Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel], April 20, 1906, Image 1

About Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911

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

Sixteen Pages
IN TWO PARTS
VOL. XXXIII, NO. 202.
SAN FRANCISCO IS DEVASTATED
lomeless -Thbiu^^ Remain
IMPOSSIBLE
TO PAINT
PICTURE
Fire Devours Houses
of Millionaires on
Nob Hill
Brave Firemen Helpless
of Lack
of Water
Death List Is Appalling, but at This
Hour It Is Impossible to
Secure More Than a
Few Names
■ (By Herald Staff Correspondent.)
' SAN FRANCISCO,' April 10, —
Tlie horrors of tbe street acenea
and tbe terrible auflerlnK ocrnn
ioncd by the absence of wHter,
can, ' pcrhnim, be Imagined by
reading this statement i
When a small stream of dirty
water spurted up through the cob
ble atones and formed a muddy
pool at the corner of Powell nnd
Market streets hundreds of men,
women, rich and poor, old and
young, knelt and drank to quench
their terrible thirst. ■
. This la but one Instance — there
were ninny nlmllar In every fray. -
S Water! Waterl Water! '• , ■'■■'•
It was the cry of the firemen.'
I It was the cry of the thousands,
yea, two hundred thousand people
who h«< compelled to remain In
the doomed city for tbe time being.
Imagine the horror If -y«u can!
Special to The Herali. 1 I. '■■. -
SAN FRANCISCO, ' April 19.— San
Francisco tonight Is the • city • desolate.
It seems that the acme of Its misery
was reached at dusk when flames burst
from all sides of the beautiful Hotel
Falrmount, the palace that above every
structure was apparently most strongly
entrenched n gainst the attack of all
') consuming fire.
And surrounding the lofty pinnacle
of flame as far as the eye could see to
the south and east and far out to the
west lay In cruel, fantastic heaps,
charred and smoking, all that remained
1 of a, prosperous city. . The metropolis
of the western slope was in ashes.
. ; ! : Hope Worst Is Over
t\ This .has been ■ another day of an
.uneven struggle of man against the
' unconquerable element of nature. Acre
j after has been ground into dust and
ashes despite the heroic perseverance
of • the firemen to limit the conflagra
tion. Tonight there Is a hope that the
worst has been nearly reached and that
" when tomorrow dawns the end will
■ have come, but the hope is faint in
deed. . If the flames can be barred In
their devastation of the western addi
tion, then finis will be written to the
great disaster. . . .
• But San Francisco Is not discouraged.
Its best and highest class has already
j begun to plan for restoration and to care
for the stricken ones, and relief will
'be immediate and effective. Total sub
scriptions of $180,000 were announced.
Arrangements were made for the Im
mediate relief of the needy.
' Provide Bread and Water
The baking of 60,000 loaves of bread
Bally will begin tomorrow. Free trans
portation will be provided by the
Southern Pacific to persons desiring to
Igo to interior points. Major McKeever
■was | appointed commandant of the
.'camps of the homeless. It was an
nounced that tomorrow there would be
j gin a daily delivery into the city of 10,
000,000 gallons of water.
Tonight for the first time direct tel
egraphic communication was re-estab
lished between San Francisco and the
outside world, and this message had
1 the honor of being the first to be sent.
" By the most energetic efforts In the
■ face of great obstacles the Postal Tel
egraph company succeeded in restoring
one at its shattered lines, and its man
agers are hopeful of bringing back its
: service to the normal plane In a day
or two. ■
Three Fires Burning
: The Postal office tonight Is located
in a little wooden structure erected on
1 piles at the water front shore. To
■ night three distinct fires were burning.
1 One was on that portion that extends
. from Nob Hill down easterly to the
water front. It' was traveling slowly
' north toward the Telegraph Hill
section i and may die out from lack of
material or may again sweep toward
the .extreme water front. The second
I center was in the Mission district. Here
the fire had reached Eighteenth street
but was making little headway toward
'the hillsides to the west, where thou
: sands of people are camped. The third
; and' most dangerous : fire ■is that
the western addition. This
is I really j a continuation of the Nob
•', Hill fire. -It is wedge shaped with the
apex pushing forward. : ■ ...
■';r\ ■■■' • Place Dead at 250
■ This Is the point against which the
.firemen are bending their greatest ef
forts. Dynamite was used for back
' firing purposes with only fair success.
..Tonight many blocks may be blown up.
