The Great Galveston Disaster, Containing a Full and Thrilling Account of the Most Appalling Calamity of Modern Times Page: 414

                                
414           THE STORM'S MURDEROUS FURY.
thousand times more liable to be swept by storms than now, and
still it stood, and still stands.
"When Commodore Ansy abandoned the island, Lafitte succeeded
him in possession and held it until 1821. Lafitte's description
of its topography agrees with Commodore Ansy's in every
essential, and both state much of the area was marshy and lowlying,
and unfit for settlement. Is there any man who will assert
that during the past eighty-eight years the altitude and stability
of the island has not been constantly improved or increased? If
such is the case, and truth forbids its denial, the conclusion is
unavoidable that Galveston island may be crossed by howling
tornadoes every week, but it is just as secure as any part of Texas
from destruction.
MANY DESTRUCTIVE AGENCIES.
"In the excitement and for the moment men forget that there
is any other element or power, except water, that destroy towns,
when in fact the cities of the interior have suffered more destruction
from cyclones and storms than all the towns on the Texas
coast from Sabine Pass to Brazos Santiago. Fort Worth is as liable
to destruction as Galveston. In fact insecure residences in every
section of the country is a harvest for fires, floods or cyclones, as
was demonstrated in Chicago, Boston, New York, 'Cisco, Sherman,
Piano and scores of cities and towns in texas as well as other states
during the past decade.
" In the present deplorable disaster in Galveston the lamentable
loss of life was brought abou, not from its hazardous or insecure
location, but largely on account of the unstable character of
the buildings. True, some fine structures were demolisled, but
such was also the case in Brenham, Hempstead, Houston and
Alvin. In Brenham  oo houses were blown to pieces; of these
a half dozen were substantially built. Eye-witnesses state that
about the same proportions hold good in Galveston and about the
same conditions prevail.
"Nearly every island city on earth, in its early life, has suffered
just as Galveston has suffered. People attracted by business