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

HOPE FOR THE RUINED CITY.

“Outside of Galveston, when the news came of the awful destruction by hurricane and ocean combined, there were not a few who asked, as did ‘The Daily News,’ ‘Will Galveston be rebuilt?’ and paused for a reply. The answer has come promptly and with a ring of determination and hope that makes Americans proud of the Galvestonians—Yes, Galveston will be rebuilt. ‘It will rise greater and better than ever.’

“And it is now known that this resolution, taken on Sunday afternoon, almost before the great storm had begun to subside, has been caught up not only by Galvestonians themselves but by all the great business interests centering there, and is re-echoed from all parts of the United States. Chairman Walker of the board of directors of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad says the city will be rebuilt and doing business at the old stand in three months. The officials of this road further say that in six days the bridge from Virginia Point will have been built and trains running over it.

“A like spirit is being manifested by other steamship companies, whose trade doubled Galveston’s export business between 1892 and 1899, making it rank fourth as an export port in the United States, only New York, Boston, and Baltimore surpassing it.

“Leading business and representative men of Galveston, also, instead of sitting down in despair, have been busy at work burying or otherwise disposing of their dead, clearing away the debris and getting the city in shape again as rapidly as possible.

“In the face of such a gallant spirit and purpose, difficulties and discouragements which at first were appalling will disappear. In its heroic work its strength and hope will be all the greater for the friendly aid and encouragement and the munificent generosity of America and Europe which will help Galveston to get upon its feet again.”

CHAPTER XVI.
Startling Havoc Made by the Angry Storm—Vessels Far Out on the Prairie—Urgent Call for Millions of Dollars—Tangled Wires and Mountains of Wreckage.

Colonel “Bill” Sterrett, a well-known publisher of Austin, went to Galveston after the storm and the sights he saw during his stay there are thus described by him:

“How to commence the story bothers. Whether to start out with the absolute truth and wind the sheet about the whole thing with the simple expression ‘unspeakable’ or to go on and hint the details inexpressibly sad, intimate the horrors, is the question.

“It would be better for the heart if a veil could fall from heaven and conceal what it has done. It would be better if a fog, thick, like a wall, should come up between the sea and the land that the latter might never see the crime of the former. For if calm humanity shrieked against the awfulness of the one element, it has done it now.

“The broad pampa between Houston and Galveston had been flooded. The towns which in the last ten years had grown were scared and torn by this fiend. Its anger was shown in pastures as well as in towns, and yet none knew the fury of it. There were reports of destruction further on, and the truth of them impressed each man in the cars as the cars counted off its rattleteteck in toll-off the miles.

“Against a barbed wire fence the bloated carcasses of cattle had floated, their swollen limbs stiff toward the sky, and yet others browsed around in the meadow now which was a roaring sea but four days ago. The sight was the first he saw of death, and every man in the car, as to avoid the fear that arose in the mind of each, began to express wonder how this could be, that is, that some of these poor brutes were dead and others living. There were vessels of all tonnage, kinds and degrees on the prairie.

“Out there was a tramp steamship, the other way was the dredge boat; there were yachts, schooners and launches, but near us was the hobby horse of a child. And so help me, I would rather have seen all the vessels of the earth stranded high and dry than to have seen this child’s toy, standing right out on that prairie, masterless. Because one represented—well, why, say God, man’s heart is so weak. But surely he will forgive it when it is soft for those who are weak.

“Debris of all kinds covered the prairie. It was from Galveston, because it could be from no other place. Every ant hill was covered with the remnants of homes in the city, six miles away. There were lace curtains, furniture of all kinds, but mostly of the cheap kind. There were toys, ladies’ toilet articles, bed clothes, and, in fact, everything that goes to make up a home. This point was Texas City, six miles away from Galveston, across the bay. The town had suffered badly.