The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-05-15
STRENUOUS LIFE OF THE
 FRISCO NEWSPAPER MEN

l had watched the Call and Examiner l burn earlier in the afternoon When the l game was up for San Francisco paper l plodded along the edge of the fire and out Market street, home, too weary to climb the office stairs if that had been possible. At II D. m. reached home. We
 tried to sleep in our front doorway, but 1t was no go. We could hear the fire east and north of us, and it was so light that you could read easily indoors and out. The noise of falling walls and cor | nices was like a string of fire-crackers. and every few minutes the dynamiters would punctuate it with an earth-shalxing explosion
 My people were packed and provisioned and ready to move. I stayed with them until noon and then sent French to make | deal with the Oakland Herald and put Clarke. my second assistant, in charge locally. I butted into the committee of fifty, was made member of the press committee, got special policeman's star, commendeered automobiles until I had ' good one-with a regular devil of a driver-picked up staff and reporters and got to Oakland about 10 D. m I took | my bunch to the Oakland Herald There found French and my brother Lynne. We managed by 5 a. m. to pull about 7OO0 copies of a combined Call and Chronicle, differing in title and editorial There was | no more paper left after the Herald had run off it's own extra at 1: 30 a. m.
 "These 1000 I had to count. stack and l tie myself as well as police them from the gang that was trying to grab them, pa- pers being as good as wheat In that crisis
 l helped load them on a one-horse, riclSety express wagon and sat on them for a I four-mile crawl through the dawn to the estuary where I had a. man holding a and threats of shooting. We piked in through the wreckage of the wharves at a. h., found that good automobile wait | ing, and tore through what was left of the town, giving away papers from Noes Valley to the Preside. The people were crazy for them. Out in the park, crowded with refugees, big chap got on our front board and refused to get off. If we had stopped anywhere we would have been stripped of our papers. I leaned across Jimmy Hopper in the tonneau and i soaked Mir Husky. We were running some and he spun like a. top when he hit the macadam.
 At a. m. I went up to Mr.'De Young 1 (the proprietor of the Chronicle)-this was Friday. He had saved his house after an all-night struggle He had got his people out to San Rafael. He had plenty of food, no water, plenty of automobiles and no i gasoline. I got out and grabbed a can of | oil with an order for more, and took Mr. De Young to Oakland. We had a dickens Of a time getting there, making a deal
 with the Herald, arranging for white pa- per supply and getting back to San Fran | cisco We walked from the ferry to 1919 California-Mr. De Young, Whitcomb, Fred Bennett and I-carryng eggs, bread,
 I butter and meat that we had bought at i a restaurant near Emeryvile We all dined l together at the De Young house. It was 1 the first meal l had eaten in thirtysix hours. Then 1 took my share of the grub
 a ten-pound chunk of raw beef-hiked over
 ] to the general committees night meeting
 ! or Fillmore street and at midnight
 plugged 1t home, being stopped by mili-
 l tiaman with gun every few blocks. l
 :! had three hours of sleep in eighty-four and had walked so much that when, the next day. pulled my clothes of my socks l were stuck to my feet with blood"