The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-20

OF them, ana TINS had q Roou eHect' nut
to-day they broke loose, and, joining
with the rescuers, began to go through the
buildings.
In the early afternoon one of these cattle
came staggering out Of q wine house on
Green street, his arms filed with champagne
bottles. and already half drunk with brandy
which he had found in the wreck. A soldier
Of the Thirteenth caught and held him.
The orders Of the troops are discretionary.
The soldiers in charge stood him against
the burning building and shot him befora
he knew what they were going to do. Three
others were shot in the back on the run a
they tried to get away with their plumber.
There must have been q great deal more OF
this.
MORN LARGE 90.
What can one cay In detail Of the disaster
except that the whole town not already
burned must go2 The business district.
including all the big structures which es-
capped the fire of the first day, is gone.
To-day the flames have taken the Merchants
Exchange building, brand new and ten
stories tail, and Mechanics Pavilion. which,
after housing prisefghts, conventions and
great balls, found its last use as an emer-
gsnoy hospital. When 1t was seen that It
could not last every vehicle In sight was
impressed by the troops. and the wounded.
sorne Of them frightiully mangled, were
taken to the Preside, where they will be
out Of danger and find comfort In tents.
The physicians are working on, without
sleep and almost without food. There 10
food, however, for the injured-the soldiers
have seen to that. Even the soldiers are
tagging and are keeping guard in relays,
while the relieved men sleep on the ground
where they have dropped.
BIG CLUBS AND CHURCHES 90.
EARLY In the day the fire struck Union
Square, the prettiest park in the city, where
stands the st. Francis Hotel. The tourists
were gone from there long ago and the FIRE
found only an empty building, which it
Quilted. On the way it burned up the house
of the Bohemian, Pacific Union and Family
clubs and the big retail shops along Post
street, The separate fire in the residence
district took st. Luke's, the biggest Epis-
copal church. There Is no word Of the fate
of the First Presbyterian, which stands only
a block away, but this must have gone with
st. Luke's. All along that street are old
mansions, built Of wood, after the fashion
Of the '7os, and these too must have gone.
When day broke the fire was running into
the Mission district. This is a low country
street to the suburbs. In a general way it
is the habitation of the ~aristocracy Of the
working class, although 1t is sprinkied with
old time residences, notably the house OF
James d. Phelan, ex-Mayor OF San Fran
cisco. This went, too. Everything that is
attacked goes. The dynamite only checks
it. Nothing but rain can save the city now.
A OF H CLIFF HOUSE.
The Cliff House, which stood on a preci-
pice over the ocean facing the rocks where
the seals barked all the year round, has
DltCUeu luIo llS 5odS IL hV"o wac vi
frmed to-day by the captain of a little
schooner which shot the Gate without a
tow and managed miraculously to make
dockage in Oakland. Far out at sea he
saw the city as a puff of smoke which be-
came a binding haze as he crawled nearer
to land. He reports vessels standing of
the heads, afraid to venture in because of
the smoke and the lack Of tows, All day
vessels in the harbor, fearing that the fire
might reach them in some way, pulled out
through the Gate. There are rumors that
some of them collided and sank.
CHINA BASIN SINKS.
Along the wharves the fire tugs, of whose
work little has been heard, have paved
most Of the docks. But now the Pacific
Mail dock has been reached and is out of
control, and finally China Basin, which
was filed in for a freight yard at the ex-
pense of 81 900 900, has sunk into the bay
and the water is over the tracks, This is
one of the greatest single losses in the
whole disaster.
There is no use in going any further with
the detailed news Of the damage. Except
the better residence district, which has
not gone yet, but is going fast, and the
outlying suburbs, include everything else
in the list-all gone, skyscrapers, business
blocks, hotels, churches, public institutions,
even hospitals, The Southern Pacific Hos
pital in the Mission was in danger this morn-
ing, but by dynamiting all the surrounding
district the fremen saved it for the time at
least. The regular City Hospital, 90 far
out Of town that il must be spared, is
crowded, even to mattresses on the floors.
Many bodies were left in the ruin Of the
Valencia Hotel on Seventeenth and Valen-
cha streets, and they will now be consumed
in the flames. In fact, this must happen
all over the city. Any one who knows San
Francisco must realize that in the first
tumble Of the tenement house district
south Of Market street many little, crazy
structures must have gone by the board.
Each Of these probably buried it's two or
three victims, and now the hot rush Of
aa,naa haa 0nnn oyax fba ,dikfripf ~ that