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

WASHED ACROSS THE BAY FROM GALVESTON.

B. F. Cameron, a lumber dealer of Stowell, Chambers County, says that the relief party which went from Stowell to Bolivar, reported to him that there was over 1000 dead bodies on the beach at Bolivar, Yeast Bay, and in sight of the salt marshes which line the bay. The party succeeded in burying only forty of the corpses. The others are lying in the water and on land, decomposing in the heat. Many of these bodies were evidently swept across the bay from Galveston.

In view of the completeness with which Galveston has been destroyed by the storm, many believe the city will never be rebuilt. The argument is that from its very location the city is ever in danger of a similar visitation, and capital will be fearful of investment where the danger is so constant.

There are many, however, who take the opposite view and say that in no other place on the Gulf can there be found a location so advantageous, and therefore, no matter if the risk be great, capital will seek investment in Galveston, and the city will soon resume her importance as a shipping port.

This sentiment is reflected in telegrams and verbal utterances, some of which are here printed:

Dallas, Texas, Wednesday.—Much serious thought has been given to the question of the future of Galveston by the best informed men of Dallas since the calamity of last Saturday and Sunday. The outlook, to their minds, is not a bright one. The expression of judgment most frequently heard is “Galveston is doomed.” Men reason that to the perils the population have ever to face from nature’s elements the timidity of capital must now be added.

In the great storm of 1875 little of private or public capital ran the risk of destruction. The great wharves, elevators, compresses and railway and steamship systems had taken but slight foothold in the island city. The federal government had built jetties and general harbor improvements and coast defences, at a cost of more than $10,000,000 of public money. All these millions of public and private wealth have been put into Galveston enterprises since 1875.