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

“I am not inclined to give up or lose courage or heart, and I feel like the old king at the siege of Megara, who is reported to have said when taken prisoner: ‘My palace has fallen about my head, my city is in flames, my state ravaged by my enemies, my wife and children I know not where; no cloak to shield me from cold, but I have lost nothing. I have my intellect, my faith, my courage and my loyalty. These can not be taken from me, and, having them, I have lost nothing.’

OVERCOMING DISASTERS.

“Despite our tremendous losses, we can save much and make good much if we have not lost our heart and courage. Galveston will be restored; if not by us, by sturdier men who are equal to the task. I was living in Chicago at the time of the great fire in 1871. Many men, and some of them of apparent good judgment, declared that Chicago would never be restored; would never rise from the ashes. Within one year there was a better Chicago than ever before. Four years ago I went through the track of the St. Louis cyclone, and the same was said of that city. Now there is nothing to be seen there but scars of that awful storm.

“The same will be with Galveston. In three or four years, or less, Galveston will be as great, if indeed not greater, than she was before the storm, if the people are true to themselves. It is surprising what can be done where willing and cheerful hearts go to work and work in the right way. Galveston citizens are not only hopeful but determined that the city shall be resurrected, as it were, and when that spirit animates us enough is said.”

“Did you ever feel the thrilling experience of being on a ship as she was just in the act of sinking?” said a sunburnt sailor to a citizen. He was one of the survivors of the ill-fated dredge boat which sank near Texas City.

“The night of the terrible hurricane at Galveston,” he continued, “it was predicted by several of us on board the dredge boat that a destructive storm was approaching, and it was deemed best to put out all anchors. We had no more than done so when the wind veered to the southeast. We had not put out all of the anchors any too soon, for of all the high winds and waves, those that lashed our boat were the worst I have ever seen.

“I have been in many a shipwreck, and realized that it was only a short time before I would be in another world, for I felt the boat dragging her anchors and drifting inland at a terrific speed. We were then some eight or ten miles from shore.

BOAT PASSING OVER TREE TOPS.

“It seemed to me only fifteen or twenty minutes before the fury of the storm struck us. I saw our boat passing over tree tops. I knew we were then approaching the bay shore, and possessing that knowledge as to when to leave a sinking ship, I procured some fifteen life preservers and gave one each to the crew, and told each man how to put them on and to follow me to the upper deck, and be ready to dive off when I gave the word.

“They were all frightened nearly to death, and only two succeeded in getting their life preservers on and reaching the top deck with me. When the fearful moment came for man to battle with the winds and water, I gave command to jump. In an instant three of us made a plunge into an immense breaker, which carried us high into the air.