Читать книгу The Great Galveston Disaster - Paul Lester - Страница 88

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“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. There 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:

“Galveston is beginning slowly to recover from the stunning blow of last week, and though the city appears to-night to be pitilessly desolated, the authorities and the commercial and industrial interests are setting their forces to work, and a start has at least been made toward the resumption of business on a moderate scale.

“The presence of the troops has had a beneficial effect upon the criminal classes, and the apprehension of a brief but desperate reign of anarchy no longer exists. The liquor saloons have at least temporarily gone out of business, and every strong-limbed man who has not his own humble abode to look after is being pressed into service, so that, first of all, the water service may be resumed, the gutters flushed and the streets lighted.