Arizona republican., 1906-04-26
SPENT THREE DAYS
 IN STRICKEN CITY
What Fir. E. B. Gage Saw of the
 Earthquake and Fire.

MT. F. B. Gage arrived in this city yesterday morning from Tombstone. whither he returned last Sunday from san Francisco. It was known that he
 was in San Francisco at the time of the earthquake, and his friends here. having heard nothing from him, felt a great deal of anxiety for his safety.
 Speaking yesterday of his experience he said that he was at no time in dan ger and would have felt no uneasiness at all but for the presence of a number of ladies in his party He was stop- ping at the St Francis, and after the shock he went out on the street and saw much of what was going on. He remained there until Friday night and lived in his private car, which his thoughtful porter had saved.
 The car had been left in what after ward became the fire area, but when the porter saw how things were going he had moved to Central Basin out of danger, That was not far from the St Francis, but on account of the lines of fire it was necessary to travel about ten miles to reach it.
 While he saw a great deal of the ruin, MT. Gage said that he had really learned more of the disaster from the papers since his return than he saw while he was there. After the shock and before the conflagration. became general he accompanied John Parish to his office in the Crocker building to see what damage had been done They climbed up the numerous stairways covered with debris. and found that while many of the partition walls had fallen, the framework of the great structure had not been greatly dam aged. The office of Mir. Parish was near the top of the ten story building, and having accomplished their errand they went onto the roof and watched the fire in the Palace.
 Regarding the shooting by the mili- tary, MT. Gage said that perhaps the state militia and cadets from Berke- ley and Stanford might have lost their heads and shot the wrong men, he did not think that the regular soldiers kill ed a man who deserved to live. On the contrary, many more ought to have been punished
 In one case MT. Gage saw a woman leave 2 trunk which she had rescued from her home, and go away for q snort time. Immediately a thug at tackled it and broke it open, appropri- ating such of it's contents as he want ed. This was a cause for summary ac- ton, if the man had been seen by the soldiery. He would have been shot without word.
 He had heard expressions of grati- f1cation. He heard men say that they were glad the earthquake and the fire mad come; now they would be protect ed; get things to eat and maybe. they would have a chance to accumulate something; there would be plenty of work soon and they could name their own wages.
 In the first few hours there was 4 waste of supplies. There were a thous- and freight cars in the railroad wards laden with all manner of merchandise. They were promptly footed in the con- fusion, when every man was wildly making preparation for his immediate future. Mir. Gage saw one man Juggling off big box of jap-a-lac, a kind of Varnish which he evidently thought was something good to eat 4 woman went away laden with a dozen coffee. pots. Men staggered away under weight of whole quarters of beef which they sold or wasted. One man passed his private car with a great piece of choice loin, which he offered to the porter for twenty-five cents.
 From his observation of the build ings after the fire had passed, MT. Gage IS Of the opinion that most of the more prominent ones were not as badly dam aged as they were reported to be The damage to the St. Francis was very slight though the windows, and the contents were destroyed. his own bag gage with the rest
 The apartments of Mir. Gage in the St. Francis were on the side next to the four story building of the American News company. He looked out of the window upon the roof of the news com 1 pany building and meditated leaving the hotel by that way. While he was considering the plan the front of the building fell out into the street