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

REBUILDING GALVESTON.

“There is much to hope for and to strive for, and we must hope and strive to save ourselves and meet the expectations of the world. The ‘News’ received a telegram last night from a great New York paper inquiring if Galveston would rebuild. The answer was sent back that Galveston did not intend to succumb to her crushing misfortune, but would again resume her place as the great port of the Gulf. This is the duty of the people here, and the ‘News’ expects in good time to see all the energies of the people concentrated upon the great work of recuperation and restoration. Will this expectation meet disappointment? Knowing this people for nearly sixty years, the ‘News’ answers, No.”

Colonel John D. Rogers was at Toronto, Ont., when the big storm swept Galveston. He and Colonel D. C. Giddings, of Brenham, have gone North together for a vacation every summer for several years past, and this year they picked Toronto as the place of recreation. As soon as the news of the storm reached them they started for Texas, and Colonel Rogers arrived on Friday, the 14th.

To a gentleman who called on him and asked for an expression of his views as to the future, and his intentions as to the various properties he is interested in, Colonel Rogers talked most hopefully and confidently:

“So far as property losses are concerned,” said he, “I suspect I have lost about as heavily as any men in Galveston in proportion to the property I own here. But this constitutes no reason why I should be discouraged. I felt that way even before I reached Galveston. Colonel Giddings, from the newspaper accounts of the storm, doubted somewhat that Galveston would come again. But I told him Galveston was bound to be restored. I told him I didn’t believe the wharves were gone; no man who knows anything of the construction of wharves could have believed that story. I told him that the maintenance of Galveston as a port for the west was imperatively necessary, and that if the people of Galveston laid down and got off the island, other people would come here and build up a city.