Fred Brown is dead. Well, maybe not.

Here's another interesting article from the Weimar Mercury.

Fred Brown, the ex-livery stable man of our city, who was reported as having been killed in the Galveston storm of Sept. 8, was in our city last Friday, looking quite lively for a dead man. Fred was caught in that storm all right enough. He was struck on the back of the neck—a large scar is visible where the timber struck him—rendered unconscious, and while in that condition was found, identified, pronounced dead and thrown with a lot of dead bodies to be carried out and dumped in the gulf. Very fortunately, he regained consciousness ere they dumped him into the waters of the gulf, and he lost no time in separating himself from his grewsome [sic] company. Fred says he has enough of Galveston to last him for a lifetime.

Weimar Mercury, October 13, 1900, page 5.

Well, I can certainly understand Fred's reticence about visiting Galveston again after his near-untimely demise. He was not alone in deciding to quit Galveston for good. One reason for the wide range in estimated deaths due to the 1900 Storm was the unknown number of citizens who left Galveston after the storm and never returned. The (human) bean-counters could only estimate the death-toll because of so many unidentified folks who left the island for good after the hurricane.