THE GREAT STORM

The day would come when George would take Sam Maceo's place as the new Mr. Galveston.  To understand the magnitude of George's accomplishment, let us start with a brief history lesson of Galveston. 

Galveston was originally inhabited by Indians, then pirates, then Spanish, and finally the settlers who would become the Texans.  Following Texas Independence from Mexico in 1836, entrepreneurs discovered the value of Galveston's world-class deep-water seaport.  Throughout the 1800s, Galveston and Houston were locked in bitter economic rivalry.  Galveston was the leader and it wasn't close.

Houston had railroads, but Galveston had the seaport.  The 1900 International Yearbook ranked Galveston the 5th port in America.  It was an unparalleled economic engine that created prosperity for everyone on the Island.  Considered the Pearl of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, Galveston Island was so busy it rivaled Hong Kong.  At the turn of the century Galveston was now one of the richest cities in the world on a per capita basis.  Huge southern mansions lined Broadway and grand houses were scattered throughout the neighborhoods.  The Rich were very rich and everyone enjoyed a high standard of living. Cooled by balmy ocean breezes, Galveston was an absolute paradise. 

The 1900 census reported Galveston’s population as 38,000.  It boasted an expansion rate that was among the highest of all Southern cities.  The gain of nearly thirty percent from 1890 was an undeniable indicator that Galveston was well on its way to becoming one of the great cities of America.  In 1900 the city was ranked the second wealthiest (per capita) in the nation.  One day it all went to Hell.

And then the Hurricane hit.

It was September in 1900.

The people of Galveston never knew it was coming.

By the time they found out, it was too late.

There was no escape.

1 in 4 citizens died, 6,000 in all.

Oddly enough, the worst natural disaster in American history was never given a name.  To this day, they simply call it The Great Storm.

Ironically, Galveston had been debating the wisdom of building a seawall throughout the latter part of the 1800s.

"Within the last two or three years, people have begun to think that the islands and peninsulas along the Texas and Louisiana Coast are unsafe places to inhabit due to the threat of hurricane.  Galveston Island is but a waif of the ocean, liable at any moment to be engulfed and submerged by the self-same power that gave it form."    -- Braman's Information about Texas, 1858

However, like many things in life, the soothsayers were unable to capture the attention of the townspeople until it was too late.  The deadly Galveston hurricane still holds the record for the highest death total from a disaster in America history.  At least 6,000 people lost their lives that day, quite possibly even more.  No one will ever know the true count.  By comparison, famous disasters such as the San Francisco earthquake (3,000), 9-11 (3,000), Pearl Harbor (2,500), and Hurricane Katrina (2,000) don't even come close.

The terrible death total can be attributed to three factors.  Based on accounts from several books such as Isaac's Storm, the U.S. Weather Service was run by ignorant yahoos at the turn of the century.  Due to a dangerous combination of arrogance and prejudice, the U.S. Weather Service was embroiled in a rivalry with their Cuban counterparts.  One month prior to the Great Storm, the U.S. director prevented all Cuban weather reports from reaching American soil.  It's a long story, but upshot is the U.S. Weather Service figured it was smart enough to do the job on its own.  Big mistake. 

The hurricane passed right over Cuba.  It was so large its distant winds crossed Key West, the southernmost point in Florida.  Unable to access Cuban weather data, the U.S. analysts based their decision on Key West reports instead.  When the distant winds over Key West had a sudden drop-off in intensity, the analysts assumed this meant the eye of the hurricane had just begun to curve in a northeast arc from Cuba.  After all, everyone knows that hurricanes curve to the north.  On the day the Great Storm hit Galveston, the U.S. Weather Service had sent out a dispatch which said the Cuban storm was in the Atlantic Ocean.  Ironically, the Cubans got it right. 

Ultimately it was the element of surprise that was mainly responsible for the high death toll.  Victimized by the bogus report, the people of Galveston had no idea a Category Four storm was approaching.   Completely blind-sided, the citizens had no way to escape.  Back in those days, there was only a single narrow bridge that connected Galveston to the mainland.  The moment the hurricane hit, that bridge was destroyed.  Now the citizens were trapped.

The third factor was the inability to escape.  There was no such thing as 'high land' to retreat to.  Lacking protection from the incoming flood waters, a 15-foot storm surge inundated the city.  The wood structures were not strong enough.  Once their house fell, the people inside were goners.  Structures were flattened and stranded helpless victims in turbulent waters.  Some were lucky enough to grab a piece of wood to stay afloat in the raging high water, but only the strongest avoided drowning.    

