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

WONDERFUL COURAGE AND HOPE.

The bulk of the population, however, is only temporarily panic stricken, and there are hosts of those who helped to make Galveston great who look upon the catastrophe as involving only a temporary halt in the advancement of the city.

The decision of the transportation lines will do more than anything else to restore confidence. Big ships, new arrivals, rode at anchor to-day in front of the city. They had just reached the port and found the docks and pier damage so widespread that no accommodations could be given to them.

The losses to the charitable institutions of the city were very heavy. Sealy Hospital, the gift of the late John Sealy, was one of the largest institutions of Texas. Very serious damage was sustained. Almost the first work of restoration begun on any public structure was at the Sealy Hospital.

The medical department of the University of Texas included what is known as Brackenridge Hall. This hall was the gift of George W. Brackenridge, of San Antonio. It was seriously damaged. The Old Women’s Hospital is a complete ruin. St. Mary’s Infirmary, on Tenth and Market Streets, was entirely destroyed. The Ursuline Convent and the Ursuline Academy were partially demolished. The convent is now a haven of refuge of 500 houseless people.

The Catholic Orphans’ Asylum disappeared, leaving but slight traces in the form of ruins. It was supposed that the inmates, some ninety-nine sisters and little children, had been swept out into the gulf when the waters receded. Within the past few days bodies of several of the victims at the asylum have been found.

It appeared that when the sisters found the waters rising all around the asylum their only thoughts were for their little charges. They tied the children in bunches and then each sister fastened to herself one of these groups of orphans, determined to save them or die with them. Two of these groups have been found under wreckage. In each case eight children had been fastened together and then tied to a sister.

Galveston’s school buildings, public and private, were unsurpassed for solidity and architectural finish. An examination of the public school buildings shows that scarcely one is fit for use.

Houses of worship suffered severely, although most of them were quite substantial. St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the Baptist Church, Trinity Episcopal, the Fourth Presbyterian, St. Mary’s Cathedral, St. John’s Methodist, the Seamen’s Bethel and two other churches on Broad Street, between Twenty-first and Tremont, sustained either total destruction or such damages that they must be rebuilt. Grace Episcopal Church, in the west end, which was one of the many benefactions of the late Henry Rosenberg, escaped with slight injury.