Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1906-04-28
SHOWS THE DEAD AT CALVES.
TON AND SAN FRANCISCO.
HOW MANY were LOST
Sea Gives Up It's Dead. But Fire New.
er-Stories by Eyewitnesses TO
Both Disasters.

California, has gone east to see tn
president about negotiating a loal
from the government at 2 per cen
FOR the business men Of San Fran
cisco.
Thousand of refugees are laavin!
San francisco daily for all parts O.
the country and world. Most Of then
seem intent on getting as far away
from their former homes as possible
A very large number of these fleeine
people, particularly those who hav,
left no property behind, will never
return. 1t is for this reason that nc
information can be obtained of the
number that lost their lives. in the
lire, and that the first estimate of
the number killed is so much lower
than the number found.
The reason why so few bodies are
found in the burnt district after a
fire in great city is easily under
stood by anyone who has gone over
the ground A fire which can gener-
ate sufficient heat to twist and turn
the steel plates and beams of steel
structures into all sorts of fantastic
shapes, and crumble great blocks Of
stone into sand, would make short
work Of a poor human body and
leave no trace behind.
The person who has never wit
messed a great city fire over an ex-
tended district, cannot realize the
intense heat which must exist in the
center of the fire. At Baltimore two
years ago great steel structures could
he seen stand; - e--;..- Ill
looking down with seeming contempt
on the swirling, roaring flames below.
Then in almost an instant of time the
heart of the giant would seem to
burst. The walls of the building dis
solve and il would tumble into the
hell below.
The number of people who perished
in the recent fire will never be known.
The sea sometimes gives up its dead
but a great fire never.
GALVESTON'S DEATH ROLL
While hoping that the late reports
from San Francisco are true ones
and that only 275 persons are dead
as the result of the fearful disaster,
there is always fear, well founded
one, that the loss Of life is much
greater.
In Galveston during and imme-
diately after the storm il was con-
stantly stated, first, that one thou
sand were killed, then the number
rose to two thousand and remained
there a long time. When the reliev
ing and searching parties got down
to systematic work, day after day
and every minute in the day discov-
cred fresh horrors, and the list
swelled to sickening proportions.
Twenty-eight days after the storm
dead bodies were still being found,
and for over a year afterwards many
skeletons were come upon, hidden
in little frequented places where the
tide on that awful night had carried
them.
An estimate made by one of the
most conservative and best acquainted
men in Galveston placed the number
of the dead and missing in the city,
down the island and around the main
land at 10000, or nearly one-third of
the population of the city at that
time.
No one who was not there at the
time of the disaster or before the
wreckage was cleared away can form
any conception of how the tide acted
that night or what it did in the de-
struction of men, women and child
rem. The houses destroyed stood on
"spiling" or long and heavy posts
driven down into the ground. The
ruined area comprised width of
three blocks of residences, the entire
length Of the city on the north or
Gulf side.
There was nothing at the time, as
there is now, to break the force of
the tide as it swept over the island
before the powerful gale, lifting each
house and dashing it with incredible
force against its neighbor, piling
wreckage on top of wreckage to the
height of 30 and 40 feet, and burying
beneath it everything living.
When the water subsided and the
wreckage was cleared away, work
of months, the bodies were found; ;
tie sea gave up its dead and the num-
Der was increased to the immense
amount mentioned. There was no
fire to burn and incinerate, SO that
pretty correct estimate could be
finally obtained. In San Francisco