The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-09-22
a GREAT DISASTER.

, { - F.i. p
The catastrophe ait Galveston is one
of the most appalling of modern times.
the ruin and destruction have it is
true been exceeded, but not very often.
, NAB a rule disasters count their hundreds
and we are h'6rrified at the result, but
at Galveston the loss of life lie counted
by the thousands, ana the exact num-
Der sacrificed will, probably never be
Snown.,la .. -. ~ l.i.
1t is true that earthquakes have
spread more disaster The great earth
quake at Lisbon in 1865 swallowed up
$4,000 people in about eight minutes.
In 1868 the South American coast suf-
fered and the cities of Arequipa, Iqui-
qui and several others We're swept out
of existence involving an estimated loss
of $4,000 lives and rendering some 80, 900
people horseless. Then again there was
the frightful tidal wave at the mouth of
the Gauges, when all the low lying ISL
ands were swept bare of population
and there was the Krakatoa explosion
which swept thousands of Javanese
from the face of the earth.
But this disaster at Galveston was
not the result fan earthquake, it was
caused by "a very heavy tempest which
exceeded I'm strength anything that had
been known The force of the wind
was registered up to eighty-four miles
an hour, and then the measuring
gauges were destroyed: 1t must have
been an awful scene that was enacted
IN bA
night. Man, prfdcs himself upon his
ability to make the forces of nature
Obedient to his will, but when once ma
ture puts forth her powers, mans
most stupendous and brilliant efforts
are brought down to pigmy size.
Galveston is not only an important
commercial city, but it has become
quite a fashionable sea side resort and
in September the regular population
would be largely increased by visitors
from all parts of the Union. That
such catastrophe should have hap
pened, however, is not to be wondered
at. The Island upon which Galveston
is situated is very low. It's mean eleva-
lion is three feet above the ordinary
sea level. Its width is from one and a
half to three and a half miles and its
length about twenty-eight miles. If
people ill found a city upon a sand
spit they must expect destruction at
some time.
"A terrible feature in the accounts
which reach US, is the action of the
lower class of the population which
seems TO have broken lose and commit
led great excuses, taking the oppor-
tunity of the Reorganization of the
civil authority, to rob right and left
and to riot in paroxysm of drunken
ness. Such conduct is unworthy of civ
1lized human beings and makes ont
blush for ones race At a time when
all should Eelp one another for a class
in the community to break loose in this
way is disgrace to humanity Accord
ing to the kilograms the bulk of the
crime W rs committed by the negroes.
though some whites were also engaged
in it,.
We are fortunate here that though we
nave violent, storms at rare intervals,
we have never experienced anything
like the cyclonic force which helped TO
devastate Galveston. Then again the
conformation of our Islands is such
that even il there We're to be a tidal
or rather an earthquake wave, its
force would be broken in a very great
measure by the fringing reef and the
population would have time to escape
to the high land. After any catastro-
phe of this kind there are always peo-
pie who get nervous and wonder wheth
er there might be a similar catastro-
phe where they are living. Such fears
with reg ira to our own city may be re-
garded ms groundless.
There are places upon the coast of
Kona and kau which might suffer from
such a visitation as Galveston has felt,
places butt almost at the sea level and
unprotected by any reef, but our main
centers Of population are we'll situated
and well ~ detected.
Wonderful is the recuperative power
OF cities. Though destroyed today Gal
weston in a year or so will prob
ably be Eandsomer and more beauti-
full city than ever.