endless wreckage for bodies dear to those
sorrowfully bereaved.
These late arrivals, carrion following in the wake of death, worked well. Fingers
once adorned with costly rings were missing from the corpses later laid out
in the morgues. Purses with identification complete were stripped of money.
Devoid of pity, lacking conscience, ever do the jackal crew complete their grisly
tasks with grim efficiency, then fade into the night.
FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 1947
THE GALVESTON News said editorially:
"It may be only a trick of fate which saved Galveston from the disaster
which wrecked Texas City. The ill-fated French ship Grand Camp was due to be
shifted to this port Wednesday night. We need but little imagination to visualize
the effect the explosion would have had on Galveston. While Galveston weeps
with Texas City in its sorrow, it also is prayerfully thankful for its own escape.
"Galveston, with its own experience of death-dealing disaster in the past,
is quick to react when other communities suffer.
"While Texas City suffers, Galveston will continue to fulfill its duty
to help in every way possible. Out of the disaster should come a firm bond of
intercity co-operation, seeking the realization of the hope that the two communities
will thrive and prosper together. Galvestonians have opened their homes and
their hearts to the residents of Texas City. May they never be closed."
THE BEAUMONT Enterprise said editorially:
"It is a tragic coincidence that the two worst disasters in Texas history,
and two of the worst in the nation's history, occurred within a few miles of
each other on the Texas coast.
"Texas City, where explosions and fires caused heavy loss of life, is about
10 miles distant from Galveston, where the great storm of 1900 caused an estimated
loss of 5,000 lives, and destruction of property valued at about $17,000,000.
"But the spirit of Galveston's people was undaunted by this calamity. They
set to work to rebuild.
"Texas City's disaster was different; but here, too, the dauntless spirit
of the people is already asserting itself. Texas City will rebuild. In due time,
it will be more important and more prosperous industrially than it was before
the exploding ship touched off a disaster that shocked a nation."
PAT FLAHERTY, from Texas City, 6:48 A.M.:
"The clean-up operation in the downtown and residential areas of Texas
City is under way. Army and Navy personnel are setting an example in their well-known
operation of 'policing up the area.'
'Police officers drafted onlookers and accepted the services of volunteers to
assist in some of the minor clean-up work. There has been a very distinct sound
of hammer and nail work in the various parts of the city.
"The Houston chapter of the Associated General Contractors has offered
such industrial machinery as bulldozers, cranes, draglines and other equipment
for use in cleaning the devastated industrial areas. The Master Plumbers Association
of Houston has offered emergency assistance to city officials."
PAT FLAHERTY, from Texas City to NBC, 7:00 A.M.:
"The Texas City Relief Organization has been formed here with Carl Nessler
serving as chairman. This Texas City Relief Organization will serve as the local
agency for receiving such cash donations and rendering financial aid as and
where it is needed in the Texas City area.
"The fires are definitely under control, and apparently the system of isolating
the fire area has been successful."
MRS. J. M. HOGAN, nurse at John Sealy Hospital:
"I went into the kitchen when I first came, at 7:00 A.M. One of the colored
maids, who had worked all night, was squeezing oranges. She said she was tired
and was going home. I told her,
"'Whenever you do something for someone in trouble or pain, it is a stepping
stone across the River Jordan. I think God was busy last night, keeping track
of all the things everyone did to help.'
"Grinning, she picked up another orange."
PAT FLAHERTY, from Texas City, KPRC, 12:02 P.M.:
"The fires continue to burn here in Texas City. There was a continued series
of thunder-like explosions in the night. They were dangerous in the immediate
area of the explosions, but this area was evacuated late yesterday to the extent
of three-quarters of a mile."
THE TEXAS CITY Sun, April 18, handbill size and printed on both sides, carried the first reconstruction story, the announcement that the Monsanto Chemical Plant would be rebuilt in Texas City.
THE HOUSTON Press, April 18, said editorially:
"Those who have returned from Texas City are fulsome in their praise of
the firemen, police, deputies and others who went to the stricken city from
Houston and other communities, to keep the peace and order, and to prevent the
chaos that so often prevails during such emergencies.
"As order was kept, doctors and nurses worked under the greatest difficulties
with the injured and it is due to this efficiency that the death list is not
as high as was at first feared."
