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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,