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Python for Google App Engine 1st Edition Massimiliano
Pippi Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Massimiliano Pippi
ISBN(s): 9781784398194, 1784398195
Edition: 1
File Details: PDF, 2.10 MB
Year: 2015
Language: english
Python for Google App Engine

Master the full range of development features provided

by Google App Engine to build and run scalable web
applications in Python

Massimiliano Pippi

BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
Python for Google App Engine

Copyright © 2015 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written
permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in
critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy
of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book
is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author nor
Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any
damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the
companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals.
However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: January 2015

Production reference: 1210115

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place
35 Livery Street
Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78439-819-4
 Credits

Author Project Coordinator

Massimiliano Pippi Kranti Berde

Reviewers Proofreaders
Dom Derrien Simran Bhogal
Samuel Goebert Maria Gould
Marcos Placona Ameesha Green
Paul Hindle
Commissioning Editor
Taron Pereira Indexer
Priya Sane
Acquisition Editor
Richard Brookes-Bland Production Coordinator
Nitesh Thakur
Content Development Editor
Vaibhav Pawar Cover Work
Nitesh Thakur
Technical Editor
Tanmayee Patil

Copy Editors
Deepa Nambiar
Vikrant Phadke
Stuti Srivastava
 About the Author

Massimiliano Pippi has been a software developer for over 10 years, more
than half of which he spent working with scientific visualization and backend
software for a private company, using C++ and Qt technologies. He started using
Python in 2008 and currently works at Evonove, a small company where he has
been leading a number of Python software projects, most of which are based on the
Django web framework. He is also an open source advocate and active contributor,
documentation fanatic, and speaker at conferences.
 About the Reviewers

Dom Derrien is a full-stack web developer who has been defining application
environments with a focus on high availability and scalability. He's been in the
development field for more than 15 years and has worked for big and small
companies and also as an entrepreneur.

He's currently working for the game company Ubisoft Inc., where he defines the
next generation services platform for its successful AAA games. To extend the
gamer experience on the Web and on mobiles, he provides technical means that
are transparent, efficient, and highly flexible.

On receiving the invitation to review this book, after a comparable work for the
books Google App Engine Java and GWT Application Development, Packt Publishing,
he was pleased to share his knowledge about Google App Engine again.

I want to thank my wife, Sophie, and our sons, Erwan and Goulven,
with whom I enjoy a peaceful life in Montréal, Québec, Canada.

Samuel Goebert is a computer science PhD student at Plymouth University, UK.

Samuel has over 12 years of experience in software development and associated
technologies. For further details about him, check out his
Marcos Placona grew up in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and started tinkering with web
development when 14.400 kbs modems were the coolest thing.

He then eagerly pursued a computer science degree and soon after an opportunity
arose on the other side of the Atlantic. In his 20s, he decided to move to England
where he worked as a software engineer at a software house. He also started
blogging on www.placona.co.uk.

Marcos has published and printed articles in several web portals, magazines,
and books.

He is currently working as a developer evangelist at Twilio; he actively works

with developers and communities to equip and inspire them while making their
applications better.
Do you need instant solutions to your IT questions? PacktLib is Packt's online digital
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To Azzurra and Valerio, thanks for being patient with me. But I also have been
patient with you, so I think we're even.
 Table of Contents
Preface 1
Chapter 1: Getting Started 7
The cloud computing stack – SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS 8
Google Cloud Platform 9
Hosting + Compute 9
Storage 9
BigQuery 10
Services 10
What Google App Engine does 11
The runtime environment 11
The services 12
Making our first Python application 14
Download and installation 15
Installing on Windows 15
Installing on Mac OS X 16
Installing on Linux 16
App Engine Launcher 16
Creating the application 19
The app.yaml configuration file 19
The main.py application script 21
Running the development server 22
Uploading the application to App Engine 24
Google Developer Console 26
Development Console 27
Summary 27
Table of Contents

Chapter 2: A More Complex Application 29

Experimenting on the Notes application 29
Authenticating users 30
HTML templates with Jinja2 31
Handling forms 34
Persisting data in Datastore 36
Defining the models 36
Basic querying 38
Transactions 40
Using static files 43
Summary 48
Chapter 3: Storing and Processing Users' Data 49
Uploading files to Google Cloud Storage 50
Installing Cloud Storage Client Library 50
Adding a form to upload images 51
Serving files from Cloud Storage 54
Serving files through Google's Content Delivery Network 56
Serving images 56
Serving other types of files 59
Transforming images with the Images service 60
Processing long jobs with the task queue 63
Scheduling tasks with Cron 65
Sending notification e-mails 66
Receiving users' data as e-mail messages 67
Summary 71
Chapter 4: Improving Application Performance 73
Advanced use of Datastore 73
More on properties – arrange composite data with StructuredProperty 74
More on queries – save space with projections and optimize
iterations with mapping 77
Projection queries 77
Mapping 78
NDB asynchronous operations 79
Caching 81
Backup and restore functionalities 82
Indexing 83
Using Memcache 85
Breaking our application into modules 87
Summary 91

[ ii ]
 Table of Contents

Chapter 5: Storing Data in Google Cloud SQL 93

Creating a Cloud SQL instance 93
Configuring access 95
Setting the root password 97
Connecting to the instance with the MySQL console 97
Creating the notes database 97
Creating a dedicated user 98
Creating tables 99
Connecting to the instance from our application 100
Loading and saving data 104
Using the local MySQL installation for development 107
Summary 108
Chapter 6: Using Channels to Implement a
Real-time Application 109
Understanding how the Channel API works 110
Making our application real time 112
Implementing the server 112
The JavaScript code for clients 115
Tracking connections and disconnections 124
Summary 125
Chapter 7: Building an Application with Django 127
Setting up the local environment 128
Configuring a virtual environment 128
Installing dependencies 130
Rewriting our application using Django 1.7 130
Using Google Cloud SQL as a database backend 132
Creating a reusable application in Django 135
Views and templates 136
Authenticating users with Django 140
Using the ORM and migrations system 143
Processing forms with the Forms API 146
Uploading files to Google Cloud Storage 150
Summary 154

[ iii ]
Table of Contents

Chapter 8: Exposing a REST API with Google Cloud Endpoints 155

Reasons to use a REST API 156
Designing and building the API 156
Resources, URLs, HTTP verbs, and response code 156
Defining resource representations 158
Implementing API endpoints 161
Testing the API with API Explorer 168
Protecting an endpoint with OAuth2 170
Summary 173
Index 175

[ iv ]
 Preface
In April 2008, 10,000 developers from all around the world were lucky enough to
get an account to access the preview release of Google App Engine, which is a tool
designed to let users run their web applications on the same infrastructure Google
uses for its own services. Announced during Google's Campfire One event, App
Engine was described as something easy to use, easy to scale and free to get started;
three design goals that perfectly matched the requirements of a typical tech start-up
trying to reduce the time to market.

