The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-23
OPERA STARS TELL MORE WOES
LOUISE HOMER STILL WEARS MIS-
FIT CHARITY WRAPPER.

lits, manager Of the Metropolitan Opera
company, with his wife, some members
OF the company and servants, twenty
two in all, arrived here on the Overland
Limited to-day. Some members OF the
company when about to leave Oakland
last Friday told The SUN reporter briefly
OF their experiences in the San Francisco
earthquake and fire, but their time was too
limited to go into details. To-day come
Of Mr.. Goerlitz's party were able to sup
plement their Oakland int rviews most
entertainingly.
The company was engaged for ten ap-
pearanoes In San Francisco, for which ad-
vance sales amounted to more than S14o 900.
Two performances had been given when
the earthquake closed the engagement.
The members Of the company escaped
with little more than the clothes they we're
ortunate enough to wear or to have within
reach when the shock came.
The members were in excellent spirits
to-day notwithstanding their great mis-
fortune.
Relating her experience, Nine. sembrlch
said.
Il was at tho st. Fran CHS when the shock
came and | was awakened by the plaster
falling on my bed. The piano was thrown
across the room aud other furniture tumbled
about. l sprang out in my night clothes
and ran into the hall, where other guests
were tumbling about. Some mar in the
hall handed me his overcoat. | got down
stairs in my bare feet before | realized
what l was doing, Then l returned to
y room, got my clothes, dressed hurriedly
aud got on Union Square, where | met
poi plapoon of tho cnn,napy He Wpa in
his shirt sleeves. Then others OF the COM
pany came and the street began to fill with
excited people. MIR. DIPPED helped me
to get some effects out of the room
when we were going up the Hill DR..
Tevis invited us to his home, but we were
afraid to remain indoors. We sat on the
steps until the fire drove us away. Then
We took refuge on the banks of a reser-
voir. We did not sleep, that being impossi-
bic.
what l have on now Ia all l saved. The
rich and poor mingled together on terms
OF equality. Each one tried to help the
other.
"In looking after us DIR. Tevis failed to
save his own household goods. My loss
altogether is $4,000
Mr.. Goerlitz said.
"We paid a man $25 to get our run to
the st. Francis. Later on that hotel burned
and we lost them. We got an ambulance
to get some of our goods to the fire line,
where the police confscated the convey
ance and we lost all we had.
Il saw some terrible sights. A woman
coming down the street with an infant in
her arms asked me if | could help her revive
it. / saw at once that it was dead, its skull
having been crushed in. / did not have the
heart to tell the mother the facts. Passing
down the street we saw dead and wounded
lying on the streets. Everything was
wrecked"
Louise Homer was dressed in a wrapper
to-day. All she had to wear was some
clothes hat had been given her. She
escaped in her n%ightgown. The donated
clothes did not fit we'll. Her husband, in
getting out, carried some Of his extra cloth
ing and loaned her a pair Of trousers to
wear temporarily. She thought the end
of the world had come when the furniture
began dancing in her room. She said:
Il do not care to say much Of my loss.
/ simply lost everything
Edith Walker said that when she awoke
in her room at the Palace Hotel the building
was rocking like a steamer at sea. The
piano had danced out to the middle Of the
room and a trunk had landed on the bed.
The door was bent and jammed and she
had a difficult time getting out.
After the first scare wa s over, she said,
everybody seemed to be cool and collected.
She succeeded in getting some of her clothes
with assistance Of friends, and she slept on
the ground on Geary street that night.
She said:
Il lost all of my jewels and all my cos
tunes for the Queen of Sheba, amounting
to several thousand dollars"
Miss Bella Alien said her loss OF wardrobe
and personal effects amounted to more
than 8 5000.
Bessie ABBOTT was also at the Palace
and was awakened by things tumbling about
her room. She escaped in her night clothes
TO the nall. The hall was filed with falling
plaster. Her maid wen back and got
some clothes and later the two entered the
hotel and packed the trunks with the flames
blazing around them. She cut her feet
badly on broken glass from a chandelier
that crashed to the floor. The trunks were
afterwards burned. She said she was out
at least S25, 900. Many of the souvenirs
she lost we're priceless to her.
Paula Ralph said;
II was routed out Of bed like all the rest
and did not wait to dress. 1 got some of
my clothes a little later and borrowed some
more. / did not dare to sleep in the house
to which I was invited but got some blankets
and slept on the walk. / lost everything
| had with the exception Of what l have on
II is too horrible to talk about.
in the night some soldiers passed with a
lot of prisoners, about one hundred, | think.
They made us move out OF the way. 1t
looked like a funeral procession. l learned
afterward they came from the county Jail
Caruso was another guest at the Palace
Hotel. The shock nearly threw him out
Of bed.
He said, Il threw open the window,
and | think / let out the grandest notes
| ever hit in all my life, ] do not know
why | did this. 1 presume I was too ex-
cited to do anything else. | skipped out
in my night clothes, but later got my clothes
and packed three trunks. | saved the
three, but lost four others.
Il went up to Lafayette Square n slept
on the grass. When / tried to get into the
WIN the soldiers plshed me bac *. I