The Great Storm became the defining event in Galveston history.  The surge cleared the land of every structure on the Gulf of Mexico side of the island.  Eleven blocks consisting of 4,000 structures were demolished.  Only one third of the city's buildings stood in the aftermath of the storm.  Galveston lay in ruins.

Throughout the 1800s, Galveston had been the largest, most prosperous city in Texas.  A major center of commerce, with a population of 38,000 at the turn of the century, Galveston had been poised for greatness.  In the blink of an eye, that was gone.  The city had been reduced to rubble.  Overnight the death total reduced the population from 38,000 to 32,000.  Seeing how hopeless things were, many of the survivors moved away. 

Galveston's new population count was 25,000. 

TALE OF TWO CITIES

By every standard, Galveston was well ahead of Houston at the turn of the century.  Located just 50 miles apart, Galveston's population was 38,000, Houston's population was 44,000.

Houston is a delta of sorts.  A great deal of East Texas and North Texas rainfall passes through Houston on its way to the gulf.  For example, if it rains hard in Dallas, flood waters come to Houston.  It would help if Houston had a major river with a swift current.  Instead Houston has a half-dozen narrow, slow-moving bayous which take their sweet time draining the swampy floodplain.  Due to the swampland, mosquitoes are a serious problem as is the fearsome heat and humidity. 

Whenever it rained, the dirt roads turned to thick mud.  The climate was almost unbearable.  It was so hot and muggy, no one really wanted to live in such nasty place.  Ulysses S. Grant once said if he owned Hell and half of Texas, he would rent out Texas and live in Hell.  Houston pretty much fit that description. 

However, Houston did have the advantage of Buffalo Bayou, a reasonably wide, lazy waterway perfect for Texas cotton farmers to float their crops downstream.  From there, cotton was loaded onto trains and whisked away in every direction.

Houston was beat up by the Great Storm as well, but survived the hurricane relatively unscathed due to being 50 miles inland.  Galveston wasn't so lucky.  By some accounts Galveston didn't even exist anymore.  Rebuilding would take a long time. 

Prior to the Great Storm, Houston was at best an afterthought to the island breezes.  Houston's economy was stagnant.  Compared to Galveston's elegant homes and state of the art buildings,   Houston was a dirty, unimpressive ramshackle town that existed primarily as a place for railroads to export lumber and cotton.  Much of Houston's exports went directly to Galveston from where it was shipped to other parts of the country.  In other words, Houston was supporting Galveston's booming economy.

Fate can be very cruel.  On September 8, 1900, the Great Storm flipped the Arrow of Destiny.  However, the hurricane was not the only stroke of misfortune.  The second bad break came four short months later.  In January 1901, the largest oil field discovery in world history took place in Beaumont, a small city in East Texas. 

The Spindletop oil discovery would change everything.  No other oil field in the world had ever been so productive.  Now people wondered if there was more oil to be found in Texas.  This possibility generated a frenzy of successful oil exploration throughout the state. 

The ensuing economic development became known as the Texas Oil Boom.  Thanks to Texas, overnight the United States became the world's leading oil producer.  Spindletop was equidistant from Houston and Galveston.  Beaumont was 66 miles northeast of Houston and 66 miles northeast of Galveston.  One of these two cities would be responsible for shipping Spindletop oil overseas and to other parts of America. 

Which city would it be??  So this is a book about Fate, correct?  Well, cities can have a Fate too and Galveston was in serious trouble.  Spindletop presented a huge opportunity at the exact moment Galveston was unable to respond.  Although Galveston possessed the finest natural port in the entire South, it was unable to invest in the burgeoning oil industry.  Beaumont already had an existing rail route to Houston, so why bother building one to Galveston?  Besides, Galveston's capital was tied up in building a seawall to prevent future disasters.  This was the same seawall project that had been delayed for years.  Not surprisingly, this time the vote to build the seawall had passed with little opposition.  Someone with a very dark sense of humor said the people who had previously voted against the seawall project must be dead now. 

Galveston's leaders got another piece of bad news.  Following the Great Storm, they had hoped investors would rush to rebuild Galveston.  On the contrary, the money men stayed away in droves.  After the storm, investors were understandably afraid of Galveston's vulnerable location.  They preferred to invest in Houston instead. 

Sorry to say, Galveston's string of bad luck wasn't over.  Not by a long shot.  This was just the start.  No one ever said that life was fair.

The man who put the knife in Galveston's back was Jesse H. Jones.  If this name sounds familiar, think 'Jones Scholarship'. Yes, this was the same man who created the scholarship fund that caused me so much anguish back in high school.

