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

GREAT EXODUS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

“Women and children are leaving in large numbers. They include all classes and conditions. In groups and sometimes in long lines they pass down Tremont street on the way to the boat bound for Texas City. Many are going never to return, poorly and scantily clad, with handkerchiefs for hats, and all their worldly goods stuffed into pillow-cases.

“The man who has no property or relatives in Galveston is leaving for good. The future of Galveston depends upon whether or not the town can retain its shipping. If Galveston can keep her prestige as a port her revival is assured. All those who have helped to make Galveston what it was are certain that it will continue to be the great port of the Southwest. Not a man in town who has any property will desert the city. Progressive citizens have been especially cheered by the news that the English shippers will continue to patronize the port and by the generous gift of $5000 from R. P. Houston, member of the English Parliament and head of the shipping firm of R. P. Houston & Co., of Liverpool and London. This contribution came in response to the news that one of the Houston steamers, the Hilarius, was stranded on the Pelican Island.

“Business men know that if Galveston should go down its shipping would promptly be transferred to New Orleans. But it is the glory of the people of New Orleans that since the storm they have said not a word against the rebuilding of this city, but have generously and nobly responded to the appeals for Galveston’s sufferers.

“In spite of any ambition of rival ports, in spite of the timidity of women and some men, the people of Galveston, patiently and soberly, with loyalty and courage, are determined to rebuild on the ruins of this once beautiful city a metropolis that shall prosper and endure. They are determined to do this, in spite of the possibility that their homes and industries may again be wrecked by storm. If you ask them why, they will tell you, “No community is immune from disasters of this kind. It merely happened that Galveston was in the path of the storm.” And then they will go back to burying their dead.

“Captain Randall, of the steamship Comeno, which has arrived from New Orleans, reports that coming up the bay he saw a great many human corpses, and that the banks of Pelican Island were strewn with the dead. Pelican Island is six miles from Galveston.