The San Francisco call., 1906-05-14
WRITERS DISPLAY
KEEN SYMPATHY
Many Thousands of MiSSiVeS
Are Sent After the
Fire.
Some Very Strange Requests
Are Made Of the
Mayor.

the stricken city and its people.
Thousands OF telegTRns and letters
containing inquiries regarding friends,
requests Of al kinds. the possible and
the impossible, conveying suggestions,
expressions OF sympathy and offers OF
Rubstantial assistance were received at
The headquarters OF the citizens COM
u11ttee Immediately after the disaster,
and continuing up to the present time,
and The DunbeF is probably the largest
n tos history OF any public calamity.
- theSe communications Is nlirrored
$As kindly feeling that al the world
bears toward the community afflicted
by Dire diEtresA
Such en- avalanche OF mail would
have bs1ned the ordinary mortal, but
ths committee wzs fully equal 90 the
erlsrgHnay.
Ths nsws of shs earthquake had been
quickly telegraphsd 20 all quarters Of
the globe, and the damage caused by
ths tenbacr was greatly exaggerated.
ID many localities the Qnscn City of
the Pacific was reported as having been
engulted by e tdal wave; IN other 10
cAlftiea dArtng headlines On oonspic-
uouE bulletin boards announced TO gap
ting crowds that the great and pros
porous city by the Golden Gate had
been entirely swallowed By the earth
These and other equally untrue and ex-
aggerateo stories startled the civil
lied world on the eVentful morning OF
April Is.
Il waa bat q few hours after the
earthquake and while the fire wes
raging. whsn inquiries reached the
headquarters asking about the extent
OF the damage caused in this city,
Most OF these letters and kilograms
were addressed 70 the Mayor, some 70
the Chief OF Police. and TO others. and
some simply ITO the Proper Authority,
San Francisco" leaving II 10 the dis
erection OF the postal and telegraph Of
acials to deliver the message to the
proper party.
MESSAGES FROM ALL C1n1ES.
The messages came from all coun-
tries, clines and zones, and contained
Inquiries concerning the extent Of the
damage, the loss OF property IN gen
eral though large number Of letters
contained inquiries concerning certain
properties in which the writer or his
friends were Interested These inquiries
referred 10 properly in every part OF the
city, the manufacturing, the business
and the residence section.
Many Of the writer's offered gympa-
thy and assistance; they urged and
Pleaded 70 be informed what they
cCuld DO to help San Francisco and its
and begged for Immediate reply, in
rot few instances the writer's offered
II take care OF sufferers by the disas-
ter II sent to their respective locali-
ties. Offers 10 adopt or take care OF
children were quite numerous Some
towns declared that they we're short
OF domestics and asked the Mayor 70
send 6 batch Of homeless girls willing
y work and secure good homes. From
one source came an order for musi-
cans, with instruments II possible
but would be acceptable even if they
had lost their instruments. a demand.
came also for laporers, generously
offering to provide work for a large
number of unskilled laporers who had
been deprived Of the means OF earning
q livelihood.
Cs bles were received from high on
cials. municipal ana national, aather-
tiles OF England, France, Japan.
South Africa, Australia, Ireland, Scot
and. Brazil. Ecuador. the Philippine
Islands, China, Calcutta, from almost
America, Hawaii many other coun-
tries and municipalities. and from al
most every country in Central and
South America, Hawaii many other
countries and municipalities and from
almost every State and city In the
Cn'ted States.
Some Of the messages were terse
and to the point, while others were
Vrtuhie and full Of expressions OF
bFtsthed TIE spirit OF human kindness
and showed tha: sn mankind is kin.
The letters IN the aggregate pregent
the most curious variety OF literature
imaginable and are written IN almost
every language used by civilized ma
tong
Some LISTERS were written BY chsl-
eren anG looked as though they were
tha drEt attempt at letter-wT1ting.
The EtrnEsrfty OF the requests ooa-
tatnet n them were somewhat pecu-
liar The youngsters boys and girls,
after expressing sympathy for the.
pScraa Of the stricken city, begged for
some relies Of the fire for souvenirs,
ASKS MAJOR 10 FIND HIS
TRUNK
ns4u454aH for missing reiztives con-
gt1tutsd tns ooutents of q very large
n5n.bsr q messages reoelvsd. wbetn-
stp<GA rSg1rGtnE those whom they
SxAsn knew te RESIDE IN san Fran
espeo O. when they expected 20 hzve
been chssV a the time Of tha disaster.
WRyR snc2 heGrtBxn61nE
N4o1Y e3 tAA Inquiries AaA but q
fM4zt Mn1 nat 8 scn, caEE1teF, kug-
bnm< OF fnther rived n San Frsnc4sco
bscGzBs the perHon sought or when
hast AeGT6 from had been n san
FsaneAsoo. Il mary ingtanees the
w1aeEH dsf not even know tna ad-
csps9 OF Tie person seugfat and a large
nusrber 81 the missing people may
have eeanngee te q class generally des-
ignaeOd ~ "noa<tng populRffon."
Ore u1a1 wrote asking the Mayor %
md his trunk fer him. which he had
left tn Onion square when he hastily
fed the city. Others wrote that they
had left trunks and vsliseS on side
wAlkA, street corners. doorsteps and
via szpresznen. Each begged for
the leeat1pn % h1s OF her trunk. vsi8sa
CT glzft case and prompt restitution.
HeHe VINO had left Jswelry and va1-
usbies behind m their hasty flight ep-
pealed 20 the c1hcsais TO institute q
search and recover the lost articles.
ous man wrote from New ycrk ask
ing the Mayor 70 send him woman
to keep house for him, with prospect
OF making her his wife II they should
agree Go rnnr-y, The writer sent an
Inventory Of his worldly possesstona.
enunerak3nR among other vsfus bies,