Free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1888-1908, 1906-12-15
BIG STORM At FRISCO
nERcEsT IN YE.Rs SWEEPS
OVER STRICKEN CITY.
SCORES OF PEOPLE ARE INJURED
Velocity of Wind Reaches Sixty
Miles Per Hour-WaIIs Were Lev
eied = shipping Affected = Street
Car System Destroyed.

San Francisco, Dec. IL. = The
fiercest storm that this city has ex-
perienced in many years swept over
San Francisco today, causing the
death of one man, iniuring a score
of others, and doing damage estim2t-
ed at half million dollars.
Sections of ruined walls were lev
eled, temporary structures blown
down. schools and houses unroofeG,
cellars and Easements flooded, street
car service interrupted for several
hours and all activity on the water
front suspended. Forester McAdie
of the weather bureau tonight said
that it was the severest storm ex
perienced in this part of the coun-
try for fourteen years
At 11:20 o'clock the wind reached
a velocity of 90 miles an hour, while
off the heads it was blowing go miles
an hour, and &c inches of rain fHl
during the day. The storm abated in
the afternoon, but rain still continues
to fall
Aside from the dead and injured,
and the pecuniary loss sustained by
many, the worst sufferers were tho
inmates of the refugee camps, where
misery and Indebtedness reig1e1 /.
Tents were carried away, fiimsy,
temporary cabins were blown down,
while many of those that withstood
the wind leaked badly.
At Harbor View where 1900 refu-
gees are housed in tents and tempo
rary houses, hundreds were driven
out by the storm, drenched to the
skin. Houses were thrown open to
them, and especially women and
children taken in and made comfort
able.
All street car traffic was suspended
early in the forenoon by masses Of
brick and steel which had fallen into
the streets, carrying poles and wires
with them, and the danger from the
tOttering walls swaying in the high
wind. BY O'Clock this evening the
service, although somewhat crippled
and irregular, had been restored on
all the lines in the city.
The British ship, Palgrave, is still
ashore, but is reported to be but lit
tie damaged. The tugs are standing
by her and it is believed that she
will be pulled off at high tide tomOr-
row.
On the bay of the story was terrif-
fic. The ferry boats. proceeding
with extraordinary caution, We're
tossed about until scores of passenS-
erS were sick. The lower decks
were awash most of the time and
occasionally the crest of a wave leap
ed on to the hurricane decks.
What threatened to result in
serious panic occurred on the Kay
route boat San Francisco, when an
unusually large wave struck the YES
sci carrying her to 1eeward. Women
screamed and tainted, men rushed for
the life boats and only the advice
and command of the cool headed pre-
vented injury and perhaps loss of
life among the other passengers.
Double anchor chains did not pre-
vent some of the larger vessels in
the harbor from slipping their moor
ing. The Chinese war junk Whand
Ho, which lay south of the K. ferry
ships last night, dragged her anchors
until she rested in the channel imme-
diately in front of the ferries, increas-
ing the difficulties of navigation. The
British ship Palgrave slipped her
mornings shortly after o'clock and
drifted onto the rocky shore of AL
catraZ island, where for a time it
seemed that she would be beaten to
pieces. Two tugs went to her as
sistance and towed her into deep wa
ter