The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-04-24
4 FRANCISCO'S
FEARFUL ISASTER

lures were burned as far south as Cali
All around the new History Mer-
Exchange building the fire
burned fercely. licking the sides of
the steel giant. but it resisted the in
of the heat. Then came the
of the Western Union
building at the corne of Pine and
Montgomery streets. In this building /
was the office Of The Associated Press.
in the day the occupants had
been ordered out by the authorities on
account of danger. and the Associated
Press established a temporary station
in h Bulletin editorial rooms. Then
the latter place was closed and this
despatch is written on a door step near
the Illumination of the I,
burning buildings furnishing light for
the writer.
building would block some of the
southwark sweep of the blaze as it
had already checked an advance north
Yard. If this proves true, the limits
of the fire will be determined, but pre-
NISNicAi oh Ia po4I Oh OS III
as the strong wind, which every five
minutes is changing from one direction
to another. The city tonight in the
face of its appalling disaster is fairly
quiet and orderly.
NO ACCURATE STATEMENT OF
THE DEAD IS POSSIBLE.
1t is impossible to give anything like
an accurate statement concerning the
killed.
At 10 o'clock the Occidental Hotel
began burning and the great Croker
worth National Bank. was ablaze.
On Geary street. the Albert Pike
Memorial Temple Of the California
bodies of the Scottish Rites Masons,
containing scenery that cost 100000
n costumes valued at $4,000 col
! lapsed.
The new Jewish synagogue adjoining
was cracke to its foundations.
The University Of California at
Berkeley, across the bay. escaped Sc
rious injury. The buildings are intact.
Only a few structures collapsed in
Berkeley. the shock beinb slight there.
Artillery men from the Preside, with
their supply wagons and the army
| commissary wagons are aiding in get
ting the fleeing inhabitants and their
| baggage out OF the threatened quar-
| tiers.
Despite the vigilance Of police and
| soldiers many places were pillaged in
the wholesale regions. Liquor stores
| were broken into and ~vagabOnds are
| lying in the streets.
The ruin in the commission and the
| wholesale quarters is complete. the
| flames tonight having completed the
paralyzing work of the morning.
A VAST FUNERAL PYRE.
Under the debris were killed and
| buried hundreds of horses hitched tc
vegetable wagons. which were ready
to receive the days supplies. The
dead horses were piled high and the
wreckage blocked the streets until the
| advancing cOnf1agratiOn turned all ina
section of the town into a vast funera
Dyre. ,
The new ferry building is shattered
At the corner Of Seventh n How
ard streets, a great lodging house tool
fire after the first shock. before tn
guests had escaped. There were few
ed. To night hundreds Of firemen ant
rescuers are Frustrated by the strai1
of the continual fight since early morn
ing. In the crowds at many point
people tainted, and in some instance
dropped dead Of shock.
The Mechanics Pavilion was turnet
into a hospital with a corps of fit.
1 D1NSlCldlIS. l. "oo
but not until all the patients had bee1
removed.
EARTH HAS SUNK SEVERAL IN
CHES.
Down on the harbor front the cart
seems to have sunk from six to elgh
inches and great cracks appear in tn
streets. Car tracks were twisted int
all shapes and buildings, before the
were destroyed by fire were seen [
be out of plumb. The flames swept i
sheets across Front street and stree
cars and Southern Pacific rolling stoc
together with the mail cars, wer
burned to their truck wheels.
All of San FranciscO's best playhou
es, including the Majestic. Columbls
Orpheum and Grand opera houses ar
a mass of ruins. The earthquake de
molished them for all practical purpos
es and the fire completed the work
demolition. The handsome Rialte an
Casserly buildings were burned to tn
ground, as was everything in that dis
trict.
HEARTRENDING SCENES AT TIL
MECHANICS PAVILION.
The scene at the Mechanics pavilio
during the early hours and until noo1
when the injured and dead were reno
ed because of the threatened destrut
ton of the building by fire. was one
indescribable sadness. Sisters, brt
theirs. wives and sweethearts searche
eagerly for some missing deal on
Thousands Of persons hurriedly WEI
I rough the building inspecting tt
cots on which the sufferers lay. in tf
hope that they would find some loN
one that was missing.
, The dead were placed in n porto
of the building and the remainder WI
; devoted to hospital purposes. Aft'
the fire forced the nurses and phys
clans to desert the building. the Gag
l crowds followed them to the presto
and the chi1drens hospital. where tn
renewed their search for missing r
latives.
Up to late this afternoon more ths
$50 persons who were seriously inju
ed by the earthquake and the fire ne
been treated at the various hospita
throughout the city.
The front of the Bailey and LAGOS
{ building on Clay street near Montgon