Every Galveston business man talked confidently of the future of the city, though many of the clerks announced their intention of going away as soon as they can accumulate money enough.
“I am not afraid of another storm,” said a clerk in one of the principal stores. “But I’m sick and tired of the whole business.”
The Southwestern Telephone and Telegraph Company, which is a branch of the Erie system, early began to rebuild its telephone system there.
“This will take us three months, and in the meantime we will give no service save long-distance,” said D. McReynolds, superintendent of construction. “We will install a central emergency system the same as that in Chicago and put all wires under ground. We will employ 500 men if necessary to do the work in ninety days. The company’s losses in Texas are $300,000—$200,000 here, $60,000 at Houston and the rest at other points.”
Residents were greatly pleased at this announcement, as it showed the confidence of a foreign company in the future of Galveston.
FIFTEEN HUNDRED NEGROES PERISHED AT GALVESTON.
William Guest, a Pullman car porter, returned to Chicago from the storm-stricken district Monday, September 17. He said:
“I left Harrisburg night before last, and things then in the neighborhood were in a dreadful state. Galveston is about twenty miles distant, and the refugees were pouring in the direction of Houston in great numbers. Many well-to-do colored people have lost all they had. The Rev. W. H. Cain, a colored Episcopal minister, and his entire family were killed, and it was reported to me that Mrs. Cuney, the widow of Wright Cuney, was also lost, as well as a number of colored teachers employed in the public schools. At Houston relief committees have been organized.”
The Rev. Mr. Cain was well known in Chicago, having preached several times from the pulpit of the St. Thomas Episcopal church on Dearborn near Thirtieth street.
Cyrus Field Adams, publisher of the Appeal, Chicago, received a letter from Galveston from W. H. Noble, Jr., saying that about 1,500 Afro-Americans lost their lives in the storm, and that fully 10,000 were homeless.