Jesse H. Jones was Houston's original mover and shaker.  He arrived in Houston in 1898.  A builder and investor, Jones had just begun to make his mark when the Great Storm and Spindletop took place back to back.  Jones took careful note of the Spindletop oil discovery.  He anticipated that the oil strike plus the growing importance of rice crops would create a rapid shift in the economy in Texas.  Sensing Houston was perfectly poised to take advantage, Jones made a recommendation that would accommodate the explosive growth of the Texas economy. 

Jesse Jones proposed building the Houston Ship Channel!!

Houston business leaders agreed this was a brilliant move.  Everyone knew Galveston possessed a far superior port.  It was deeper and far more convenient to shipping in the Gulf of Mexico.  Furthermore it was right on the Gulf while Houston was 50 miles inland.  But the Texas economy could not wait for Galveston to regroup, so the decision to build the Houston Ship Channel was quickly approved. 

No doubt Galveston's leaders wanted to tear their hair out.  As Houston began its rise to prominence, Galveston was too crippled to make a counter-move.  Galveston officials stared glumly as Houston dredged out Buffalo Bayou.  The engineers created an artificial canal deep and wide enough to serve huge oil tankers. 

Ironically, the Houston Ship Channel extended practically to the edge of downtown Houston.  Smug executives in their tall skyscrapers could look out and survey their growing empire. 

Poor Galveston.  Crippled by the hurricane, Galveston watched in despair as Spindletop oil was sent by train and truck to Houston.  This momentous break shifted virtually all economic development of the region from Galveston to Houston.  Galveston was reeling and Jesse Jones had just supplied the kill shot. 

Houston was no longer dependent on Galveston's port. The new ship channel was not only protected from the ocean, it was far better positioned geographically to use the railroads and new highways for shipping than isolated Galveston Island. 

The opening of the Ship Channel made Houston an international seaport overnight.  Oil, rice, and cotton came straight to Houston shipyards and was redirected to distant ports.  Galveston's dominant share of Houston's economy evaporated overnight. 

Jesse Jones was not only a shrewd anticipator of economic trends, he also possessed uncanny good luck and timing.  Just months before the Ship Channel was completed in 1914, the Panama Canal opened.  Ordinarily Galveston, the superior natural deepwater seaport, would have been poised to take advantage.  But they were still building their seawall.  Houston became the obvious next choice as the first stop for all sea traffic to and from the Panama Canal.  The Panama Canal should have been Asia to Galveston.  Instead it was Asia to Houston.

Jesse Jones' lucky streak continued when World War I broke out in 1914.  Since World War I was highly mechanized, this created an overwhelming thirst for more oil that could only be met from one place on earth - Houston, Texas. 

The combination of the Houston Ship Channel, Panama Canal and World War I propelled Houston to world prominence.  Houston was now the dominant seaport in the South and the nation’s petrochemical leader.  The Great Storm had turned Houston into the Energy Capital of the world. 

And what about Galveston?  No one gave it a second thought.  At the moment it had nothing going for it. 

Since Houston is my hometown, from my point of view, I say thank you, Jesse Jones, for your foresight... even if I didn't win your college scholarship.  But my heart goes out to Galveston. 

INTO THE VOID

The seawall was completed 1915, much too late for Galveston's port to stage a comeback.  Houston's gain was Galveston's loss.  Houston's Ship Channel would forever more hold the upper hand. 

Alarmed at the city's terrible run of bad luck, the civic leaders decided that 'tourism' was their best bet to make a comeback.  For starters, the new seawall helped create a very beautiful beach right in front of the city.  So why not put a hotel there?

In 1911, the Hotel Galvez was completed.  Unfortunately, the city's economy was still in dry dock.  Despite the beautiful hotel and the convenient beach, there was no rush to fill the Galvez.

Strangely, the event that got Galveston moving again was the Prohibition Era (1920-1933).  In hindsight, we now know that a major unintended consequence of Prohibition was the growth of urban crime organizations... Al Capone, for example.

Into Galveston's economic vacuum came Sam Maceo.  Referred to as the 'Galveston Godfather' and 'Mr. Galveston', Maceo quickly became the most important man in the history of Galveston.

Sam Maceo and his brother Rosario came to Galveston shortly before the outbreak of World War I.  They were barbers by trade, but soon discovered a lucrative side business.  As Prohibition took hold, the Maceo brothers began to smuggle in cheap wine and rum to give as gifts to their customers. 

The booze-laden islands of Jamaica, Cuba, and Bahamas as well as high-quality liquor from Canada found its way to Galveston.  35 miles southwest of the island was a rendezvous point known as Rum Row.  Bootleggers with small, fast speedboats met schooners outside the jurisdictional waters of the the U.S., then carried the liquor onto secret rendezvous points hidden along Galveston's deserted beaches.  Some of the booze stayed in Galveston while much of it made its way north.  Seeing how interested their customers were in the liquor, Sam and Rosario Maceo emerged as the underworld leaders in Galveston.