While other big companies at that time were already offering to lease part of their
own infrastructure, selling reliability and scalability in an affordable, pay-per-use
fashion, Google set App Engine one step ahead by providing developers with
application-building blocks instead of simple access to hardware; it is a hosting
model followed by many others later on. The goal of this model is to let developers
focus on the code and forget about failing machines, network issues, scalability
problems, and performance tuning; the choice of Python as the first programming
language supported by App Engine was a natural choice for a tool whose aim is to
make writing and running web applications easier.

During the Google I/O event in 2012, Google announced that several other building
blocks from its own infrastructure would be made available under the name of
Google Cloud Platform, first as a partner program and then as a general availability
product. Currently, App Engine is not only a notable member of the Cloud Platform
family but also a mature and well-maintained platform, widely adopted and with a
huge list of customers' success stories.

This book will teach you how to write and run web applications in Python with
App Engine, getting the most out of Google Cloud Platform. Starting with a simple
application, you will add more and more features to it, each time with the help
of the components and services provided by Google's infrastructure.
Preface

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Getting Started, will help you get your hands dirty with a very simple
functional Python application running on a production server. The chapter begins
with making a survey of Google's cloud infrastructure, showing where App Engine is
placed and how it compares to other well-known cloud services. It then walks readers
through downloading and installing the runtime for Linux, Windows, and OS X,
coding a Hello, World! application and deploying it on App Engine. The last part
introduces administration consoles both for the development and production servers.

Chapter 2, A More Complex Application, teaches you how to implement a complex web
application running on App Engine. It begins with an introduction to the bundled
webapp2 framework and possible alternatives; then, you will get in touch with user
authentication and form handling and then an introduction to Google's Datastore
nonrelational database. The last part shows you how to make HTML pages through
templates rendering and how to serve all the static files needed to style the page.

Chapter 3, Storing and Processing Users' Data, will show you how to add more
functionalities to the app from the previous chapter. The chapter begins by showing
you how to let users upload files using Google Cloud Storage and how to manipulate
such files when they contain image data with the Image API. It then introduces you
to the task queues used to execute long jobs (such as image manipulation) outside
the request process and how to schedule batches of such jobs. The last part shows
you how to send and receive e-mails through the Mail API.

Chapter 4, Improving Application Performance, begins by showing how to improve

application performance using advanced features of Datastore. It then shows you
how to use the cache provided by App Engine and how to break the application into
smaller services using Modules.

Chapter 5, Storing Data in Google Cloud SQL, is dedicated to the Google Cloud
SQL service. It shows you how to create and manage a database instance and
how to connect and perform queries. It then demonstrates how an App Engine
application can save and retrieve data and how to use a local MySQL installation
during development.

Chapter 6, Using Channels to Implement a Real-time Application, shows you how to make
our application real time, in other words, how to update what clients see without
reloading the page in the browser. The first part shows how the Channel API works,
what happens when a client connects, and what roundtrip of a message is from
the server to the client. Then, it shows you how to add a real-time feature to our
application from previous chapters.

[2]
 Preface

Chapter 7, Building an Application with Django, teaches you how to build an App
Engine application using the Django web framework instead of webapp2. The
first part shows you how to configure the local environment for development, and
then the application from previous chapters is rewritten using some of the features
provided by Django. The last part shows you how to deploy the application on a
production server.

Chapter 8, Exposing a REST API with Google Cloud Endpoints, shows you how to
rewrite part of our application to expose data through a REST API. The first part
explores all the operations needed to set up and configure a project and how to
implement a couple of endpoints for our API. The last part shows explores how to
add OAuth protection to the API endpoints.

What you need for this book

In order to run the code demonstrated in this book, you need a Python interpreter
for version 2.7.x and the App Engine Python SDK as described in the Download and
installation section from Chapter 1, Getting Started.

Additionally, to access the example application once it runs on App Engine, you
need a recent version of a web browser such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox,
Apple Safari, or Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Who this book is for

If you are a Python programmer who wants to apply your skills to write web
applications using Google App Engine and Google Cloud Platform tools and
services, this is the book for you. Solid Python programming knowledge is required
as well as a basic understanding of the anatomy of a web application. Prior
knowledge of Google App Engine is not assumed, nor is any experience with a
similar tool required.

By reading this book, you will become familiar with the functionalities provided
by Google Cloud Platform with particular reference to Google App Engine, Google
Cloud Storage, Google Cloud SQL, and Google Cloud Endpoints at the latest
versions available at the time of writing this book.

Conventions
In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between
different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an
explanation of their meaning.

[3]
Preface

Code words in text are shown as follows: "If a user is already logged in,
the get_current_user() method returns a User object, otherwise it returns
None parameter".

A block of code is set as follows:

import webapp2

class HomePage(webapp2.RequestHandler):
def get(self):
self.response.headers['Content-Type'] = 'text/plain'
self.response.out.write('Hello, World!')

app = webapp2.WSGIApplication([('/', HomePage)], debug=True)

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on
the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this:
"To create a new application, click the Create an Application button."

Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.

Tips and tricks appear like this.

Reader feedback
Feedback from our readers is always welcome. Let us know what you think about
this book—what you liked or may have disliked. Reader feedback is important for
us to develop titles that you really get the most out of. To send us general feedback,
simply send an e-mail to feedback@packtpub.com, and mention the book title via
the subject of your message. If there is a topic that you have expertise in and you
are interested in either writing or contributing to a book, see our author guide on
www.packtpub.com/authors.