PAT FLAHERTY, from KPRC Newsroom, 5:45 P.M.:
"Here is the situation as I left Texas City about an hour and a half ago.
The fire area in the dock and industrial sections has been reduced to three
large fires - three diminishing blazes of crude oil - huge oil tanks which boil
and collapse and then cause the oil to burst into fire and spill over into the
dock area.
"The dock and industrial area is a mass of complete destruction - wreckage
and debris which will take months to clear away.
"There will be no rescue squads working in the area tonight. The workers
will be called off the gruelling task for needed rest, and to prepare for a
fresh start in the morning."
SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 1947
THE BEAUMONT Enterprise said editorially:
"Perhaps one of the agencies that hurried to the relief of Texas City has
not been given as much credit by press and radio as it should receive. That
organization is the U. S. Army."
JANET WOOD, St. Mary's Infirmary:
"Just hearing that everyone is sending sympathy and gifts is cheering the
patients more than all the drugs and medicines."
FRED DOWDY, Acting Fire Chief:
"Worked in the Republic today; couldn't get to the Humble and Continental
until debris was cleared away enough to get water from the Bay. Thursday night
the War Assets Fire Equipment came in, 3 pumpers and 1 hose wagon, then 2 more
pumpers. Thanks to the generosity of everyone, we have always had enough equipment
and fighters; our worst difficulty has been lack of water and inability to get
close enough to fight the fires, because of the intense heat."
POSTMASTER MESKILL:
"I identified the body of Mr. Alfred Boyd Couch, postal employee, at the
temporary morgue across from the Postoffice.
"Mr. Couch had checked out for breakfast, and he and his wife went down
to see the fire. Mrs. Couch died in a Galveston hospital yesterday."
THE HOUSTON Chronicle, April 19, 1947, said editorially:
"Texas City is just now coming out of the shock of the terrific explosions
and fires that in midweek benumbed the citizens and despoiled the city. It faces
the sad task of burying its dead, healing its wounded and rebuilding its demolished
establishments,
"The rehabilitation job is enormous. It calls for the efforts of workers
of all kinds and skills. Help from the outside is needed and welcome.
"In the first phase of the disaster any and every help was a boon. Now
that system has replaced the chaos of the first day or two, only certain types
of aid are of service.
"Texas Citians are deeply grateful for those volunteers who came into the
ruined city at great personal risk. The service rendered by volunteers cannot
be overestimated.
"Now that the city is better organized for the work at hand, there is no
room for curious sightseers. Living and eating facilities are inadequate for
those having business there. Each unneeded car and every unnecessary person
add to the difficulty of carrying out the work of rehabilitation.
"The public is urged to stay away from Texas City. All persons are asked
to keep out of the city unless they have pressing business there, or unless
they have been specifically asked to contribute their efforts."
THE HOUSTON Press, April 19, 1947, said editorially:
"Tomorrow, in effect, will be a day of mourning for the victims of the
Texas City disaster, It is probable many ministers in Houston and elsewhere
in the Texas Gulf area will base their sermons on the holocaust that took such
a great toll.
"The sequence of tragic events touched off by a ship explosion suggests
the transitory quality of life. Hundreds of persons, with us not so long ago,
went about the humdrum task of earning a livelihood, are mourned, with their
passing affecting the lives, one way or another, of thousands of close friends
and relatives.
"Nothing we can do, of course, can bring back the dead. We can, and are,
making life as bearable as possible for the survivors. But we, the living, have
manifold blessings that we sometimes take too much for granted. Would it not
be well to select a church from the notices elsewhere in The Press and attend
a service tomorrow, asking for guidance and mercy for the families of the Texas
City victims and offering up a thanks that we have been spared - with the full
realization that, in living on, we have an obligation always to the less fortunate
among us?"
ACTING FIRE CHIEF, FRED DOWDY:
"Today we are cooling down debris and assisting with rescue work."
HUGH A. HUNTSMAN, Monsanto Policeman
"I attempted to identify the body of Lige Bullar, Sgt. of the Monsanto
Police."
MRS. J. M. HOGAN, John Scaly Hospital:
"The Galveston barbers, doing their bit to help, came to give much-needed
shaves and haircuts. The patients really appreciated this.
