“‘And it would have stood this one had it not been for one thing,’ he said. ‘That thing was the outward flow of the tide when the storm was over. The water rushed back to the sea like a torrent. It fell over a foot and a half in fifteen minutes, and as it went out it swept many a house from its foundations.’ This flow, running like a torrent, swept across the island, and yet there was not left a single evidence in the way of excavations of it going.
“FOUNDED ON A ROCK.”
“Attention was attracted to the house of Mr. J. H. Hawley, the brother of Congressman Hawley. He bought the property from an engineer who lived in Galveston some time about the flood of ’96. He said he would build him a house which would stand. He placed the foundations on an iron fence two feet in the ground. This foundation was of brick. In this foundation he placed the railing of the iron fence running up three feet. At the top he placed filagree brick work. His house was braced well and the timbers were heavy and well put together. The storm did not phase it.
“The fence acted as a barrier to timbers from the houses which had been destroyed. It kept away the battering rams with which the waves assaulted all places. When the night’s horrors were at an end the house stood intact. Even the cistern, which was on piling, stood the test and was uninjured. Now the Galveston people begin to consider the question of whether much was not their fault in that their structures were not of the kind that should have been built, when storms were sure to come.
“It is just such things as this that give them hope. As I have said, I despaired of the town when I walked among the dead bodies and saw the destruction on every side. But like the rest I got over this depression. I caught the infection of the new life when it came. I know that I speak the truth when I say that the life in Galveston now is capable of upbuilding the town, and building it better in every way than it ever was. Millions of dollars are invested in enterprises in the town. The men who have lost thousands, not to say millions, will not permit the rest to go without a struggle.
“The railroads running into the place and depending on the thirty feet of deep water, which is said now to exist in the channel, for export of the freight, will not agree to abandon the port, the only one of such depth for thousands of miles. Cotton factors in all the world, who look to this port for their supplies, will not abandon it. The monetary interest in the city of itself would save it even if the people were not so full of heart as they are. But above this, the poor people and the working classes have no where else to go. With many of them, it is too late in life to begin it anew. It is too late for them to build up acquaintances again. They have lost their houses, but the lots on which the houses were located are there.
EXTRAORDINARY PUBLIC CHARITY.
“Subscriptions to the amount of perhaps $2,000,000 have poured in for their relief. The well-to-do Galvestonian is determined that this relief shall go to those who are poor, that they may to some extent repair their fortunes. The rich themselves will build. In a month from now every man in the place will have all the labor he can perform. Every person will be busy. The work of upbuilding will in some measure rub out the recollection of the horrors of the storm. The Huntington estate will continue its work. Bridges of the very first class will span the waters between the island and the mainland. If great corporations can risk their money, as they are determined to do, why shall not a poor man risk his labor to build another house on the lot he owned?
“Why, even behind the business and necessitous phases of the matter, there rises a sentiment among the people. That sentiment is that we will show the world the stuff that Galveston people are made of. Galveston is all right. The storm could not kill her, though it wounded her to the death almost. There is pluck there. There is pride there. There is money there. And, above all, there are recollections there for the Galvestonian, and he will not be downed by wind and wave. Mark that.”
Galveston, Tex., Sept. 18.—It would be somewhat difficult just now to give an answer to the question: “What is new in the situation at Galveston?” The situation has resolved itself into a routine of hard and systematic work which presents no features of special or startling interest, and which will, in the end, have the effect of showing what a stricken people can accomplish in the face of a fearful calamity if they go about their work in the proper manner.