The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-05-30

every day. ana in several sections Of
the saved districts the force Of water
in the faucets is almost as strong as it
was before the big fire.
Estimates prepared for General
Greedy show that 1000 tons Of food
were distributed free in San Francisco
during the first ten days. The daily
cost of relief was about $150,000.
The figures show hat considerably
more than enough to feed the city has
been given out. The number of per-
sons who still require relief is 200 O0.
1t is expected that before long free
food will be supplied only to women,
children and sick and feeble meu.
One of the best signs that order is
rapidly arising out of chaos is the e1-
tension of the telegraph, telephone and
| street car system. The Southern Pa
citic Railway has obtained its temper
airy franchise to run tracks into the
city for the disposal of debris.
1t is now known that the wholesale
or heavier valued district in the lower
part of the city suffered the most Sc
verely from earthquakes, while the
heaviest damage from official dynamit-
ing and back firing occurred. in the
banking and insurance district along
| Van Ness avenue. Both Of these ques.
tons are important factors in deter
mining the losses. From several
sources of information it would seem
that the earthquake damage Involved
is fully forty per cent. and that of dy-
Mantle twenty per cent. of the entire
| destruction.
There are 10S companies interested
in the San Francisco disaster, and it Is
now predicted by conservative insur-
ance men here that within thirty days
twenty-eight Of them will be out of
business. Five already have lone I'M
der and the remaining twe2ty-three
are in danger.
Now that underground Chinatown is
exposed, the police, who thought that
they had a good idea Of the ramiica-
| tons there, are %astonished at the reve-
lations. No family of rodents ever
tunnelled more persistently nor ingen-
iously than did the denizens Of this
quarter. So complete was the chain OF
subways that every part Of Chinatown
had it's underground exit. The main
arteries have been traced as far as
Kearney street on the south and Pow
ell street on the north, a distance of
three blocks. The tunnels extend I'M
der the streets. This subterranean
maze explains the mysterious escapes
Of Chinese criminals and the failure of
many a raid upon fantan games or
slave dens.
Probably no other class Of profess
sional men suffered s. severely as the
physicians, more than 1000 of whom
had their offices in the burned district.
Few saved even so much as a scalpel.
Not only have their libraries, instru-
ments, records of personal research
and Office paraphernalia been de-
stroyed, but the diplomas, without
which they cannot practice in another
State, have drifted to the four winds
The Oakland refugee camps are be-
ing deserted at a rapid rate. The
only hindrance to more rapid evacua-
ton being the difficulty C getting mon
ey for transportation from friends
and relatives at other points. The
mails are congested, the express COM
panies nearly Swamped with Business
and the telegraph companies working
every available end of communicS-
ton to handle the enormous mass OF
business.
H. J. Kinney, formerly of Hot
Springs, Ark, has been released un
der q pardon from Oakland prison,
following his transfer from the Gov
eminent prison at Alcatraz Island. He
was arrested on the first day of the
fire for having drawn a revolver in
order to compel an automobilist to
carry his wife, children and two in
jured women to a place of safety.
The policeman who made the arrest
misunderstood the situation, and Kin
ney languished in prison for ten days
before he got some sufficiently in
terested to seek a pardon for him.
The conditions following the earth
quake at the State Hospital for the
Insane at Agnews, in Santa Clara
County. have yet to be fully told.
Desperate maniacs were liberated
by the Gambling Of the walls, and
with no other means of detention at
hand, many Of them had to be tied to
trees like wild beasts.
Several inmates escaped during the
excitement, but were r%ecaptured and
are housed in the San jose Jail. The
100 most dangerous have been sent to
Stockton. One hundred and II bod
les have been taken from the ruins.
AS for the remainder, Agnews now
resembles a tented city. About $50
are being cared for on the lawns. The
grounds are roped off into two Sec
tons. On one side the women live in
their tents, and the men hcve a little
town on the other Tide Of the inter-
vening ropes.