"Soon the entire second floor was cleaned up, the wards were all filled
with beautiful flowers. Over the radio a church service was broadcast. I know
the men in the ward were thanking God they were still alive."
DORIS BANGEMAN:
"Ministers of every denomination and faith have filed through the wards
of John Sealy today, and during those first long days and nights. Faith healers
have come, priests were here, giving last rites to some, praying for others.
"Some pray within the sanctuary of their own hearts.
"Elizabeth Wheaton was in the choir at Trinity Episcopal Church this morning.
Someone commented on how wonderful it was for her to sing today and she said,
'The Lord's been working for me all week; it's time I do a little work for Him.'
"Sunday at the hospital is just another day nearer normalcy. Joe Dillon,
a machinist at Monsanto, is improving. He wants to go back with Monsanto when
they rebuild."
THEROLE T. LEMEN:
"The Winchell broadcast tonight predicting another explosion at the Republic
almost emptied the place. Nothing happened, so I came to work at midnight."
MONDAY, APRIL 21, 1947
THE GALVESTON News, editorially
"Hardly anything but the Texas City disaster has been on our minds since
the tragedy occurred.
"When death thunders at your neighbor's house, as it did in Texas City,
what happens in the outside world is relatively unimportant.
"It was a grim task the press photographers had to undertake in making
pictures of the Texas City disaster. They did an admirable job. As usual, amateur
photographers were on the spot, too, and some made some admirable shots-Press
coverage of the catastrophe was admirable. Reporters worked long, hard hours
to tell the sad story, and they told it well."
THE BEAUMONT Enterprise, April 21, 1947, editorially:
"Serious explosions and fires in the oil industry are rare. The tank farms
of Texas look about as quiet as a cemetery and are less likely to catch fire
than many public buildings where, alas, safety rules are not observed."
THEROLE T. LEMEN:
"The situation looks good today. Atlantic is out. Humble is under control
and only a small fire at the docks and at Monsanto."
A. H. BARTH:
"Today 1 was allowed to leave the hospital and come home. It was not until
then that I realized the extent of the disaster. (I was blinded when I left.)
Now I see what a terrific explosion it was.
"When I visited our Monsanto plant site and the Terminal Docks, the wonder
is that anyone came out alive."
CAPTAIN LEONARD FULLER:
"The horrible part of it all is the suddenness and completeness. Just before
the explosion I had seen 3 fire trucks on the docks, and about 50 people, some
carrying suitcases, going for a leave.
"When I looked back, everything was gone. I was thankful my two oil barges
didn't blow up. There were 700 barrels of oil missing. We figure that the first
explosion had set them off and the second put them out."
MRS. H. M. STRONG:
"West End, 4 blocks wide and 7 blocks long, is one of the earliest additions
to Texas City. Four homes, including mine, were built in 1903. We are situated
about one mile west of where the Grand Camp and High Flyer exploded, and suffered
less property damage than any other section of town.
"Our dead and missing men, so many for so small an area, number 29."
THE TEXAS CITY Sun, April 21, 1947, editorially
"Bound together by a great and common tragedy for which there is no ready
word of
solace, but which has bowed every head in humility and compassion, we of Texas
City now rise again to carry on the hopes and dreams of those who have gone
before us.
"This is our challenge, our privilege, our Opportunity."
THE HOUSTON Chronicle, April 21, 1947, editorially:
"The spirit of Texas City will not be dampened for long, despite the heavy
loss of life and the terrific material damage that was incurred in the explosions
of the last week.
"With superb determination, ordinary citizens and the officials of great
industries alike are planning to rebuild the shattered city and resume the progress
which during the past few years has been pushing Texas City higher and higher
in the list of American industrial communities.
"The immediate decision of the Monsanto Chemical Company to rebuild its
styrene plant is perhaps the most significant of the plans being made, for the
company's loss was the heaviest of all and it was one of the largest chemical
plants in the Texas coastal area. The replacement cost will run well ahead of
the approximately $20,000,000 which the original plant cost, it is understood.
"Monsanto is to be commended for its relief and rehabilitation program,
whereby it is paying dependents of each dead employee $1,000 in addition to
the workmen's compensation insurance; its plans to assist the injured, keep
unneeded employees on the payroll for a time, and assist employees in repairing
or rebuilding their homes.
