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

WANTS A BREAKWATER.

“Congressman Hawley advocates the building of a breakwater, beginning at the south jetty and extending westward, parallelling the shore of Galveston Island for a distance of about seven miles. With a base of twenty-five feet and crown of eight feet, capped with heavy granite blocks, he believes this would break the force of a tidal wave and adequately protect Galveston.

“The people are still leaving the city in considerable numbers, but the relief work locally has now been gotten down to such a fine point that it is likely there will be a marked diminution of the exodus during the next two or three days. Fears of an epidemic have been allayed by the distribution of medicines and disinfectants, and a feature which would undoubtedly have had the effect of causing many to seek succor elsewhere has been eliminated from the situation.

“Supplies and money are now pouring in from all over the country, and at least seven figures are needed to express the amount of cash so far received. This is being used judiciously, and the good effects of the presence of such a relief fund in the city are already apparent. An order of the military government directed against idle negro women went into operation to-day. It has been decided by the Central Relief Committee to establish a camp in which these women will be held and kept off the streets and out of the way of those who are burying the dead.”

To put Galveston on her feet will require $5,000,000. Such is the opinion of Congressman Hawley, one of the representative business men. This does not mean that the sum mentioned will come anywhere near restoring the city to the condition before the storm. Far from it.

Mr. Hawley was simply asked: “What measure of relief will burn your dead, clean and purify your streets and public places, feed and clothe the living and place your people where they can be self-sustaining and in a way to regain what has been lost?”

His reply was: “It will take $5,000,000 to relieve Galveston from the distress of the storm. At least that sum will be needed to dispose of the dead, to remove the ruins and to do what is right for the living.