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 De
John Stuart Mill · en
MACHINERY A COMPLETE LOSS.
Major R. B. Baer, receiver of the Galveston City Street Railway, who is
in this city now, says that to-day he telegraphed the Guarantee Trust
Company, the owners of the property, that it would take $200,000 to
$250,000 to repair the damage to the street railway. The powerhouse and
machinery are a complete loss and seven miles of track is gone, as well
as all of the trestle work.
“After the storm and until I left Galveston yesterday I walked an
average of ten miles a day,” said Major Baer, “and I know there is
hardly a building in the city that is not damaged, while the stocks of
merchandise are damaged from 25 to 90 per cent. The Galveston, Houston
and Northern and the Santa Fe both expect their roads to be open to
Virginia Point by Saturday, and then some light draught steamboats will
be put on to ply between Virginia Point and Galveston. Both of these
roads will commence work on their bridges across the bay as soon as
material can be gotten on the ground. The Santa Fe has now a force of
400 men working toward Virginia Point and a large force on the island
repairing their track. The Southern Pacific is putting to work all the
men they can get.”
One of the Texas journals made editorial comment as follows: “Duty is
still all that all can do. Many of the survivors of the storm are ill,
others bruised, wounded, broken, hungry and breadless, others hapless
orphans, too young to realize their sad condition. There has never been
in this country any other disaster to be compared with this. Where
others have had to battle against wind or water, here the man and the
woman and the child have found a dual foe—both wind and wave.
Considering all the conditions and forces and dangers and dreadful
results, it may be asserted without any word to modify the statement
that this is the most grievous calamity of modern times.
TOO AWFUL FOR WORDS.
“It is a stunning blow to every Texan whose heart is in the right place.
It is a calamity so dread that no one can afford to stop to consider
himself or his own wounds. The duty which one owes to others comes
first. Many are too far away from the scene of desolation and death to
do anything; but they are not too far away to give something, and thus
to help along the heartrending work which is now going on in Galveston
and in other places along the coast. The work of uncovering bodies, of
burying the dead, of supplying the needs of those who require
assistance, is going on, and a beginning has been made in cleaning and
clearing the city to prevent a general spread of sickness, which is sure
to come unless this work is thoroughly done. This task will require a
week more, possibly many weeks more.