[4]
 Preface

Customer support
Now that you are the proud owner of a Packt book, we have a number of things to
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You can download the example code files for all Packt books you have purchased
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[5]
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
 “The property loss in these three towns and the country adjacent
will be beyond the ability of the people to repair. Destitution stares
them in the face, and help is urgently needed there and in all other
towns within seventy-five miles of the city. The loss in proportion to
population and means is just as great and as keenly felt as the loss
and destruction in Galveston, and they should not be forgotten by
the generous public, which is responding with such noble
promptness to Galveston’s cry for help.
 SOLID TRAINLOADS OF SUPPLIES.
“Supplies for the relief of Galveston’s sufferers are coming in
from every quarter as rapidly as the limited means of transportation
here will admit. Solid trainloads from the North and East are
speeding towards Galveston as fast as steam will bring them, while
cities, chambers of commerce and other commercial bodies in this
country, England and Continental Europe are subscribing thousands
of dollars for the sufferers from one of the greatest calamities of the
century.
“The distribution of supplies here has not yet been put on a
systematic basis. There is one general relief committee, with sub-
committees in each ward. To these sub-committeemen sufferers
must apply for relief, and are categorically questioned as to the
extent of their distress.
“If the answers are satisfactory, an order is issued for supplies. If
he is an able bodied man, although he may be houseless and may
have lost members of his family, or have some injured by the storm
and needing attention, he must perform labor before supplies are
issued, and if he refuses he is impressed and compelled to work.
“There are many so sadly injured or prostrated by the frightful
experience they have recently undergone that they are unable to
apply for relief, and would suffer from thirst and exposure unless
housed, fed and cared for by humane people who have been less
unfortunate. No effort thus far has been made by those in charge of
relief affairs to hunt out these poor creatures and care for them.
“And if they have male relatives, these are afraid to venture on
the streets for fear they will be impressed and put to work, and thus
taken away from those who need their constant care. The present
method of relief needs to be radically revised, or it will fail of its
purpose and defeat the object of those who are so generously
contributing. Medical relief is much better organized.
 EXODUS SERIOUSLY HAMPERED.
“The Transportation Committee is handicapped in its efforts to
get out of the city the persons who are destitute by the lack of
sufficient boats and rail communication. The latter want will not be
supplied for many days. Present communication is by boat to Texas
City, and then by the Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railway to
Houston. Those who are able to pay are charged half fare; those who
are not are given free transportation. Guards are stationed at Texas
City to prevent the curious from invading the city, eating up the
limited food supply and doing no good.
“The city in its present condition is not a healthy place for
visitors. It is full of fever and other disease breeding matter, and
smells like a charnel house. There is not a house of any character in
the city but is foul and ill smelling. Plenty of lime-water and
disinfectant is urgently needed here, or an epidemic will sweep
through the city with hurricane force.
“Thousands of men are cutting passageways through the streets,
clearing the sidewalks of the mass of debris, removing the sea slime
from the floors of buildings and washing them out, but this does not
dispose of it, and under the torrid sun it ferments and putrefies and
the stench is fearful.
“The water failed to materialize as promised and this aggravates
the situation. With a crippled fire department, the fire engines
useless and no water supply, a fire, if it should break out, would
speedily wipe out what remains of the city.
“It will be months before the business streets will be entirely
cleared of rubbish and repaved, and it will be years before the
damage done by the storm will be obliterated. It is impossible to
conceive of the widespread destruction unless it is actually seen.”
 ANOTHER REPORT FROM GENERAL
McKIBBEN.
Washington, D. C., Friday.—General McKibben on September
12, reported to the War Department upon the conditions in
Galveston as follows:—
“General conditions are improving every hour. Repairs to water
works will by to-morrow insure water supply for fire protection.
Provisions of all kinds are being received in large quantities. Enough
are now en route and at Houston to feed all destitute for thirty days.
“There is now no danger of suffering from lack of food or shelter.
City under perfect control, under charge of Committee of Safety. Loss
of life is probably greater than my conservative estimate of yesterday.
Property loss enormous; not an individual in the city has escaped
some loss; in thousands of cases it is total.
“To-day, in company with Colonel Robert and Captain Riche, I
made an inspection at Fort Crockett, and by tug of the fortifications
at Forts San Jacinto and Travis; with the exception of battery for two
4.7 rapid fire guns, batteries may be considered non-existent.
Captain Riche has forwarded by wire this evening full report of
conditions to Chief of Engineers.
“I coincide in recommendation that all fortifications and
ordnance property be transferred to engineer officer here for salvage.
Earnestly recommend that Battery O, First Artillery, be ordered to
Fort Sam Houston for recuperation and equipment; officers and men
are largely destitute. At present a large number are injured and unfit
for duty. Impossible at present to furnish them with ordinary camp
equipage, clothing, as all transportation facilities are being utilized to
bring in food supplies.”
 CAPTAIN RICHE’S REPORT.
“Chief of Engineers, Army, Washington, D. C.:
“Jetties sunk nearly to mean low tide level, but not seriously
breached. Channel at least as good as before; perhaps better.
Twenty-five feet certainly. Forts as follows: Fort Crockett—Two 15–
pounder emplacements, concrete all right, standing on piling water
underneath. Battery for eight mortars about like preceding. Mortars
and carriages on hand unmounted.
“Battery for two 10–inch guns about like preceding, both guns
mounted and in good shape. Shore line at Fort Crockett has moved
back about six hundred feet. Fort San Jacinto—Battery for eight 12–
inch mortars badly wrecked, magazines reported fallen in; mortars
reported safe. No piling was under this battery; some of the sand
parapet left. Battery for two 10–inch guns badly wrecked. Central
portion level, both gun platforms down, guns leaning. No piling was
under this battery.
“Battery for two 4.7–inch rapid fire guns, concrete standing
upon piling; both guns apparently all right. Battery for two 15–
pounder guns, concrete apparently all right, standing upon piling.
“Fort San Jacinto batteries could not be reached by land;
inspection was from a distance. Sand around these batteries seemed
pretty well leveled off to about two to three feet above mean low.
Torpedo casemate, nothing but concrete left and badly wrecked.
Concrete portion of cable tank left; cable in it probably safe. Part of
coal wharf still standing.
“Everything else in vicinity gone. Some of the mine cases are
down the beach as far as Fort Crockett. Fort Travis—Battery for three
fifteen-pound guns, concrete intact, standing on piling, water
underneath. Battery for two eight-inch guns, concrete intact, except
eastern emplacement, which has cracked off; eastern gun down and
twenty feet from battery; western one all right; concrete standing on
piling, water underneath middle of battery. These batteries were
inspected from the channel.
 “The shore line has moved back about one thousand feet, about
on the line of the rear of these batteries. All buildings and other
structures gone. Inspection was made with General McKibben.
Recommendation was made that all fortifications and property be
transferred to the Engineer Department; that for the present
batteries be considered non-existent, so that future work may be
chargeable as original construction.
“Much ordnance can be saved if given prompt attention. Unless
otherwise instructed, I will take charge of these works at once and
