The Great Galveston Disaster, Containing a Full and Thrilling Account of the Most Appalling Calamity of Modern Times Page: 89
xiv, 17-536 p. : front., plates ; 24 cm.View a full description of this book.
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THE GULF CITY A MASS OF RUINS. 89
land were straightened up by a force of 250 men under the supervision
of superintendents of the Western Union.
Concerning the great calamity, the destruction of life and
property, the view expressed by a prominent citizen was very
generally approved. He said:
"The people and military officers who are dooming Galveston
to eternal ruin would have consigned Lisbon to a lasting
chaos after her earthquake and decried and abandoned St.
Louis with vacant crumbling houses after the great cyclone. If
the citizens of Chicago had listened to their despairing notes,
blackened fragments of half-fallen walls and shapeless heaps of
brick and stone would still be the fitting monuments to proclaim
their broken spirit.
BLESSINGS IN DISGUISE.
" But all the reserves of human energy are summoned forth
by the very worst disasters, and courage should be written on the
heart of Galveston. It is the time to lift up the hands of her strong
men, to give them a word of cheer, for they are bound to the spot
and must make the best of their fate. A chorus of evil predictions
simply multiplies their difficulties and is a cruelty to them,
whether it is intended to be so or not.
" Let the dismal prophets reflect a moment. Though buildings
have been destroyed there is not a foot of land on the island
that does not represent savings. Though railroad communications
have been cut off, the currents of commerce by the land
and by the sea are merely waiting to resume their courses. Their
is a capital in trade connections which is not necessarily wrecked
along with wrecked stores, offices and houses."
C. J. Sealey, a young man of Galveston, Texas, who was in
La Junta, Colorado, received a telegram from the Mayor of Galveston
informing him of the death of twenty-one of his relatives,
among whom were his mother, two sisters and three brothers.
The young man said he did not believe he had a relative on earth.
An eye-witness of the desolation described the scene as follows
:
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The Great Galveston Disaster, Containing a Full and Thrilling Account of the Most Appalling Calamity of Modern Times (Book)
This book covers the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, the United States' deadliest natural disaster. It includes accounts from survivors and eyewitnesses, and photos of the devastation.
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Lester, Paul. The Great Galveston Disaster, Containing a Full and Thrilling Account of the Most Appalling Calamity of Modern Times, book, 1900~; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth26719/m1/110/: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.