The Maceo brothers allied themselves with Beach Gang leader Ollie Quinn and opened the Hollywood Dinner Club, Galveston's most elegant night club.  Sam Maceo's smooth personality made him the face of the nightclub.  It was during this time Maceo developed the sharp interpersonal skills that would come in handy when dealing with Island politicians.  In short order, Maceo learned the name of every person of importance on the island and Galveston County.  Apparently those political skills paid off handsomely.  He persuaded law enforcement to do the dirty work for him.  Fortuitous arrests of rival gang leaders allowed the brothers to gain complete control of the island's underworld without a serious blood bath.  By the late 1920s, the upper echelon of the Galveston gangs had gone by the wayside.  With their enemies in prison, the Maceos had garnered complete control of the Galveston underworld.

As one can see from this story, Sam Maceo operated more like a clever politician than a gangster.  Known as the "Velvet Glove," Maceo's smooth style and ability to influence people was legendary.  Through his vast network of connections, Maceo wielded influence comparable to an elected official and business leader at the same time.  Sam Maceo maintained relationships with celebrities and politicians throughout Texas and the United States.  Thanks in large part to his celebrity and good deeds, law enforcement found it easier to look the other way. 

Once Sam Maceo was in control, he built an empire based on alcohol, gambling, prostitution, nightclubs and first-class entertainment.  Unlike the Brando character in the Godfather, Maceo was not known for his use of force.  Since Maceo was allowed to rule Galveston without interference, he always preferred to use persuasion in lieu of force.  Although his brother Rosario was known to use violence on occasion, by and large Sam Maceo was a benign presence who made sure there were no widespread vendettas.

Galveston had long been a hot spot for prostitution dating back to its origins as a pirate hangout.  Legend has it that Galveston and the State of Texas owed a large debt of gratitude to a prostitute named Emily Morgan.  This former slave girl would come to be known as "The Yellow Rose of Texas" due to her mulatto light-brown skin color. 

Emily Morgan caught the eye of Generalissimo Santa Ana during his visit to a Galveston brothel following his brutal victory at the Alamo.  Santa Ana was so smitten with Emily's charms, he was unwilling to part with her.  Santa Ana took Emily with him to his campground at nearby San Jacinto.  This area was a swampland located on the banks of the Buffalo Bayou halfway between Houston and Galveston.  The Yellow Rose distracted Santa Ana so thoroughly that he failed to make sure the grounds were properly guarded. 

The following morning, the Texas army under General Sam Houston surprised the flat-footed Mexicans.  The fight lasted just 18 minutes.  In that brief time, 600 Mexican soldiers were killed and 730 captured.  By contrast, only nine Texans died.  Was it the superior fighting ability of the Texas men or the superior charms of the Texas women that created Texas Independence?  There is little doubt Santa Ana wasn't the only man who let down his guard thanks to Emily Morgan and the scarlet ladies who came along with her.  Texas had its independence and the nearby community got its name... Houston. 

Perhaps the success of the Yellow Rose and her friends had in disarming the Mexican army can explain Galveston's relaxed attitude towards women of the night.  During the Maceo Era, Galveston law enforcement more or less turned a blind eye towards prostitution.  You never knew Texas history was so titillating, did you?

The benign attitude extended to gambling and drinking as well.  Other than the occasional wink-wink raid where Maceo was tipped off in advance, Galveston law enforcement pretty much let Sam Maceo do whatever he wanted to do.  Nor did the State of Texas bother to interfere.  For some strange reason, the rest of the state seemed content to let Galveston conveniently ignore the vice laws.  During this wild and crazy time, the city became known as the 'Free State of Galveston'.  The idea was that Galveston was so special it did not have to obey the rules that applied to the rest of Texas.  My guess is that most Texas politicians didn't like Prohibition any more than the next guy.  They enjoyed having a place where they could go to have some fun while saving their pompous law and order speeches for home.

Since gambling and bootleg liquor went hand-in-hand with prostitution, the back rooms of the popular nightclubs along the Galveston seawall became known for illegal activities during the Prohibition Era.  People from across the state and nearby Louisiana flocked in to join the fun.  In addition, all those Houston millionaires made sure to buy a pleasure palace on Galveston Island to accommodate their frequent visits.  In this way, much of that new-found Houston oil money made its way back into the Galveston economy.  Sam Maceo became the talk of the town.  Thanks to the prosperity generated by Maceo's empire of decadence, the Twenties and Thirties would become the heyday of Galveston.  In the process, Sam Maceo turned Galveston into the Sin City of the Gulf Coast.