save all possible. New projects for jetties and forts cannot be
submitted for several weeks, until definite detailed information is
had. Further recommendations will then be submitted as soon as
possible. Galveston is still a deep water port, and such a storm is not
likely to reoccur for years.”
 ESTIMATES OF THE DEAD ARE TOO LOW.
Austin, Tex., Sept. 14—“I am thoroughly satisfied, after spending
two days in Galveston, that the estimate of 6000 dead is too
conservative. It will exceed that number. Nobody can even estimate
or will ever know within 1000 of how many lives were lost.”
This was the opinion of Assistant State Health Officer I. J.
Jones, who arrived at Austin directly from Galveston, where he was
sent by Governor Sayres to investigate the condition of the State
quarantine station. Dr. Jones made an inspection of the sanitary
condition of the city, and in his report said further:
“It was with the greatest difficulty that I reached Galveston. At
the quarantine situated in the Gulf, a mile and a half from the
wharves, I found things in a state of ruin. The quarantine warehouse
and disinfecting barge, just completed, are total wrecks, as is also the
quarantine wharf. A part of the quarantine residence is left standing,
but so badly damaged that it is not worth repairing.
 AN OFFICER’S BRAVERY.
“Quarantine Officer Mayfield showed the greatest bravery and
self-sacrifice when the storm came on. He sent all of his employees
and his family, except two sons, who refused to leave him, to places
of safety. He remained in the quarantine house with his two devoted
sons throughout the terrible night. All of one wing of the house was
taken away and the floor of the remaining part was forced up and
carried away by the waters. Dr. Mayfield and his two sons spent the
night on a stairway leading from the upper floor to the attic.
“Despite this destruction of the station, the quarantine has never
been relaxed, and all vessels are promptly boarded upon arrival at
Galveston. There are now three vessels lying at quarantine. They
brought cargoes to be discharged at Galveston and had cargoes
consigned to them. The cargoes cannot be taken off except by lighter,
and the vessels are awaiting instructions from their owners. The
Mallory Line Steamer “Alamo” got in Wednesday, but was sent back
to the bay, as she could not discharge her cargo.
“The sanitary condition of the city is very bad. While there has
been no outbreak of sickness, every one expects that, and it is
inevitable. There is no organized effort being made to improve
sanitary conditions. Large quantities of lime have been ordered to
the place, but I doubt if anyone will be found to unload it from the
vessels and attend to its systematic distribution when it arrives.
“The stench is almost unbearable. It arises from piles of debris
containing the carcasses of human beings and animals. These
carcasses are being burned where such can be done with safety. But
little of the wreckage can be destroyed in this manner, however,
owing to the danger of starting a fire that will destroy what is left of
the ill-fated city. There is no water protection and should fire break
out the destruction of the city would soon be complete.
“When searching parties come across a human body it is hauled
out into an open space and wreckage piled over it. The pyre is then
set on fire and the body slowly consumed. The odor from these
burning bodies is horrible.
 “The chairman of the Central Relief Committee at Galveston
asked me to make the announcement that the city wants all the
skilled mechanics and contractors with their tools that can be
brought to Galveston. There is some repair work now going on, but it
is impossible to find men who will work at that kind of business.
Those now in Galveston who are not engaged in relief work have
their own private business to look after and mechanics are not to be
had.
“All mechanics will be paid regular wages and will be given
employment by private parties who desire to get their wrecked
homes in habitable shape as rapidly as possible. There are many fine
houses which have only the roof gone. These residences are finely
furnished, and it is desired that the necessary repairs be made
quickly.
 WELL ORGANIZED.
“The relief work is fairly well organized. Nothing has been
accomplished, except the distribution of food among the needy, and
some attempt at clothing them. I found no one who was hungry or
thirsty. About one-half of the city is totally wrecked, and many
people are living in houses that are badly wrecked. The houses that
are only slightly injured are full of people who are being well cared
for. The destitute are being removed from the city as rapidly as
possible. It will take three or four days yet before all who want to go
have been removed from the island city. A remarkably large number
of horses survived the storm, but there is no feed for them, and many
of them will soon die of starvation.
“In the city the dead bodies are being disposed of in every
manner possible. They are burying the dead found on the mainland.
At one place 250 bodies were found and buried on Wednesday. There
must be hundreds of dead bodies back on the prairies that have not
been found. It is impossible to make a search there on account of the
debris. There will be many a skeleton of victims of the disaster found
on the prairie in the months and years to come.
“Bodies have been found as far back from the present mainland
shore of the bay as seven miles. That embraces a big territory which
is covered with rank grass, holes filled with water and piles of debris.
It would take an army to search this territory on the mainland.
 THE GULF FULL OF BODIES.
“The waters of the Gulf and bay are still full of bodies, and they
are being constantly cast upon the beach. On my trip to and from the
quarantine station I passed a procession of bodies going seaward. I
counted fourteen of them on my trip from the station, and this
procession is kept up day and night. The captain of a ship who had
just reached quarantine informed me that he began to meet floating
bodies fifty miles from the port.
“As an illustration of how high the water got in the Gulf, a vessel
which was in port tried to get into the open sea when the storm came
on. It got out some distance and had to put back. It was dark and all
the landmarks had been obliterated. The course of the vessel could
not be determined, and she was being furiously driven in toward the
island by the wind. Before her course could be established she had
actually run over the top of the north jetty. As the vessel draws
twenty-five feet of water some idea can be obtained as to the height
of the water in the Gulf.”
They marry and are given in marriage. A wedding took place in
Galveston. It occurred at the Tremont Hotel. Ernest A. Mayo, a
lawyer, and a candidate for Prosecuting Attorney, was the
bridegroom. Mrs. Bessie Roberts was the bride. The engagement was
of long standing. Both suffered much from the storm. They decided
that it was better to cast their fortunes together. Friends approved.
The ceremony took place on Thursday, the 13th, five days after the
flood.
Governor Sayres was advised on the fourteenth that a
government vessel, which was loaded with supplies at Texas City for
the Galveston sufferers, went aground shortly after leaving the
wharf, and had not yet been gotten off. It was found that vessels
could not cross the bay at that point, and thereafter they would be
sent to some other point which had a deeper channel connection
with Galveston.
The estimates of immediate losses in the aggregate vary widely.
It may be said that none of them are below $20,000,000. The
maximum, as given by intelligent residents, including some members
of the Citizens’ Committee, is $35,000,000. One of the Galveston
business men sent to Austin to confer personally with Governor
Sayres on the work of relief, inclined to the belief that the immediate
losses might, without exaggeration, be placed at $35,000,000.
In the indirect class are the losses which must be sustained
through the paralysis of business, the reduction of population, the
stoppage of industries, and the general disturbance of commercial
relations, and Galveston business men hesitate to form any
conclusion as to what the moral losses must be.
 A REFUGEE’S TALE OF HORROR.
F. B. Campbell, who was in Galveston when the floods swept
upon it, was one of the first refugees to reach the North. He passed
through Pittsburg, six days after the disaster, on his way to
Springfield, Mass., which is his home. Mr. Campbell had his right
arm fractured. William E. Frear, a Philadelphia commercial traveller,