Chief of Police Dlnan said he thought
250 . would fully cover the number of
deaths. He found it Impossible to se
cure details. •: About fifty bodies have
thus far been found. ■• - •
i There J was considerable shooting of
looters today, but ' the offenders were
Los Angeles Herald.
PRICE I D "Kr b £. c .".?!~ I 65 CENTS
HAVOC IN THE HEART OF BAN' FRANCISCO. •■A'hEM^NVq^'PRAQBR'S'-' BIG ■■■DEPARTMENT. • STORE. THE CALLAQHAN BUILDING,
'. ■ f .hCyr- .■•••.-/;. y\ ■' ■ i'i.^:. •:">*■.; H'iV: STILL; INTACT,;; IBSEEN IN THE DISTANCE-", • ■■ '\ .•.'■ : ■" ; ■ ''■.:■/.. "■ „y."- .•'•"
DESTRUCTIVE WORK OF THE ELEMENTS. VIEW OF THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE RIALTO BUILDING
fortunate enough to escape', ■with
wounds. •■• " • .
■OAKLAND, April 19.— A terrible
landslide - occurred on Loma Frlets.
mountain, ten,mlles above Soquell. Nine
men were buried alive in their cabins
at the Hinckley creek mill of the 'Loma
Prleta Lumber ■ company. The elide
came down one side of the canyon and
swept over to the other side, returning
to bury the sawmill and the cabins in
600 feet of dirt.
A landslide occurred at Deer creek
mill, just . above Boulder creek, John
Hannah and James Franklin being
caught in their cabins and killed.
This afternoon at 4 o'clock, water, was
obtained in the central fire district to
the, great Joy of the firemen, and It was
then thought that there was a good
fighting chance to check the flames on
the eaßtorn side of Van -Ness avenue. |
■ At I<T o'clock this morning the fire
had reached Van Ness and Sutter. J
The j big power house at Sutter and
Folk street was dynamltted, and this
somewhat stayed the progress of the
fire, but tt swept across the street and
the McNutt hospital was then blown
up. ■ .. :• ■■, •<■ ■ ■■■'■■ ■ ■
Then, the big St. Dunstan apartment
house was demolished with explosives.
■ While the. firemen ware fighting with
dynamite the ' steeple - of St. Mary's
FRIDAY MORNING, APRIL 20, 1906.
cathedral, a Roman Catholic edifice
which had withstood the earthquake
shock,' caught fire. A fireman with a
hose tied to his belt scaled -the steeple
and played a stream on the burning
section and the blaze was extinguished.
Thousands of people cheered the
heroic deed and the handsome building
was saved. •
Firemen Use Salt Water
At 9 o'clock tonight the fire on the
easterly slope of Nob. Hill was eating
its way toward Telegraph Hill.
A stream' of salt water was being
pumped from the bay. through a hose
one mile long . to -quench • the progress
of the conflagration, but it seemed thut
North Beach, like the greater portion
of the city was doomed to destruction.
"William F. Herrin of the Southern
Plciflc company said tonight that : in
San Jose, a large number of buildings
had been demolished but the city aB a
whole was In good condition.
Opera Company Goes East
. The Conreld Opera company in its en
tire left ■ for New .York on tonight's
Overland after having ' played . two
nights hers. All the . costumes and
properties of ' the company ; have • been
destroyed and .. all of - the . Individual
members have suffered heavy personal
losses. . .
There Is a great shortage In the' bread
supply in the city. A panic took place
this afternoon at the California street
bakery and the police took possession
of the premises and it will be operated
under municipal control. •'...-,
Scores Become Frantic
While the heroio fire fighters were
making their last stand at the fire line
on Van Ness avenue panic reigned
among the survivors in other parts of
the city. '
The intense heat and the absence of
water have added to the ; horror and
the strain since the beginning of
the terrible calamity has been ;so un
speakly terrible that scores have be
come frantic and others have dropped
from exhaustion In the streets.
Refugees Fill Streets.'
The streets are still choked with
refugees hurrying hither and thither,
scrambling wildly for an avenue of es
cape.
Since early morning when the great
rush of flames doomed. the hotel find
apartment house districts along Bills,
O'Farrel and Sutter streets, men, women
and children have been rushing or
staggering under heavy loads of lug
gage. .. . . .
Some to the ferries at the water front
in the hope of getting to Oakland and
the east side of the bay; others to the
hills, Golden Gate park, the ocean
beach, the Presidio and San Mateo way.
