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
The tragedy grows greater every moment. The romances dead to the world,
the grief lost beneath the wave or carried to the vapors above the
earth, the aching hearts soothed by lasting peace, the tired souls in
the arms of endless rest, the ambitions stilled by the calm which
banishes the anguish of life’s dreary struggle—it matters not what these
rings may bring to mind—we are yet confronted with the loss of the
thousands who shall never again press these wave-kissed shores. The
sentiment of this people is, God rest every one who sleeps beneath the
wave, and gather to everlasting peace the ashes of all whose funeral
pyres were built of these shattered homes.
A DAY OF ANGUISH.
It has been a day of anguish like all the days of this week have been.
There has been no cessation of tear-stained faces appearing here and
there to tell of the lost. And it is a wonder if the end of this sad
divulgence will ever come. A motherless boy or a fatherless girl, a now
childless mother or father, or whatever it may be, they still come to
tell of their woe, and the stolid men who glide over the water or who
search the shore, still bring in the swollen and unrecognizable victims
of the storm. It will end some day, and agonizing hearts may rest the
painful throbbings of this hour.
It matters not how great the numbers of the dead, they are numerous
enough to shock the sympathies of the world, and they are gone forever.
But we fear to look upon the sea, lest some heartless wave shall bring
to view the cold, stark form of somebody whom somebody loved. The
victims are still growing into larger thousands, and the bereft are
still coming in to tell of losses. It is a continued story of anguish
and death, such as Texas has never known before and will never know
again.
It is needless to repeat the sad discoveries which every day brings
forth. It is said that every wave of the sea has its tragedy, and it
seems to be true here. In Galveston it has ceased to be anxiety for the
dead, but concern for the living. The supreme disaster, with its
overwhelming tale of death and destruction, has now abated to lively
anxiety for the salvation of the living.
Men are at work clearing the streets of piles of timber and refuse. Men
are beginning to realize that the living must be cared for. It is now
the supreme duty. There is much work to be done, and it is being done.
Women and children are being hurried out of the city just as rapidly as
the limited facilities of transportation will permit. The authorities
and committees are rational and idleness is no longer permitted. There
is an element with an abundance of vital energy, who intend to save the
town, and the town is being saved.
WORK RAPIDLY PUSHED.