who was with Campbell in Galveston, accompanied him as far north
as Cincinnati, and went home on the express. Frear’s right ankle was
sprained.
Campbell was a cotton broker and was overwhelmed at his
boarding house while at dinner. He reached a heap of wreckage by
swimming through an alley. Of the scene when he left, Campbell
said:
“The last I saw of Galveston was a row of submerged buildings
where a thriving city stood. A waste of water spread in all directions.
In the sea were piles of wreckage and the carcasses of animals and
the bodies of hundreds of human beings. The salt marshes presented
an indescribable sight. Nude forms of human beings, that had been
swept across the bay were scattered everywhere. No man could count
them without going insane. It looked like a graveyard, where all the
tenants of the tombs had been exhumed and the corpses thrown to
the winds.”
 SOME WONDERFUL ESCAPES.
There were many wonderful incidents of the great storm. In the
infirmary at Houston was a boy whose name is Rutter. He was found
on Monday morning lying beside a truck on the land near the town of
Hitchcock, which is twenty miles to the northward of Galveston. This
boy is only 12 years old. His story is that his father, mother and two
children remained in the house. There was a crash and the house
went to pieces. The boy says that he caught hold of a trunk when he
found himself in the water and floated off with it. He thinks the
others were drowned. With the trunk the boy floated. He had no idea
of where it took him, but when daylight came he was across the bay
and out upon the still partially submerged mainland.
When their home went to pieces the Stubbs family, husband,
wife and two children, climbed upon the roof of a house floating by.
They felt tolerably secure, when, without warning, the roof parted in
two places. Mr. and Mrs. Stubbs were separated and each carried a
child. The parts of the raft went different ways in the darkness. One
of the children fell off and disappeared, and not until some time
Sunday was the family reunited. Even the child was saved, having
caught a table and clung to it until it reached a place of safety.
One of the most remarkable escapes recorded during the flood
was reported to-day when news came that a United States battery
man on duty at the forts last week had been picked up on Morgan’s
Point, injured but alive. He had buffeted the waves for five days and
lived through a terrible experience. Morgan’s Point is thirty miles
from Galveston.
Galveston, Tex., Sept. 14.—The local Board of Health through
Dr. H. A. West, its secretary, has made a demand that the work of
clearing up the dwelling houses be turned over to physicians. This
work has been under the direction of Adjutant General Scurry, and
he has proved himself so capable that the Relief Committee declined
to make any division of responsibility.
Notwithstanding the fact that the number of boats carrying
passengers between Texas City and Galveston has been largely
increased, it was impossible yesterday to leave the city after the early
morning hours. Yesterday the “Lawrence,” after jamming her nose
into the mud, remained aground all day. Her passengers were taken
off in small sailboats, and by noon a dozen of them heavily loaded
started from Galveston to Texas City.
 INTENSE SUFFERING ON THE WATER.
The wind died away utterly and the boats could neither go on to
Texas City nor return to Galveston. None of them had more than a
meager supply of water, which was soon exhausted; the sun beat
down with a merciless severity. In a short time babies and young
children became ill and in many instances their mothers were also
prostrated. There was absolutely no relief to be had, as the tugs of
Galveston Bay, which might have given the sloops tow, are all made
for deep sea work and draw too much water to allow of their crossing
the shallow channel.
Hour after hour the people on the boats, all of which were
densely packed, were compelled to broil in the torturing and blinding
sun. A slight breeze arising in the evening at 9 o’clock, the sailing
craft which had left Galveston at noon began to dump their
passengers upon the beach at Texas City. Owing to a delay in
Houston trains it was fully twenty hours after their start from
Galveston that the people who left there yesterday noon were able to
move out from Texas City, which is only eight miles away, and by the
time the train had made a start for Houston every woman in the
crowd was ill through lack of food, exposure and insufficient sleep.
In the long list of the dead of Galveston the family name of
Labett appears several times. Only a year or two ago five generations
of the Labetts were living at one time in Galveston.
The family nearly suffered the destruction of the family name in
the storm. A young man connected with one of the railroads was
down town and escaped. When the parties of searchers were
organized and proceeded to various parts of the city one of them
came across this young Labett near the ruins of his home all alone.
He had made his way there and had found the bodies of father and
mother and other relatives. He had carried the dead to a drift of
sand, and there without a tool, with his bare hands and a piece of
board he was trying to scrape out gravel to bury the bodies.
 GALVESTON REFUGEES AT HOUSTON.
The “Post” of Houston prints a list of 2701 names of Galveston
dead, compiled from various sources, but believed to be authentic.
There are many bodies still in the ruins of Galveston and scattered
along the beach of the mainland and in the marshes.
About 1300 people arrived here from Galveston on the 13th.
Four buildings have been set apart for the benefit of refugees, but of
the 3500 who have reached here so far not more than 800 remain in
the public charge, the remainder of them going to the homes of
relatives and friends.
 MESSAGES FOR THE DEAD.
The following statement was made on Friday, the 14th; it was
dated at Dallas:
“Galveston is no longer shut off from wire communication with
the outside world. At 1.15 o’clock this afternoon the Postal Telegraph
and Cable Company received a bulletin from the storm-stricken city
stating that wire connection had been made across the bay by cable,
and that direct communication with the island city was resumed with
two wires working and that two more would be ready by to-morrow.
A rush of messages followed.
“The Western Union got in direct communication with
Galveston this afternoon, and soon that office was also crowded.
Probably never before has there been so much telegraphing to the
dead. The headquarters of the Western Union and Postal systems
located in this city report that in Dallas, Houston and Galveston are
thousands of messages addressed to persons who can never call for
them or receive them.
“Some of the persons addressed are known to be dead, and there
is no doubt that hundreds of others are among the thousands of
unknown and unidentified victims of the storm whose bodies have
been dumped into the sea, consigned to unmarked graves or
cremated in the great heaps that sanitary necessity marked for the
torch and the incinerating pyre.
“The insurance questions are beginning to receive serious
attention. Life insurance companies are going to be hit very hard.
The question that particularly engages the attention of
representatives is whether settlement shall be made without
litigation. The general southwestern agents for eight big insurance
companies were interviewed to-day, and they stated that all Dallas
insurance men concur in the opinion that the insurance policies
against storm losses carried by Galvestonians will not aggregate
$10,000,000. They say there was absolutely no demand for such
insurance at Galveston.”
 WHOLE FAMILY KILLED BY STORM.
Among those who were caught in the storm that devastated
Galveston on Sunday night were six persons who comprised the
family of Peter E. McKenna, a former resident of Philadelphia.
According to news received by their relatives in that city, all
perished.
When word of the Texas disaster first came it was reported that
the entire family had been lost, but it later developed that a married
daughter, who lives in Omaha, Neb., was not visiting her parents, as
was first supposed, and therefore escaped the death that overtook
her relatives.
Peter E. McKenna, the head of the family, was well known in
Philadelphia during his youth. His father was one of the pioneers in
the religious press. The son followed the profession of his father, and
after engaging in the publication of newspapers and religious
weeklies until 1862 he sought fortune in the West.

