The Great Galveston Disaster, Containing a Full and Thrilling Account of the Most Appalling Calamity of Modern Times Page: 503
xiv, 17-536 p. : front., plates ; 24 cm.View a full description of this book.
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GREAT STORMS AND VAST DESTRUCTION. 503
of earthquakes. About 1,500 a year in a population of less than
5,000,000.
The city of Lisbon sits smiling and prosperous on the north
bank of the Tagus, and its inhabitants still point with pride to
scarred earth dating from the earthquake in which 40,000 lives
were lost. Charleston, S. C., is rebuilt. Johnstown, Pa., is restored
to its prosperous industry. The Japanese still go their
flowery way in Jeddo, where in one great shock 200,000 lives are
said to have been lost-which figure is even approximately the
greatest disaster the world has ever known. St. Thomas, in the
West Indies; Port Royal, Jamaica; Cape Haytien, in Santo Domingo,
with a tribute of'45,ooo lives within the memory of men
yet living, and the spice island of Krakatoa, are still peopled despite
the black danger signal of the death which constantly waves
over them.
MYRIAD LIVES LOST IN GREAT DISASTERS.
' If you will refer to the statistical sources of information you
will find that in one hundred and fifty years, a mere moment in the
life of this world and its races, and add up the round thousands
only and leave out the hundreds of lives which are charged to
lesser lists the sum will reach 1,563,000 souls in the thirty-seven
most important earthquake, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes and inundations
that have visited the earth. It is, of course, impossible
to give any sort of guess as to the accuracy of the estimates of the
loss of life.
"Even in Johnstown it is not certainly known to this day
within 2,000 persons how many were lost. The identified dead
numbered 2,228. The best informed and conservative estimates
place the figure at 3,500, and others reach 5,000, while published.
reports, which ought to be authoritative, calmly name the death
list at 9,00o. It is the same at Galveston, where the number is so
variously stated that no reliance can be placed upon any numerical
report beyond the fact that anywhere between I,ooo and 3,000 lives'
have been lost. If this, then, is the waywardness of figures in cases
where not only the population is known, but in communities where
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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/m1/561/?rotate=90: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.