"The opinion that the disaster will not affect the industrial future of
Texas City in the long run is expressed also by officials of the Pan American
Refining Company, which has a huge refinery there. Pan American suffered only
minor damage as compared with some others, but is a leader in relief and rehabilitation
efforts.
"The company has presented the Texas City Relief Fund a check for $50,000,
a gesture which expresses more pointedly than words its belief in the city's
future and its intention to continue its participation in Texas City's development.
"Republic Oil, whose large refinery was heavily damaged, and other industries
also will repair and rebuild. Some can be back in full production within several
weeks or at the most within a few months.
"One of the greatest problems is housing. Hundreds of residences, mostly
small and inexpensive, were destroyed, while others were damaged heavily. All
were damaged to some extent. Residential damage totals millions of dollars.
"Railroad and harbor facilities were destroyed with losses of additional
millions. These will be replaced, perhaps with expanded and improved facilities
for both rail and water transportation.
"In the meantime, the need for funds for relief and for assisting destitute
residents to rebuild their homes continues and will continue for some time.
The more than $200,000 already received by the welfare committee is being augmented
daily. Every contribution will help.
"Texas City was no stranger to disaster. A storm once almost crushed the
then small community and set its growth back for years. But it rebuilt and went
on to become an industrial city of nation-wide significance. It will rebuild
faster after this disaster and go on into a greater future."
TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 1947
THEROLE T. LEMEN:
"When it became light enough to see, I noticed that peculiar orange smoke
coming from the docks and drifting across Texas City. The wind had gone back
to the south. We at Pan Am were trying to start up and had No. 1 C.U. hot and
about ready to come on the line.
"At 10:00 we held up the No. 1 C.U., and sent everyone home who wanted
to go. By that time, it was generally known that there were about 140 tons of
ammonium nitrate in the dock area, afire."
FRED DOWDY, Acting Fire Chief:
"Mayor Trahan and I had been down to the docks to look over the situation.
When we came back, we got in touch with the Coast Guard. A Coast Guard fire
boat came over and went to work on it.
"We had trucks and men ready to go down, but I waited until I knew what
I was sending people down for, before I gave the order. A Bureau of Mines Inspector
went down and gave the opinion that the land fire fighters could safely go down.
"After the Coast Guard fireboat crew had been working on it a while, the
Texas City firemen went down with 2 pumps with 2 lines and assisted the Coast
Guard in washing it overboard. It took 18 hours, all together."
VIC LANDIG, mortician in charge of the Texas City dead:
"At 10:00 A.M. I was notified that the cold storage vault at Camp Wallace
was ready to receive the dead. The first bodies were placed in the vault at
about noon April 22, and by 5:00 P.M. about 82 bodies were in storage.
"At about 3:00 P.M. Mr. Brooker of Monsanto Chemical Company arrived at
Camp Wallace, and arrangements were made for the Monsanto operators to take
over the refrigeration system which had been put in operation by Carbide men
supervised by Tobe Stanley, H. E. Allspach and B. R. Tucker, Machinist Supervisors."
THELMA DYESS:
"A second fire started this morning in the remaining nitrate. Several of
the operators got hysterical and left. Mr. John Hill from the Mayor's office
came over and reassured us."
SALLY WEHMEYER:
"I am still anxiously awaiting word that they have identified my husband's
body.
"Even though Vic is gone, and in such a violent way, as are hundreds of
others, I know that it is God's will. I also know that Vic would have wanted
it that way. He was taken that morning, as our motto states, 'In the Service
of Others.'"
E. E. EDMONSON, in the Neches Sphere:
"I wish that it were possible for every refinery employee to have witnessed
the destruction and death, not only of employees, but men and women and children
whose bodies were mangled and charred beyond recognition, and in every conceivable
condition as a result of so great an explosion accompanied by such intense heat
that was brought about because someone disregarded safety regulations.
"There was a simple little sign on the boat that they chose to ignore.
It read, 'NO SMOKING.' "
ACTING FIRE CHIEF FRED DOWDY:
"No more danger from fire now. Everything is gone."
B. F. PIETSCH, employee of E. S. Levy, Galveston:
(NOTE: Levy's started a Texas City Relief Fund at 10:30 A.M., April 16, with
a check for $l,000, collected more funds and turned them over to the general
fund.)
