The Call-chronicle-examiner. [volume], April 19, 1906, Page 1, Image 1

About The Call-chronicle-examiner. [volume] (San Francisco, Calif.) 1906-1906

Image provided by: University of California, Riverside; Riverside, CA

                
The Call Chronicle Examiner.
EARTHQUAKE AND FIRE:
SAN FRANCISCO IN RUINS
DEATH AND DESTRUCTION HAVE BEEN THE FATE OF SAN FRANCISCO. SHAKEN BY (A TEMBLOR AT 5:13 O'CLOCK YESTERDAY MORNING/ THE SHOCK LASTING 48 SECONDS,
AND SCOURGED BY FLAMES THAT RAGED DIAMETRICALLY IN ALL DIRECTIONS, THE CITY IS A MASS OF SMOULDERING RUINS. AT SIX O'CLOCK LAST EVENING THE FLAMES SEEM
INGLY PLAYING WITH INCREASED VIGOR, THREATENED TO. DESTROY SUCH SECTIONS AS THEIR FURY HAD SPARED DURING THE EARLIER PORTION OF THE DAY. BUILDING THEIR
: PATH IN A TRIANGUAR CIRCUIT FROM THE START IN THE EARLY MORNING, THEY JOCKEYED AS THE DAY WANED, LEFT THE BUSINESS SECTION, WHICH THEY HAD ENTIRELY DE
VASTATED, AND SKIPPED IN A DOZEN DIRECTIONS TO THE RESIDENCE PORTIONS. AS NIGHT FELL THEY HAD MADE THEIR WAY OVER INTO THE NORTH BEACH SECTION AND
SPRINGING ANEW TO THE SOUTH THEY REACHED OUT ALONG THE SHIPPING SECTION DOWN THE BAY SHORE, OVER THE HILLS AND ACROSS TOWARD THIRD AND TOWNSEND
STREETS. WAREHOUSES, WHOLESALE HOUSES AND MANUFACTURING CONCERNS FELL IN THEIR PATH. THIS COMPLETED THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ENTIRE DISTRICT KNOWN
AS THE "SOUTH OF MARKET STREET.- HOW FAR THEY ARE REACHING TO THE SOUTH ACROSS THE CHANNEL CANNOT BE TOLD AS THIS PART OF THE CITY IS SHUT OFF FROM
SAN FRANCISCO PAPERS.
. j AFTER DARKNESS,THOUSANDS OF THE HOMELESS WERE MAKING THEIR WAY WITH THEIR BLANKETS AND SCANT PROVISIONS TO GOLDEN GATE PARK AND THE BEACH TO
FIND SHELTER. THOSE IN THE HOMES ON THE HILLS JUST NORTH OF THE HAVES VALLEY WRECKED SECTION PILED THEIR BELONGINGS IN THE STREETS AND EXPRESS WAG
ONS AND AUTOMOBILES WERE HAULING THE THINGS AWAY TO THE SPARSELY SETTLED REGIONS. EVERYBODY IN SAN FRANCISCO IS PREPARED TO LEAVE THE CITY, FOR THE
BELIEF IS FIRM THAT SAN FRANCISCO WILL BE TOTALLY DESTROYED.
; DOWNTOWN EVERYTHING IS RUIN. NCT A BUSINESS HOUSE STANDS. THEATRES ARE CRUMBLED INTO HEAPS. FACTORIES AND COMMISSION HOUSES LIE SMOULDERING ON
. THEIR FORMER SITES. ALL OF THE NEWSPAPER PLANTS HAVE BEEN RENDERED USELESS, THE "CALL" AND THE "EXAMINER" BUILDINGS, EXCLUDING THE "CALL'S" EDITORIAL
\ ROOMS ON STEVENSON STREET BEING ENTIRELY DESTROYED.
IT IS ESTIMATE^ THAT THE LOSS IN SAN FRANCISCO WILL REACH FROM $150,000,000 TO $200,000,000. , THESE FIGURES ARE IN THE ROUGH AND NOTHING CAN BE TOLD UNTIL
-PARTIAL ACCOUNTING IS TAKEN.