. Trip Entails Hardships
The trip to the hills and to the water
front was one of terrible hardship.
Famishing women and children and ex
hausted men were compelled to walk
seven miles around the north shore in
order to avoid the flames and reach the
ferries. Many dropped to the street
under the weight of their loads, and
willing fathers and husbands, their
strength almost gone, strove to pick
them up arid urge them forward again.
People Are Fairly Mad
• In. the panic many mad things are
being done. Even the soldiers are un
able in many Instances to prevent men
and women made Insane by the mis
fortune that has engulfed them from
rushing Into doomed buildings In the
hope of saving valuables from the
ruins. '• :■'?, .
■ In nearly every Instance such action
has resulted in death to thoss who
tried It. ■ ,
; At Larkln and Suttsr streets two msn
PRICE: SINGLE COPY, 5 CENTS
OAKLAND SHELTERS
50,000 REFUGEES
HOMELESS ONES FLOCK ACROSS BAT
Men and Women, Kich and Poor, Old and Young;
Uniorttinates Who Have Suffered the Tor- >
tures of Hell Crowding the Streets
of Aristocratic Oakland
broke from the police and rushed into
a burning apartment house never to
reappear. . •
Probably 200,000 refugees are strug
gling to get out of- the city, and. hourly
the task is becoming more difficult as
the fife and heat, cut oft avenue after
avenue. The streets are filled with
struggling . people, some crying and
' | Special to The Herald. .*
j: OAKLAND, April 19.— The streets of Oak-J
: : land tonight are thronged. Fifty thousand :
•'people are here already and every boat that;
" lands here brings its crowds. ;«
; : There is nothing left undone to make the ]
;;. refugees as comfortable as possible and every j
: "<■ house that has a ; room . or nook . to spare is ]
;: opened wide. - v 3
• ; : .. Oh the (doorways of houses people sink <
- down in sleep when once they realize that tliey^
: Lare^^afe^. JThe-i -parks .are > crowded,^ and tents :j
£have" sprung t^
: | ail nations are assembled here and every effort j
: : is being made that looks toward their comfort. 5 \
;: .The water front is crowded. There -arc J
'.' many who, since coming here, have founds
: : their loved ones missing and they besiege each :
; ; boat that leaves for the destroyed city for pas-;
••sage.; ..:.:'■'.'• .: ■ .., : . .;.; oj&\
:: The work, of rescue, goes on with unabated:
• ; zeal! • No thought of ceasing is contemplated;
"until the last man or -woman has been taken^
:; from -the maelstrom that rages across the bay.:
; ; The; water front here is bare, seared clean \
''> by flames. The fires have died and families j
: : camp • as ' t best they can. There is constant :
; ; shift of people to and . fro. And there is ;
y> hunger here, the hunger which makes weary:
: : women forget their weariness when they look :
;; at their children crying for bread. ;.;>
1 : : Every place has its wreckage. Clothing of all ]
■:: sorts, and all the smaller household furnish- 1
i ; ; ings, is strewn around. Every place that i
\y> makes a shelter , for a man or woman is occu-i
;;pied. The houses are all filled. :
,;; . Up the streets that lead from the Oakland;
:]; Mole are processions that warder on and pnj;
:: not knowing where they go; not caring where:
J they go, but crying for a relief from peril .that;
.:: has palled them, for two days. -:
I;; Wagons of all sorts are pressed into service.;
;; Chinese fairly swarm, making for the open,;
:: not caring where they go except that it be in ;
:;the fields where there are trees instead of:
; ; smoldering ruins. - ' j
:: Homeless dogs and cats,, former household;
:: pets that have escaped the ruin, can be seen:
;> every where. There is food famine here even;
: : now and what the morning will disclose no <
;;one can tell. There is a general expectancy:
;;that supplies from Los Angeles will arrive;
"early. . ' ' • ■; . ," \ „ ..'..":*■■*
;: : There is.no such thing as sleep here tonight; :
<>save for those whe have reached their limit 'of;
:: endurance and fall asleep even as they walk:
;; and lie like logs upon the grourd where they:
1 1 Oakland is doing . all it can. Los Angeles J
; ; and other cities must help and'help at once. ; ;
Main -News Section;
weeping and calling for missing loved
ones. i
| Crowding all sidewalks in the threat
ened are.a are hundreds upon hundreds
of householders attempting to S drag
some of their personal effects to places
of safety. V
In some Instances the men. at ropes
are dragging trunks tandem ■:■ style,