VIEW OF PIER 23, SHOWING VESSEL

OVERTURNED BY THE GALE
HOUSE ON CENTRE STREET BETWEEN N
AND N½ AVENUES BRACED UP BY A
FLOATING CISTERN

DESTRUCTION OF GALVESTON ORPHANS’

HOME
 INTERIOR OF ST. PATRICK’S CHURCH
WHICH WAS DEMOLISHED BY THE
HURRICANE

Galveston at the time was a growing city, and as it offered the

opportunities Mr. McKenna desired he settled there and devoted
himself to the upbuilding of newspapers. His success was of such a
nature that he made his permanent home in Galveston, and during
the thirty-eight years that have passed, was recognized as one of the
most foremost journalists in that city. Latterly he was connected with
the Galveston “Despatch” and also conducted a publishing house for
himself.
Separated as he was by thousands of miles from the city of his
birth, Mr. McKenna was able to make only a few visits during the last
twenty-five years, but he kept up a constant correspondence with
several relatives. In these letters there was frequent mention of the
fact that the city was lower than the sea and open to the attacks of
any storm that might form in the Gulf of Mexico.
 CLEARING THE WATER FRONT.
At a conference held at the office of the City Health Officer on
Friday, the 14th, it was decided to accept the offer of the Marine
Hospital Service, and establish a camp at Houston, where the
destitute and invalids can be sent. The physicians agreed that there
were many indigent persons in the city who should be removed. A
message was sent to the Surgeon General asking that the department
furnish one thousand tents, of four-berth capacity each; also seven
hundred barrels of disinfecting fluid.
Another important movement in the direction of sanitation was
made by the Health Department in calling for one hundred men with
drays to clean the streets. The idea is to district the city and start the
drays to remove all unsanitary matter from the streets.
 STRANGE BURIAL PLACES AND GRAVES.
Although the work of disposing of the dead is being pushed,
several hundred bodies are still buried beneath the wreckage. Thirty-
two sand mounds marked with small boards, attract attention on the
beach, near Twenty-sixth street, and tell the story of where about
seventy-five bodies have been buried.
One of the greatest needs of the city now is disinfectants. The
local Committee on Correspondence drafted this general message to
the country:
“Our most urgent present needs now are disinfectants, lime,
cement, gasoline stoves, gasoline, charcoal furnaces, and charcoal.
Nearby towns also may send bread. For the remainder of our wants
money will be most available because we can make purchases from
time to time with more discretion than miscellaneous contributors
would exercise. We are bringing order out of chaos and again offer
our profound gratitude for the assistance so far received.”
The first real attempt to clear away the great mass of debris
piled along the beach front for several miles was begun to-day.
Advertisements this morning asking for hundreds of men and boys
were answered by a multitude. It is hoped that a vigorous
prosecution of the work will lead to the early recovery of the bodies
in the debris. That there are many of them there is no shadow of
doubt.
 SEEKING FORMER RESIDENCES.
A correspondent walked along the beach for some distance to-
day and the stench was sickening. Everywhere little groups of men,
women and children, some poorly clad, were digging in the ruins of
their homes for what little household property they could save. In
many cases, those seeking their former residences were unable to
find a single remnant of them.
The exodus from the city was heavy to-day, and hundreds more
were eager to leave, but were unable to secure transportation. Along
the bay front there were scores of families with dejected faces,
pleading to be taken from the stricken city, where, in spite of every
effort to restore confidence, there is much depression.
J. C. Stewart, a builder, after a careful inspection of the grain
elevators and their contents, said the damage to the elevators was
not over two per cent. Mr. Bailey said he would put a large force of
men to work clearing up each of the wharves, and the company will
be ready for business within eight days. The wharves have been
damaged very little outside of the wreckage of the sheds. With the
wreckage cleared away Galveston will be in shape for beginning
business.
 SOUTHERN PACIFIC WILL REBUILD.
To a journal in New York the “Galveston News” sent the
following important statement:
“You ask the ‘News’ what is our estimate of Galveston’s future
and what the prospects are for building up the city. Briefly stated, the
‘News’ believes that inside of two years there will exist upon the
island of Galveston a city three times greater than the one that has
just been partially destroyed. The devastation has been great and the
loss of life terrible, but there is a hopefulness at the very time this
answer is being penned you that is surprising to those who witness it.
That is not a practical answer to your inquiries, however.
“The principal feature is this—The Southern Pacific company
has ordered a steel bridge built across the bay ten feet higher than
the trestlework on the late bridges. The company has ordered also a
doubling up of forces to continue and improve their wharves, and
with this note of encouragement from the great enterprise upon
which so much depends the whole situation is cleared up.
 AN EXCELLENT PORT.
“Our wharves will be rebuilt, the sanitary condition of the city
will be perfected; streets will be laid with material superior to that
destroyed, new vigor and life will enter the community with the work
of construction, and the products of the twenty-one States and
Territories contiguous will pour through the port of Galveston.
“We have now, through the action of this storm, with all its
devastation, thirty feet of water on the bar, making this port the
equal, if not the superior, of all others on the American seaboard.
The island has stood the wrack of the greatest storm convulsion
known in the history of any latitude, and there is no longer a
question of the stability of the island’s foundation. If a wind velocity