"Mr. Levy asked me to call on our customers and see how they fared.
"It was a pleasure to visit people who had a hole in their roof, all windows
out, members of the family injured, and yet they said,
"Thank God, we are lucky. There are lots who suffered more.'
"The people of Texas City are the bravest people I have ever met. I have
not heard one complain.
"Our nation should watch the people of Texas City and learn what makes
a city, a state, a nation a better city, state, nation. These people will build
a greater Texas City."
THE TEXAS CITY Sun, April 22, editorially:
"Although gratitude wells deep in the hearts of every Texas Citian for
the 'outside' aid rushed into our city in a time of need, still deeper runs
the spirit of kinship which has sprung from the knowledge of a burden shared,
of the help which came from the next-door neighbor who turned immediately to
the task with but one thought:
These are our people.
"Only minutes after the disaster, Texas City doctors, nurses, ambulance
drivers, trained and volunteer workers were ministering to their own. Drug stores,
grocery stores, department stores, hardware stores and many others with usable
stocks poured merchandise from battered shelves to those who needed it, accepting
no payment.
"First-aid stations and coffee and sandwich stations sprang up. Business
establishments were converted for emergency use. Rescue squads formed, private
cars, trucks, carried the injured and dead. Industries organized to care for
workers, municipal and Chamber of Commerce heads went into action, housewives
opened homes, children comforted one another.
"As the days wore on, neighbors who Tuesday (April 16) were strangers,
lent a hand, customers took 30-minute turns behind counters to relieve short-handed
labor conditions.
"Personal and business gains were forgotten as each gave according to the
need he found, each worked according to the job at hand. Only one thought stood
and stands clear: These are our people."
TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 1947, the people of Texas City were asked to return to their
homes. Those who are physically able will do so. There are many in hospitals
who will remain away for many more days, weeks, even months. Many will have
to learn to use one hand where once were two, one foot, one leg, one eye.
And you, who stretched out such kindly hands to aid, and walked with us in our
dark hours close to that flaming death, in hospital or morgue, and stood beside
us at our open graves, still stand beside us, as with courage firm, we face
tomorrow's sun, and shadows fall behind. The path is hard ahead. We still need
friends and prayer.
- ELIZABETH LEE WHEATON
Lack of space prevented the use of interesting material supplied by the following:
Frances Irene Staron Ammons, Elestine Armstrong, Mrs. H. J. Baumgartner, Mrs.
Ethel
Baker, Mrs. T. A. Barber, Roger Bolino, J. T. Cain, Mrs. John Campbell, Helen
Chalmers,
Milton E. Clark, Elmer V. Coolidge, H. M. Cooper, Sylvia F. Curtis, Willie D.
Davis, Mrs.
S. T. Dempsey, Ann Durst, Columbus Fuller, Mrs. Leonard Edward Fuller, C. F.
Fuller, G. B.
Garza, Josephine Godinich, Gertrude Girardeau, Mrs. F. J. Hargrave, Oscar Hokanson,
Neils
Hokanson, Mrs. L. H. Hunter, Lillian Johnson, Clement Jennis, Jessie Jones,
James Jones, Kathleen Kaiser, Mrs. V. R. Kelly, 0. Q. Lomax, Dr. and Mrs. L.
E. Lake, Louis Levin, Mary
Martin, Alline Mason, Bobby Martin, Florence Moore, Jane and James Miles, William
Sidney
Miles, Mrs. E. W. Morehead, Cleo Murphy, Mrs. E. H. Mitchell, Lilo Nevels, William
Orr, August Osterhoim, Chester Premo, Fred Pool, Carlyle Plummer, Winifred Pugh,
Simon Randle, Elizabeth Rhyne, Duncan B. Ross, Mary Redfern, Rosalie Saba, Estelle
Scarbrough, Linda Lou
Scarbrough, Leta Karen Cunningham, Mrs. J. M. Stevens, Jennie Scott, J~ S. Sullivan,
Lillie
Mae Smith, Willie Smith, Lizzie Tolson, L. C. Talmage, Margaret Veach, Hedwig
Wagner, C.
Janet Wood, R. J. Watts, Carl J. Whitson, Vera Watkins, and Henry 0. Wray, Jr.
What the People Said and Did
By the Community, State and Nation Part One
By the Community, State and Nation Part Two