ON EVERY SIDE THERE WAS DEATH AND SUFFERING YESTERDAY. HUNDREDS WERE; INJURED, EITHR BURNED, CRUSHED OR STRUCK BY FALLING PIECES FROM THE BUILD
INGS, AND ONE OF TEN DIED WHILE ON THE . OP OPERATING TABLE ATJMECHANICSV^
THE NUMBER OF DEAD IS NOT KNOWN BUT IT IS ESTIMATED THAT AT LEAST 500 MET THEIR DEATH IN THE HORROR.
AT NINE O'CLOCK, UNDER A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT ROCSEVELT, THE CITY WAS PLACED UNDER MARTIAL LAW. HUNDREDS OF TROOPS PATROLLED THE STREETS
AND DROVE THE CROWDS BACK, WHILE HUNDREDS MORE WERE SET AT WORK ASSISTING THE FIRE AND POLICE DEPARTMENTS. THE STRICTEST ORDERS WERE ISSUED, AND IN
TRUE MILITARY SPIRIT THE SOLDIERS OBEYED. DURING THE AFTERNOON THREE THIEVES MET THEIR DEATH BYRIFLE BULLETS WHILE AT WORK IN THE RUINS. THE CURIOUS
WERE DRIVEN BACK AT THE BREASTS OF THE HORSES THAT THE CAVALRYMEN RODE AND ALL THE CROWDS WERE FORCED FROM THE LEVEL DISTRICT TO THE HILLY SECTION BE
YOND TO THE NORTH
THE WATER SUPPLY WAS ENTIRELY CUT OFF, AND MAY BE IT WAS JUST AS WELL, FOR THfi LINES OF FIRE DEPARTMENT WOULD HAVE BEEN ABSOLUTELY USELESS AT ANY
.STAGE. ASSISTANT CHIEF DOUGHERTY SUPERVISED THE WORK OF HIS MEN AND EARLY IN THE MORNING IT WAS SEEN THAT THE ONLY POSSIBLE CHANCE TO SAVE THE CITY LAY
IN EFFORT TO CHECK THE FLAMES BY THE USE OF DYNAMITE. DURING THE DAY A BLAST COULD BE HEARD IN ANY SECTION AT INTERVALS OF ONLY A FEW MINUTES. AND BUILD
INGS NOT DESTROYED BY FIRE WERE BLOWN TO ATOMS. BUT THROUGH THE GAPS MADE THE FLAMES JUMPED AND ALTHOUGH THE FAILURES OF THE HEROIC EFFORTS OF THE PO
LICE FIREMEN AND SOLDIERS WERE AT TIMES SICKENING, THE WORK WAS CONTINUED WITH A DESPERATION THAT WILL LIVE AS ONE OF THE FEATURES OF THE TERRIBLE DISASf:
• TER. MEN WORKED LIKE FIENDS TO COMBAT THE LAUGHING; ROARING, ONRUSHING FIRE DEMON.
NO HOPE LEFT
FOR SAFETY OF
ANY BUILDINGS
\- ".-.San Francisco seems doomed to entire destruction. With
a lapse in the raging of the flames just before dark, the hope was
raised that with the use of the tons of dynamite the course of the
.fire might be checked and confined to the triangular sections it
hkd cut out for its path. But on the Barbary Coast the fire
brokef out anew and as night closed in the flames were eating
their way into parts untouched In their ravages during the day.
..To -the south and the north they spread; down to the docks and
out -into th* resident sertion, in and to the north of Hayes
Valley.. By- six o'clock practically all of St. Ignatius' great
buildings wen* no more. They had been leveled to the fiery
heap that marked what was once the metropolis of the West
• /-"The first of the big structures to go to ruin was the Call
Building, the famous skyscraper. At eleven o'clock the big 18
story building was a furnace.. Flames leaped from every win
dow and shot skyward from the circular windows in the dome. In
!~js than two hours nothing remained but the tall skeleton.