of one hundred and twenty miles an hour and a water volume of
fifteen feet in some places upon the island did not have the effect of
washing it away, then there is no wash to it.
“Galveston island is still here, and here to stay, and it will be
made in a short time the most beautiful and progressive city in the
Southwest. This may be esteemed simply a hopeful view, but the
conditions existing warrant acceptance of the view to the fullest
extent.
“The ‘News’ will not deal with what is needed from a generous
public to the thousands of suffering people now left with us. The
dead are at rest. There are twenty thousand homeless people here,
whose necessities at this time are great indeed. Assistance is needed
for them in the immediate future. The great works of material and
industrial energy will take care of themselves by the attraction here
presented for the profitable employment of capital. We were dazed
for a day or two, but there is no gloom here now as to the future.
Business has already been resumed.”
 PLAN TO PROTECT GALVESTON.
Can the city of Galveston, almost obliterated by the recent
storm, be protected from all future assaults by the Gulf?
Colonel Henry M. Robert, United States Corps of Engineers, and
divisional engineer of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, who is stationed
here at present, says that Galveston can be absolutely protected from
every storm by a sea wall built along the Gulf front.
Colonel Robert, during the late spring, while on a visit to
Galveston, suggested a comprehensive plan for the improvement, of
that harbor, which was hailed by the city and State as solving the
problem of the creation of a great port in Galveston Bay. This plan
would also afford a great measure of protection to the city from
inundation on its northern and southwestern sides should a strong
wind from the Gulf pile up the water on the shallow floors of
Galveston and West bays.
Colonel Robert’s plan contemplates the construction of a great
basin for harbor purposes, as well as for dry docks, to the northwest
of the city. The basin would be formed by a retaining wall shutting
out Galveston and West bays, and by filling in the parts of the Gulf
floor between this retaining wall and the walls or shores of the basin.
The northern retaining wall would follow generally the line of
the south jetty, and a deep water channel of twenty-five to thirty feet
would be left between the new land and the city of Galveston,
connecting the channel formed by the jetties with the inner basin.
Pelican Island would be the backbone of the made land, and all of
Pelican Flats would be transformed into solid land, to be used for
railway and docking purposes.
 THE PROJECT WAS APPROVED.
The plan also involved the extension of the jetty channel through
Galveston Bay and up Buffalo Bayou as far as Houston, more than
sixty miles distant, making the latter city an open seaport. Railways
would have, by means of the filled-in land, ready access to the city,
and, in addition, the port facilities of Galveston would be many times
increased, and a continuous sea channel be constructed from the
Gulf to Houston.
This project, as outlined by Colonel Robert, received the
unqualified approval of the various interests concerned in the
development of Galveston harbor, and steps had been taken to carry
out the plan before the onslaught of the recent storm swept away
water lines and much of the city itself. Colonel Robert now proposes
an additional plan, simple and inexpensive, for affording the fullest
and most complete measure of protection from all storms. This new
plan is to construct a sea wall along the Gulf front of the city.
It is estimated that the height of the waves in the recent storm,
which was the severest ever experienced on the Texas coast, was
about ten to twelve feet. Colonel Robert suggests that a wall at least
twelve feet above the beach, and running the entire length of the
water front, or about ten miles, be built immediately to barricade the
city from the Gulf. A height of twelve feet above the beach would give
fourteen feet above the water, and would, Colonel Robert thinks,
afford ample protection.
 COST OF THE SEA WALL.
As to the expense of such a structure, it is thought by engineers
that a liberal estimate would be about $1,500,000 per mile. This
wall, as projected by Colonel Robert, would extend from a point on
the south jetty, where the latter crosses the Gulf front of the city, and
would follow the line of the beach, two or three feet above the water
level, until it reached the southwestern limit of the island, in the
shallow water of West Bay. At the latter point the danger from
storms is not serious.
At present the depth of water between the jetties is 26½ feet,
and it is thought that it will soon be thirty feet. The average depth of
the original channel across the twenty-five miles of Galveston Bay is
about twelve feet. It is proposed by Colonel Robert’s plan to increase
this to at least twenty-five feet. An additional and supplementary
plan is to extend the improvement, so as to create a system of coast
channels that will transform Galveston into a central port with a
labyrinth of waterways.
 EXTENSIVE HARBOR IMPROVEMENT.
The magnitude of the plan for the improvement of the harbor of
Galveston may be imagined when it is observed that the inner basin,
or harbor, is to be about five miles long by three broad, that it may be
approached by a deep water channel accommodating ocean going
vessels of the deepest draught. The outlet into West Bay will not be
so deep, as the bay itself is navigable by light draught vessels only.
The new land, formed on the basis of Pelican Island and flats will be
about four miles square.
Colonel Robert said that a survey will be made at once of the
wrecked forts and other military works at Galveston. A report
received from that place says that those portions of the works erected
upon piling withstood the storm. It is proposed to use piling entirely
for similar works in the future.
 CHAPTER IX.
Story of a Brave Hero—A Vast Army of
Helpless Victims—Scenes that Shock the
Beholders—Our Nation Rises to the Occasion.

