The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-05-16

taken to the morgue dead Of knife
wounds, given for no other reason, 1t
seems, than the madness of panic.
There are 10000 Chinese in the quar-
ter, and there are thousands of Ital-
ians, Spaniards and Mexicans on the
other side. 1t seemed as though every
one Of these, with the riffraf of Bar
barry Coast" made for that n block
of open land. The two uncontrolled
streams met in the centre Of the square
and piled up on the edges. There they
fought all the morning, until the
United States soldiers restored order
with their bayonets.
Cabmen. drivers of express wagons
and trucks, hired at enormous prices,
carted away from the lower city the
valuables Of the hotels which saw their
doom in the fires which were breaking
out. Even the banks began to take
out their bullion and securities, and.
under guard Of half dressed clerks,
to send them to the hills, whence
came the salvation Of San Francisco.
One old nighthawk cab, driven by a
cabman white with terror, carried
more than a million dollars in cur
rency and securities. Men, pulling
corpses or injured people from fallen
buildings, stopped to curse these pro-
cessions as they passed.
Then the yandals formed and went
to work. Routed out from the dens
along the wharves, the rats of the
San Francisco waterfront, the draters
who have reached the back eddy of
European civilization, crawled out
and began to plumber. A policeman
caught one of these men creeping
through the window of a small bank
on Montgomery street and shot him
dead. But the police were keeping fire
lines, beating back o~verzealous res
cuers from the fallen houses and the
burning blocks, and for a time the
yandals %plundered at will.
There was q report from the wreck
of the Valencia Hotel that the ground
fairly sucked it in. The basement was
full Of water, so that when the rescue
corps got through the debris they
found the bodies floating about,
drowned or crushed. They tell Of peo-
pie thrown from windows and killed
on the pavements below by the first
great shake, Of people crushed In the
streets by the debris which fell from
the upper stories Of buildings. The
people were so sickened by horror that
they would believe anything. .
AS the day o on and the wind
changed the fire along the water front
burned itself out and ran on further
down south Of Market street. This
gave q comparatively clear passage to
the Ferry buildings, and the troops per-
mitted genuine refugees to pass to the
Southern Pacific ferries, which Were
loaded down with people, many of
them still half dressed. At nightfall
the troops cut off this privilege, prob
ably for fear of rioting and disorder.
Then it was almost impossible to cross
the street.
From Ingleside comes word that the
Cliff House, the great pleasure resort
and show place Of the city, which stood
upon a foundation Of solid rock, has
been swept into the sea. Not a thing
stands to tell where the monster build
ing once stood. 1t has been levelled to
the foundation, and only the rock Lin
ing the coast remains intact.
The State Insane Asylum at Agnews
is O total wreck. Many Of the 600 or
700 inmates in the building were bur-
led under the ruins. One hundred and
twenty bodies have been taken out, and
there are probably $50 more corpses
in the ruins.
Hardly had the building fallen, be-
fore there issued forth a wild-eyed and
%dishevelled army of maniacs, the sur
vivors of the calamity. They screamed
and laughed and wept as they scat
tered over the country in all directions.
To them the earthquake rumbllng
under their feet meant nothing, and
the fall Of the building q mere trivial
ity. With the superintendent of the
ASYLUM and his wife both killed, and
many of the keepers injured, the horde
Of insane persons followed their own
inclinations.
Many of them were rounded up and
taken care of by the citizens, but
scores are still wandering around the
countryside to the great terror OF q
Inhabitants.
DR.. Stone, superintendent Of the
Napa State Hospital, has telephoned
to the Governors Office that an auto
mobile arrived there with news that
Santa Rosa is ruined and that be-
tween 200 and 300 persons have been
killed.
AS later details are learned it seems
that 10000 houses were either partially
or wholly destroyed. Property loss is
estimated as high as $200,000,O0O. 1t
is estimated that there are 100000
homeless.
Some believe the number of deaths
will reach the appalling figures of 1000:
General Funston places the lumber OF
dead at over a thousand.
Fire Commissioner E. Myron Wolf
has announced that the fire insurance
companies carrying risks here will pay
dollar for dollar to every 4 insured
with them, with no discrimination be-
tween fire and earthquake
Every building in the triangular Sec
ton between Market street, the Mis-
sion. and the waterfront, in San Fran
cisco, has been destroyed. All the best
theatres, including the Majestic, the
Orpheum and the Grand Opera House.
have been burned. Several of n
great hotels. including the Palace Hotel
and the Grand, are in ruins. ,It--.
.Ea@'S" - ~,