By five o'clock the Palace Hotel was in ruins. The old hos
telry', famous the world over, withstood tbe seige until the
last ••and although dynamite was used in frequent blasts to drive
CVfiitMnT'rd on Page TVa
SAN FRANCISCO, THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 1906.
BLOW BUILDINGS
UP TO CHECK
FLAMES
The dynamiting of buildings
In the track of the fire, to stay
tho progress of the flames, was
in charge of John Bermingham,
Jr n superintendent of the Cali
fornia Powder Works. Several
experienced men from the powd
er works, assisted by policemen
and members of the fire depart
ment, did the hazardous work of
blowing up the buildings. They
were razed in sets of threes, but
the open spaces where the shat
tered buildings -fell were quick- !
ly turned into holocausts of
flame. The work was most ef
fective in '\u25a0• the business blocks
east of Keamy street
WHOLE CITY
IS ABLAZE
f - . » - . .
At 10 o'clock last night th« Occi
dental Hotel, was destroyed by the
flames which swept unchecked across
Montgomery street: and attacked the
block bounded by Montgomery, S utter,
Bush and Kearny., Ths new Mer
chants' Exchange bidding was a mass
of flames from basement, to tower.
The Union Trust building and
Crooker-Wolworth 'Bank were both
ablaze and the Chranlole building and
other buddings In that blook were
threatened by the flames.
8hortly after 10, Volook the firs had
eaten its way southward from Ports
mouth Square to Kearny and Califor
nia .rf-'-ct3. : The entire section front
ing. \u25a0 west sice of Kearny. street
seer. lorried. \
All tho buildingidjolnlng the Hall
of Justice were ablaze and the firemen
were striving to save the structure by
! using dynamite. It is almost a cer
' tainty that tvery \u25a0 building contained In
the section bounded \u25a0. by \u25a0 Clay, , Kearny,
Market and East streets will' bs con
sumed. . . -\u25a0<;\u25a0;.-- 1|. . *-,".if -__-, ..* ?
The flames had wit«n way
westward in the residence 'section as
far as Qough street,; There, by dyna
miting blocks after blooks, thai firemen
suooesded In oheoking % this ' devouring
element. \u25a0 ' - -,' ' -:i|' -: \u25a0\u25a0 " '
CHURCH OF SAINT
IGNATIUS IS
DESTROYED
The magnificent church and
College of St. Ignatius, on the
northwest corner of Van Ness
avenue and ' Hayes street repre
sents in its destruction a mater
ial loss of over $1,000,000. The
actual coet oorf r the great building
was over $900,000, but during the
years which have elapsed since
its erection the church has been
enriched by paintings and fres-:
coes,. which were priceless. Some
of them were works of art which
can never be replaced, however
willing those interested in the
church might be to meet any ex
pense in the effort
MA YOR CONFERS
WITH MILITARY
AND CITIZENS
At 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon 50 representative citizens of
San Francisco met the Mayor, the Chief of Police and the United
States Military authorities- in the police office in the basement of
the Hall of Justice. They had been summoned thither by May
or Schmitz early in : the forenoon, the fearful possibilities of the
situation having forced themselves upon him immediately after
the shock of earthquake in the morning, and the news which at
once reached him of the completeness of the diaster.' He lost no
time in making out a list -of citizens from whom to seek advice
and ; assistance, . and in summoning • them, to the conference- . It
was called at the Hall of Justice,: as virtually the first news which
reached the Mayor regarding the extent "of -the disaster was that
of thy ruin of the City HalL He did not realize that even while
the; conference was to be going on cornices 'would be crashing
[down and windows falling jn fragments in the Hall of Justice
also; and that before sunset desperate efforts would be made to
blow the structure. up in the vain endeavor by this means to check
the advance of the flames in the northern section of the down-
-
All, or nearly aM \u25a0of the citizens summoned to : the conf erenco
Continued on Page Twt