Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-02

while loose shouldered cavalry men carry
ing messages galloped from place to place.
Scores OF automobiles had been Impressed
for the service of the city and they dashed
through the streets guided by coatIess
chauneurs grimed and grim, tense with the
knowledge that they were racing with
death. Officers, firemen, doctors nurses
and newspaper men used automobiles,
while some were used for the transporta-
ton of property. Every garage was
emptied, private cars and cars that had
never been used were pressed into service.
The work of salvation done by automobiles
cannot be overestimated They could not
save the city, but they saved many lives
and hundreds of thousands of dollars.
worth of property.
With every hour of the first day the In
creasing scope of the disaster became ap-
parent, but its ultimate immensely was not
then guessed by any one. Curiosity as to
lts extent was one of the first sentiments
that followed the immediate thought of
personal safety, and hundreds of people in
dinerent to fatigue toured the streets to
view and estimate the damage that had al
ready been done. Throughout the length
of Market street, the main thoroughfare of
the city, square after square of enormous
brick buildings, unfortified by steel, had
crumbled to ruins in the course of few
hours. The great central dome of the city
hall. untouched by fire, was riven to the
height of hundred feet, its inclosing wall
on one side having fallen away leaving a
colossal skeleton that stood above a great
Iiedp OF RUNS IN terrible testimony of the
violence of the earthquake.
In the then unburned portions of the
city wherever the structure was of brick
or stone there were evidences of ruin, fall
en- cornlces, upper stories cayed in and on
every side chimneyS that had fallen into
the street or had broken through the roof,
in many cases carrying with them certain
death There were great many injuries
caused by falling chimneys and hundreds
were cared for In improvsed hospitals.
The Mechanics Pavilion was used for this
purpose but the fire reached it on the aft
ernoon of the first day and 1t was totally
destroyed. a rumor that $50 OF the wound
ed were caught in the ruins happily proved
to be untrue.
Camping Out at Night.
When the night came the public so,saees,
Golden Gate Park, the Preside and Fort
Mason reservations and the hlltops of the
city were covered by thousands of families
compelled to camp in the open. Quilts and
blankets and even mattresses were spread
on the ground and the miserable men and
women who had toiled through the day to
save moiety OF their possessions lay down
and slept with the light OF the great fre
reflected from the sky almost as bright as
day Many, fascinated by the wonder of
the spectacle stayed awake looking at the
great blazing ring that almost encircied
them. The stream OF refugees continued
to pour In from the burnt district through
out the night and the sound of trunks be-
l.
cessant hoarse and cruel sound-was heard
throughout the night as 1t had been heard
during the whole of the day
With the night there came some fear of
depradations by the criminal element but
the military had given hooters short shrfft
and many had been summarily shot during
the day. One man had been shot for charR-
ing T5 cents for a loaf of bread and an
other for driving fast in place where ref
ugees were camped In the muddle of Mar
ket street lay a corpse over which there
was sign which read Caught Stealing"
With the coming OF the dawn, which was
In truth. but transition from one quality
or light to another. we could see from the
hilltop on one side the peaceful waters of
the bay and the hills beyond, and on the
other the seethink cauldron from which
peiched forth great waves of flames that
licked frantically upward into dense col
umn or smoke many miles in height through,
winch the rising sun was visible like a
great red ball.
The stream that had been fiowtn,r con-
silently toward the government reservation
at the Preside was now Swelled by thou
sands who, feeling the pangs of hunger
sought place where supplies were to be
had The provision stores in the city had
long since been stripped OF everything edf-
bic. Wagons from the Preside laden with
potatoes, beans and bread drove down the
avenue which skirted the thickly populated
hats on the north front. of the city and dis
tributed supplies. while others provided for
the thousands caynped In Golden Gate Park
Quantities of food were now cominr IN