W hen Galveston’s chapter of horrors had reached its crisis, when

the people were dazed, leaderless and almost helpless, so that
they went about bewildered and did little more than gather a few
hundred of the bodies which were in their way, a longshoreman
became the hero of the hour. It was not until Monday that the brave
leaders, who are usually not discovered in a community until some
great emergency arises, began to forge in front. They were not men
from one rank in point of wealth or intelligence. They came from all
classes.
For example, there was Hughes, the longshoreman. Bodies
which lay exposed in the streets, and which had to be removed
somewhere lest they be stepped on, were carried into a temporary
morgue until 500 lay in rows on the floor.
 A VERY GRAVE PROBLEM.
Then a problem in mortality such as no other American
community ever faced was presented. Pestilence, which stalked forth
by Monday, seemed about to take possession of what the storm had
left. Immediate disposition of those bodies was absolutely necessary
to save the living.
Then it was that Lowe and McVittie and Sealy and the others,
who by common impulse had come together to deal with the
problem, found Hughes. The longshoreman took up the most
gruesome task ever seen, except on a battlefield. He had to have
helpers. Some volunteered; others were pressed into the service at
the point of the bayonet.
Whisky by the bucketful was carried to these men, and they were
drenched with it. The stimulant was kept at hand and applied
continuously. Only in this way was it possible for the stoutest-
hearted to work in such surroundings.
Under the direction of Hughes these hundreds of bodies already
collected and others brought from the central part of the city—those
which were quickest found—were loaded on an ocean barge and
taken far off into the gulf to be cast into the sea.
There were 38,000 people in the city when the census was taken
a few weeks before the flood. After a careful survey of the desolate
field since the storm and flood have wrought their sad havoc, the
conclusion is forced that there were in Galveston 25,000 people, or
thereabouts, who had to be fed and clothed. The proportion of those
who were in fair circumstances and lost all is astonishing.
Relief cannot be limited to those who formed the poorer class
before the storm. An intelligent man left Galveston, taking his wife
and child to relatives. He said: “A week ago I had a good home and a
business which paid me between $400 and $500 a month. To-day I
have nothing. My house was swept away and my business is gone. I
see no way of re-establishing it in the near future.” This man had a
real estate and house renting agency.
 STRIPPED OF ALL THEIR POSSESSIONS.
At the military headquarters one of the principal officials doing
temporary service for this city said: “Before the storm I had a good
home and good income. I felt rich. My house is gone and my
business. The fact is I don’t even own the clothes I stand before you
in. I borrowed them.”
Now these are not exceptional cases. They are fairly typical.
They must be fed and clothed, these 25,000 people, until they can
work out their temporal salvation.
And then something ought to be done to help the worthy get on
their feet and make a fresh start. Some people will leave Galveston. It
is plain, however, that nothing like the number expected will go.
Galveston is still home to the great majority. Those who can stay and
live there will do so. If the country responds to the needs in anything
like the measure given to Johnstown, Chicago, Charleston and other
stricken cities and sections, Galveston as a community will not only
be restored, but will enter upon a greater future than was expected
before the storm.
Since Tuesday there has been no doubt of Galveston’s
restoration. From a central organization the relief work was divided
by wards. A depot and a sub-committee were established in each
ward of the city.
“They who will not work shall not eat,” was the principle
adopted when the organization was perfected. Few idle mouths are
being fed in Galveston. There are, however, the fatherless, and there
are widows, and there are sick who must have charity. But the able-
bodied are working in parties under the direction of bosses. They are
being paid in food and clothing. In this way the Relief Committee is
within the first week meeting the needs of the survivors, and at the
same time is gradually clearing the streets and burning the ruins and
refuse.
 PICTURES IN SHARP CONTRAST.
Of Galveston’s population of 38,000 it is estimated that 8000
were killed.
The area of total destruction was about 1300 acres.
There were 5000 dwellings, hotels, churches and convents
utterly destroyed.
More than 2000 bodies have been burned.
The property loss is not less than $15,000,000.
One hundred and twenty-five men, most of them negroes, were
shot to death for robbing the dead. “Decimation” is the word often
employed to emphasize destruction of life. Galveston was
“decimated” twice over by this storm.
It took on the part of the public-spirited men a good deal of
boldness to lay down the law that the support tendered by the
country must be earned and to enforce it. But before two days had
passed the whole community was at work cheerfully. A tour through
the city, up one street and down another, showed the greatest
activity. Thousands and not hundreds of men were dragging the
ruins into great heaps and applying the torch. Occasionally they
came on the remains of human beings and hastily added them to the
blazing heaps. But it is notable that much less is said now about the
dead than during the early days. The minds of the people who
survived have passed from that phase of the calamity.
A soldier standing guard at a place on the beach where these
fires were burning thickly was asked if the workers were still finding
bodies.
“Yes,” he replied, “a good many!” That was all. Three days ago
the same soldier would have gone into particulars. He would have
told how many had been found in this place and in that.
The commander of one of these squads came into headquarters
to deliver a report to Colonel McCaleb. He had nothing to say about
bodies, but wanted to tell that a trunk in fairly good condition, with
valuable contents, had been taken out of one heap, and that the
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