The Hawaiian gazette., 1906-05-04


OF saving the Western Addition, with
It's forest of frame dwellings and the
Richmond district. with its thousands
of homes. was TO check the cruel
march of the wall OF fire at Van Ness
avenue, which crosser the city from
north To south. where the retail store
and fine apartment house district
ends. and where the residence section
begins. This avenue is $50 feet wide
and the possibilities of checking the
march of the flames here looked hope
! full to those who were looking for ways
and means in the hour of need.
orders were given to concentrate
every fire engine in the city at THIS
avenue. to marshal troops of soldiers
there, the police and all the army OF
workers and make one last determined
stand to save the remainder of the
city
| The cooperation of the artillery was
secured, and huge cannon were drawn
10 the avenue by the madly- -dashing
horses to aid the dynamiters in blow
ing up the mansions of the Million
aires on the west side of Van Ness ave-
nue. in order to prevent the flames from
leaping across the highway and start
ing on their unrestrained sweep across
the Western Addition. Every available
pound of dynamite was hauled to the
spot, and the sight was one of stupen-
dous and appalling havoc, as the cam
non were trained on the palaces and
the shot tore into the walls and top
pied the buildings i'm crashing ruin. At
other points the dynamite was used
and house after house - dwellings
worth millions-was lifted into the air
10y the power of the believing blast
ard dropped to the earth, a mass ot
dust and debris.
MEN SHOT WHILE
HUNTING FOR FOOD
The work was necessarily dangerous
and many of the exhausted workmen
kept going and working through d
stI etch of AS hours without sleep and
scarcely any food through force of in
stinctive heroism. Many have been
killed while making this last desperate
stand. Many of the workers in plac-
ing the blasts took chances that spell
ed injury or death
The fire line at o'clock extends @
mile along the east side of Van Ness
avenue. from Pacific street to Ellis.
All behind this excepting the Russian
/ Hill region and a small district along
the north beach. has been swept clean
by the flames and great steel hulks
( of buildings and pipes and shafts and
spi!tes have been dropped into the
molten mass of debris like so much
melted wax.
! Sufferers are invading what few
buildings remain in the hope OF find
ing something to eat. They only de-
sist when warned or shot by soldiers.
At the ferry building a crowd of 100U
people was gathered begging for food
and transportation across the bay
Hundreds had not even the 10 cents
fare to Oakland. Most of the refugees
at this point We're Cinnamon and Ital-
ians who fled from their burned tene-
rents with little or no perso lal prop
crty.
Tonight the suffering to many from
hunger is extreme. on the Waterfront
what bread is to be had is being sold
for 81 loaf, and in some instances
at much higher price.
The steady booming of the artillery
and the roar of the dynamite above
the howl and cracking of the flames
continues with monotonous and daz-
ing regularity. Such noises have been
bombarding the ears of the panic
stricken populace since the earthquake
of As hours ago. They have ceased
to heed the sound, and rush pell-meT1.
drowning their senses in a bedlam OF
their own creation. There seemed to
be an irresistible power behind the
flames that even the desperately he
role measures being taken at Van Ness
avenue could not stay.
THE SUvA STORY
WORD FOR WORD
While the heroic fire-fighters We're
making their last stand at the fire line
on Van Ness avenue, panic reignea
among the survivors in other parts OF
the city. The intense heat and the
absence of water have been so ter
r'tle that scores have become frantic
ard Ctlers have dropped from exhaus-
ton in the streets. The streets are
still choked with refugees hurryine
hither and thither, scrambling wildly
for an avenue of escape
Since early morning. when the great
{
apartment-house districts along Ellis
O'Farrell and Sutter streets, men,
women and children have been rush
ing or staggering under heavy loads
Of luggage, some to the ferries at the
waterfront, 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 Preside and San
Mateo way. The trip to the hills and
to the waterfront was one OF terrible
hardship. Famishing women and chill
dren and exhausted men We're kept
walking several miles around the
rorth shore in order to avoid the
flames and reach the ferries. Many
dropped 10 the street under the weight
OF thei loads and willing fathers and
husbands, their strength almost gone
suovc TO pick them up and urge them
forward again.
In the panic many mad things are
L"lng done. Even the soldiers, In
many instances have TO prevent men
and women, made insane by the mis-
/ fortune that has engplfed them, from
rushing into the doomed buildings IN
,ae ape ~ shv'ng ya,uabl.s f,n. The
!