The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-04-27

San Francisco, April ga drench-
ing rain fell upon San Francisco last
night. From midnight until 3 o'clock
it poured and drizzled at intervals,
whiIa a high wind added a melancholy
accompaniment, whistling and signing
about the ruins of the buildings in
the burned district. Five days ago,
when the fire catastrophe was in is
infancy, this dOwnpour would have
been regarded as mercy and a God
send. This morning it could be re-
garded i'll no other light than as an
additional calamity. II meant indie
scribable suffering to the tens of
thousands of people camped upon the
naked hills and in the parks and open
places Of the city. Few of these were
provided with water proof covering.
For the most part their only protec-
ton from the wet was a thin covering
Of sheeting tackled upon improvised
tent poles. Through this the water
poured as through a sieve, wetting the
bedding and soaking the ground upon
which they lay. When it is under
stood that thousands upon thousands
Of delicately nurtured women and in
fants in arms, and old and feeble peO-
pie were in this plight, nothing need
be added to describe the misery OF
their condition.
The dOwnpour has aggravated the
already unsanitary condition Of the
camps and will doubtless add grea5
numbers of pneumonia cases to those
already crowding the regular ann
temporary hospitals of the city. What
could be lone by the guards in charge
of the camps to relieve the distress.
Whenever covering could be had for
the women and children, it was TAX
en- advantage of. They were housed
in chill and cherries churches, in
garages and in barns, and those who
had saved their homes were called
upon to take care Of the unfortunates
exposed to the storm. With few ex-
ceptiOns those who had homes re-
sponded readily to the new call made
upon them and where they did not,
the butt ends of rifles quickly forced
n way through inhospitable doors.
While the storm has added to the diff
culties of the general committee, espe-
cially of those having in charge the
care of the sick, the sanitation of the
city and the housing of the homeless,
1t has been a spur to ever greater eff
forts to bring order out of the chaos
prevailing. Regular shelter tents will
be provided, as we'll as cots standing
off the ground. 1t is realized that
these provisions are imperative as
much SO as the providing of food.
After several hours of clear weather
there was another precipitation at 6
a. M, and again at 9 O'Clock the fall
was resumed and continued at inter
vsls throughout the day.
Of individual instances of suffering
the number is legion, but one will
tell the story of them all.
About 4 o'clock, when the rain had
been falling heavily for an hour. a
middle aged man, white faced in his
distress and fatigue, appeared at the
headquarters Of the general commit
tee. He had walked two miles from
his camping place in the park to make
an appeal for his suffering wife and
little ones. AS he told of their dis
tress, tears cOursed down his cheeks.
His wife and children were, he said.
without covering other than a sheet
ing overhead, and were lying On the
naked ground and there protected only
by a quilt and blanket, which of his
household bedding were all he had
managed to save.
These had been quickly soaked and
while unwilling to complain on his
own account, he could not bear to lis
ten to the walls of his loved ones,
and he had tramped all the way from
his camping place to the committee
headquarters in the hope that there
he might find some means of getting
his family under shelter.
nz- -sa