The Great Galveston Disaster / Containing a Full and Thrilling Account of the Most Appalling Calamity of Modern Times Including Vivid Descriptions of the Hurricane and Terrible Rush of Waters; Immense Destruction of Dwellings, Business Houses, Churches, and Loss of Thousands of Human Lives; Thrilling Tales of Heroic Deeds; Panic-Stricken Multitudes and Heart-Rending Scenes of Agony; Frantic Efforts to Escape a Horrible Fate; Separation of Loved Ones, etc., etc.; Narrow Escapes from the Jaws of Death; Terrible Sufferings of the Survivors; Vandals Plundering Bodies of the Dead; Wonderful Exhibitions of Popular Sympathy; Millions of Dollars Sent for the Relief of the Stricken Sufferers

by Paul Lester

BELIEVES CITY WILL BE REBUILT.

Vice-President Tweed, of the Southern Pacific Railroad, said this morning that he felt sure that his road would repair the damage done to its properties at Galveston, and go on with further improvements planned.

“I take it for granted,” Mr. Tweed declared, “that the directors of the Southern Pacific will keep up the work they started there. I do not think that this disaster, though certainly serious, will kill Galveston as a shipping port. No definite reports have been received as to the extent of our losses there. The two piers already completed on the property of the Southern Pacific were certainly badly damaged. Any estimate of the amount of damage would be only a guess, but I should say that it would fall below $400,000. Three hundred and fifty thousand dollars had been spent on the piers, and $75,000 paid for a short line from Galveston to Houston, which was destroyed.”

Concerning the suggestion that Galveston will not be rebuilt, but that another city will be established in a safer place on the Gulf, to serve as a shipping port, Mr. Henry Mallory, of the Mallory line of steamships, said:

“Texas naturally seeks an outlet through a Texan harbor, and there is none other in Texas equal to the harbor of Galveston. All railroads centre there. If the city were wiped out some man with money would begin to build there. Locally, Galveston has suffered great loss, against which there is no insurance. But that does not rob the city of its pre-eminent valve as a port.”

Asked if it would be practicable to rebuild the city on an inner shore of Galveston Bay, Mr. Mallory said that it would not. “There is no better location,” said he, “for the city. It is not our purpose to abandon Galveston. We have ten steamships—nine in commission and one building—and we expect to remain in the Texas service.”