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

TIME FOR DAUNTLESS COURAGE.

“The blight and ruin which have desolated Galveston are not beyond repair. We must not for a moment think Galveston is to be abandoned because of one disaster, however horrible that disaster has been. We have our homes here, even if those homes are in ruins, and if we loved Galveston before, how much stronger must that affection be and how much more sacred it must be when we think of our loved ones, whose dust consecrates not only the land but the very waves which lash its shores.

“It is time for courage of the highest order. It is time when men and women show the stuff that is in them, and we can make no loftier acknowledgment of the material sympathy which the world is extending to us than to answer back that after we shall have buried our dead, relieved the sufferings of the sick and destitute, we will bravely undertake the vast work of restoration and recuperation which lies before us, in a manner which shall convince the world that we have spirit to overcome misfortune and rebuild our homes. In this way we shall prove ourselves worthy of the boundless tenderness which is being showered upon us in the hour of desolation and sorrow.”

Refugees from Galveston, Alvin, Angleton and other places are fast scattering throughout the State. Over fifty have arrived at Austin and have found temporary homes with friends and relatives. Many have gone to places in other States. A local Relief Committee has been organized in Austin to look after the wants of the destitute people as fast as they arrive. They are clothed and fed at the expense of the local people.

Similar committees are being formed in all the principal cities and towns of the State. It is expected that this action will assist the Relief Committees of Houston and Galveston greatly and will also reduce the amount of money required to be expended out of the general fund that is accumulating for the benefit of the sufferers.

Word reached here from Houston that evidences had been found there of imposition on the part of chronic tramps who are pouring into the city from all directions and claiming to be just from Galveston and to have lost everything in the storm. Many of these frauds have been exposed and driven out of the city. A plan is being arranged whereby all parties seeking help must be identified as having come from Galveston or other storm-swept towns.