The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1906-04-27
Groceries Are ssIzsd.

Groceries Are esIzsd.
Every grocery in San Francisco has
been seized by the authorities and
each family is being sold only one
article at a time. The police ana inil.
itary prohibit overcharging. Gen.
Funston announced yesterday morning
that rations would soon reach the city
and then the people would be supplied
from the Presidio Bakeries have q.
ready been built within the reservar
ton and the bread supply. therefore.
has not failed completely. The gov.
ernor also has been asked to aid In
getting refugees to Oakland, Berkeley
and Alameda.
In Smoky Nakedness.
Tug boats and steamers are being
pressed into service for this purpose
and thousands are on the way to tho
! ferries. From the water front tho
burned city can be seen in all its
smoky nakedness.
| From the Pacific Mail docks to Val.
lejo street on the West side, dis
lance of two miles. wreckage and ruin
is the rule. Although the fire did not
| jump East street, the damage has
.! been enormous. The flledin land
facing the ferry building is a success
| sion of gullies from four to six feet
deep.
City Is Mass Of Ruins.
| Looking up Market street, the city
is smouldering mass Of ruins. Great
factories, mercantile houses, banks
and railroad Office buildings are gone
and only in spots is there tower, .
monument of some burned structure.
There is scarcely any water to relieve
the thirst Of the suffering.
The heat is threatening danger, for
the dead in many instances are lying
in the streets and ruins.
In Fear Of PestiIenee.
The authorities are doing all in their
power to remove the corpses before
pestilence appears. It has been neces-
sary repeatedly to move the injured
from places where they had sought
refuge, for the fire spread with alarm
ing rapidity. Water is the incessant
cry of the firemen and the people
one wants it to fight with, the other to
drink-but there is only scant drink.
ing supply.
Under Martial Law. !
| At 9 o'clock, under a special mes.
sage from President Roosevelt, the
city was placed under martial law.
Hundreds of troops patrolled tho
streets and drove the crowds back,
while hundreds more were set at work
assisting the fire and police depart
ments. The strictest orders were is.
sued and in true military spirit the
soldiers obeyed. During the afternoon
three thieves met their death by rife
bullets while at work In the ruins.
The curious were driven back at tho
breasts of the horses that the cavalry.
men rode and all the crowds were
forced from the level district to the
billy section of the north.
Water Supply Cut OF.
The most lamentable feature Of the
confagration is the utter absence Of
means to stay its progress. There is
not sound water main east of Van
Ness avenue, and west of that street
the supply has been made scanty by
numerous breaks in the pipes, due to
earthquake.
A few scattered suburbs is about
all that remains of San Francisco. 1t
Is to these latter places, and especial
ly the ones nearer the ocean beach,
that the bulk of the homeless are
/ oil }ho ,c6
the ferries. too, was in the nature of a
panic.
Everything Wiped Out. !
In the fire zones the destruction was
complete. Therein were locate st.
1gnace's school and church, of which
only the walls remain. Mechanics
Pavilion, the scene of hundreds Of
great political, social and sporting
events, is in ruins. Opposite it was
the st. Nicholas hotel, and it is now
simply a pile of ruined bricks, a ruin
among many Of similar nature.
From this point down to the Oak.
land ferry an Associated Press man
made his way through the menacing
wall frontages and climbing over
hillocks of masonry and junk of all
sorts in the middle of the city's great
est thoroughfare.
Appalling Scene.
The journey was heartrending,-
the scene appalling. On either side
was ruins, nothing but ruins. South.
ward, in hundreds Of blocks, hardly
building remained.
The United States mine escaped al.
most unscathed on account of it's iso.
lated environments and the freprooe
construction, but the force of the rend.