Omaha daily bee., 1906-04-22
REFUGEES FROM RUINED CITY
Olive Fremstadts Maid Gives Graphic
Account of the Earthquake
OTHERS RELATE DETAILS OF THE HORROR
Passengers ON First Train out of san
Francisco Leave Madame SEM
brich and other opera
stars BEHIND.


Between forty and nifty OF the first peo-
! pie fleeing from the stricken city Of San !
| Francisco arrived in Omaha yesterday
/ afternoon on Union Pacific train No. on
| their way 10 their homes in various cities
/ of the east The train left Oakland at
! Z o'clock Wednesday evening. and although
| 1t might have carried hundreds, not more
! than half that number left on 1t. Across
/ the bay thousands were vainy wishing
! they knew Of train to take and thousands
were vainly trying TO get to the ferry,
! that they might cross to Oakland, where
] at least there was no fire.
The interior of the train which pulled
into Omaha yesterday, the first train from
/ the Golden Gate since the Earthquake,
presented a study in faces one had only
! 70 look at the passengers. their nervous
attitude, their drawn faces and the sleep
| less eyes, to know that they had passed
| through some terrible ordeal They were
J still talking OF the awful nightmare. Some
| Of them became half hysterical as they
! rambed on TO each other of the fearful
! sensation of quakirg earth, OF the terrors
Of the fire which followed and Of the
! weakness Of the soul at the fear Of a
second shock. All were anxious for news
/
| yer and Omaha papers were piled on the
seats.
FremStadt's Maid Describes It.
Among the passengers was Marie Alt
/ meier, maid to Olive Fremstadt. who
/ stopped a day at Salt Lake Mile Altmeier
! was on her way to her home in New York
! She and her mistress were the only ones
! connected with the Metropolitan Opera
company who got away from San Fran
cisco on the same day the catastrophe
/ occurred
we were staying at st. Dunstans, at
! Van Ness avenue and suffer street" said
Mile. Altmeier Madame Fremstadt had
! rejoined the company after a few days
absence and played Carmen Tuesday
night.
when the awful shake came my feeling
| was the most terrible ] have ever known.
o, my God, it makes me sick to think of
It, The earth falls out from beneath my
feet and there is nothing to hold TO.
Things fan from the wall and the bed slides
across the room. A crash and roar in
every direction like a big storm, but above
| it all rise the screams Of women and the
piercing shrieks of children. II seems like
the universe s. going to pieces. ] go up
| in the air a foot or two, Il seems, then
the floor sinks beneath me and I think
| am going TO fall forever. Then It shakes
| me from side to side and I fall down on
the floor and bury my face in my arms
Sees the End of the world.
81 go to the window and look out All
around me big stone and brick buildings
are going to pieces like houses Of blocks.
| Men and women and children run down
the streets like rabbits. and they are pour
ing out of the houses. I know then that
the end of the world has come.
mon Deu, cannot tell you You should
be there to know am ready to die now
when / think of II. ! do not stop for the
elevator, but l run down six flights of
stairs-one Of them fall down. On the
! first floor l find Madame Fremstadt %,
! Marie she says, do you have your hat?
! Get your hat and we will leave the city
! So ! run back up to the seventh floor to
| get my hat and coat Then / come back
! down and fall down another flight.
Madame Fremstadt and I 60 out into
an open place. where thousands of other
people are. All day we stay there, trying
to get someone to take us to the ferry, for
Madame thinks if we get to Oakland we
| can find a train. About o'clock they I
| bring us some sandwiches FROM the hotel
! We don't get any water at all, People are
so crazy they do not stop for money.
Sometimes men drive by and we offer
them money but they shake their heads
! and never stop. The flames leap up from
the bic fires over the city and the air is
filled with smoke o. IL is terrible to wait
there when we want so much to get across
the bay.
Leave Sembrich ana GoerIitE.
Late in the afternoon Madame Frem
stadt gives a man $50 and he takes us
, to the ferry. One OF the last men we
, see is Manager Goerlitz lie says he can
get no tickets, no trains, no drays, no
hacks. no anything, and he and Sembricn
and Caruso and the rest Of them will get
away when they can. We go across tho
bay and hurry to the station at oaklan5.
The train is just starting. We scream
} ond wave our hands The train stops
+ and we get on. l tell Madame Frem-
stadt II was nothing but Dutch luck, just
nothing but Dutch luck never leave
t New York again"
Madame Fremstadt left the train at Salt
Lake City. but will resume her Journey
and expects to reach New York next
Thursday
L. Franck of Cleveland. o. was another
! passenger on the train. He said:
81 was at San Lorenzo, fifteen miles
east of San Francisco, when the shock
Iame II threw me out OF bed onto tine
floor 1 put on my clothes and Got out OF
the house as quickly as possible. Then
I caught a local train and rode TO Sacra-
mento, leaving it there TO wait for this