Bisbee daily review., 1906-04-22
J. M. lessen Returns From San Francisco and Tells of
 Terors There.
ONLY THOSE CAUGHT
 IN RUINS PERlSHED
Best of Order Prevails Under Martial Law With Exception --of Thieves and Thugs Who
 Rob Dead and the Ruins.

HUH Ag
 pie warning and that there was noth-
 ing to prevent their escape, unless they ran foolish risks to save fur
 nishings which could not be renewed
 flom the burning district after they
 were carried into the streets. l think the greatest loss of life has re-
 suited directly from the earthquake.
 In many instances the fiimsier build ings collapsed without warning. and
 their occupants were maimed or Killed.
 Under martial law the best of or Ger was preserved. I saw one man who had been shot in the arm while in the act of stealing slot machine. In mediately after the earthquake the people were panic-stricken. but arteT the fires began to destroy, the people were calm and they made as little trouble for the authorities as possible. Early Wednesday morning the people began to make their way to Oakland, which was soon thronged with refu- gees from the fire-swept city. I went to Oakland Wednesday afternoon, Be fore l left San Francisco the damage was something terrible. and the city was already under martial law. When I reached Oakland. found that thou sands had preceded me. l did not realize until got to Los Angeles how hungry I was, but now I know that I was almost famished, and I am afraid that many women and children must have suffered cruelty for want of wa ter and food. That was at the outset. Now food supplies are being rushed into the city by the trainload and all will have plenty to eat.
 There is no need in people going to San Francisco with the hope of be- ing any help. All that We can do if We want 10 be of true service Is to send money and supplies to the com mittees already at work in system atic way to relieve the suffering. To go there only adds to the confusion ] and cannot possibly be of any benehL to anyone. To get any detail on the ground is next to impossible. An | army of trained workers is in. the i field, trying to get 8 list of the dead and 10 get an estimate of the damage 1 done. and if they cannot succeed, cer- tainly no stranger can hope to do any thing in this respect. People here who have relatives there .an ouIy write and wire and wait. Should | tbey go there they would find the old 1 address thing of the past. and the | chances are the peopls they sought 1 would be in some neighboring city | endeavoring to establish communlca- ton by telegraph.
 After the fire became worse, l Gcubt if anyone could get anything | accurate about it as far away as Oak land. When I left there the flames | were squirting from different parts | of the city, but there was as yet no | solid body of flame in any one pre- cinct.
 q am told that the loss has been l estimated at from s15o ,o0e,OOO tJ | s20O. GOO 900, but I do not think that | $, ch sum multiplied by three would cover the damage. Take any great l seaport city and you will find that the | hulk of it's business district repre- | cents a fortune that figures seems fabulous.
 'I have heard talk that the fire in ssuraace companies intended 70 pay every dollar insured. Again have ] heard that these companies :7tended | to draw a fine distinction between fire loss and damage occasioned by the quake The latter seems 70 me to be far from practicable If build ing Is shaken by a quake one hour and is burned the next the fire loss is per- fectiy evident and there is no means in the world for proving what the earthquake loss was or, indeed. that there was a loss from earthquake. It would be ridiculous for the com pa1ies 10 try to avoid payment on the ground that the fire originated from the quake and I do not suppose that any one would offer such an excuse ter what damage the earthquake may have done. the fire afterward swept over all. demolishing all. Until the fire begun it's destruction the city was by no means in ruins. although much shaken. by the quake
 Before leaving the city visited Mechanics pavilion where they were taking the dead. The sight was one which words will nor describe. know few people in San Francisco and it would have been folly for me to have interfered with those who were at work on that sad mission by trying personally to identify any of the hun dreds of dead Early in the afternoon Wednesday the dead had to be moved from the pavilion and that great audi torfunn itself was in a~5les at o'clock
 zaa Francisco siil be in great