The Paducah sun., 1906-04-26
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DOWN MISERY LANE
IN SAN FRANCISCO.
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From Louisville Herald !

Nr fOln LOulSNlfe ftCldlQ.
OF all the pitiful spectacles tha;
have marked the great San Francis
co disaster none will live longer o,
more vividly in the memories of
those who witnessed il than the
march of the refugees down Misery
Lane"
The announcement was made Fri
day morning that 1t was safe to cross
the flame devoured district and seek
the ferry landing. Immediately be-
gan the exodus of the stricken popu-
lace. Down Market street, in dis
organized ranks, marched the most
pathetic and bizarre procession that
has ever filed through the thorough
fares of a city.
The retreat of Napoleon from
Moscow lacked the spectacular and
heartrending features that charao-
terized this flight OF the people of
San Francisco from the scene of their
ruined homes, the smoking pyre of
their sacred dead. The outgoing OF
Israel from Egypt was triumphal
progress; this was a despair driven
desertiOn of those whom Nature had
despoiled of all but life.
Men and women wesried to ex-
haustion by the strenuous expert
ences of the past forty-eight hours.
scourged by the pangs OF hunger
and numbed by the paralyzlng ter
rors OF earthquake and fame, STUN
bled along the avenue fianked by the
blackened waste Of what had been
onct street of magnificent build
ings and teeming industry.
The sun smOte upon them from
above with merciless heat augment
ed by the radiations of the glowing
ruins on either side. Mothers press
ed famished infants to bosoms whose
maternal founts we're dry. Tod
ding children chung TO their parents
hands and cried piteously for bread.
Men could be seen pushing baby car
riases or supporting fainting wo-
men. 1t was a motley throng of
thousands. going they knew not.
cared not, where, II 1t were but away
from the hideOus roar of fire and dy-
Mantle and the horrible sights Of
death and devastation.
Never was there so incongruous a
multitude. so strange a medley of
attire. Every race was represented
Occident and Orient touched elbows:
the uneouth wall of the Chfnaman
mingled with the cry of the Ameri-
can. Garb of any description served
the necessity of the occasion.
Citizens of former wealth and
prominence In silk hats and froca
coats, walked side by side with 9TH
ers in rags. Women wore shawls.
tattered skirts. thin blouses, wrap
pers, anything they had been able to
save from the wreckage. All were
fused into a homogeneous mass by
one common impulse-escape
Through the disorderly ranks,
those fortunate enough to have re-
cured vehicles drove in reckless in
difference to the safety of their fell
lows on foot. Td be first at the point
of transit was the compelling motive,
and In the madness of the moment
the thought of self predominated.
At so great a distance Il is diff
cult for us to realize the full and ter
ribie Significance of that unique pro.
ctssion. Into the overwhelming des-
pair that the events of the preceding
days had engendered in every heart
came one poignant throb OF hope.
But what a hope! Hope of leaving
behind. perhaps forever, the scenes
of their loves and joys, theii pleas
ures and successes. once so beauti-
full, so bright. so full of promise, but
in one day become a smoldering heap
a charnel house, a place of doom.