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

FORTITUDE OF SURVIVORS.

“But it is all in the past now. We cannot recall our dead thousands. Wherever they sleep, beneath the tireless waves or under the arching skies, we will love their memories and recall as long as we live the unspeakable and mysterious tragedy which destroyed them. But it must be remembered that we have more than 30,000 living, and many of these are children too young to have their lives and energies paralyzed by the disaster which has overtaken us.

“Our homes must be rebuilt, our schools repaired, and the natural advantages of the port must sooner or later receive our earnest attention. We have loved Galveston too long and too well to desert her in the hour of misfortune. Our distress and destitution are going to be relieved, for a sympathizing country is already providing for temporary needs. This people are too proud and self-reliant, however, to lose spirit and fail of duty. In the very darkness of the moment there is light ahead, and we must look to the light ahead. Even in the midst of our dead and our ruins light appears.

“The railroads are bending every effort to repair the bridges and place us once more in commercial communication with the mainland; the telegraph companies, putting their heavy losses behind them, are restoring their wires as fast as men can do it; the telephone company is doing likewise, and the wharf companies are similarly engaged. As the ‘News’ understands it, the Southern Pacific Company proposes to double its force to complete the improvement which was so damaged by the storm.

“The waterworks will soon be restored, the street railway repaired, and all the other elements of a metropolitan life placed in working order. The ships will come into the harbor for traffic and get it, and that traffic will afford employment to thousands. If the people will take heart, they will soon find that all has not been lost, and, moreover, much is to be saved. If we lost 5000 people, there are more than 30,000 to be provided for; if we have lost $15,000,000 in property, we still have that much to save and restore.