The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1906-04-25
THREE men SAVED
LARGE PART OF FRISCO

San Francisco, April 24.-Three
heroes saved san Francisco-what is
left of it. They were the dynamite
squad, that threw back the fire and
its destructive work.
When the burning city seemed. and
the flames lit the SKY further and fur
ther to the west, Admiral Mccall
sent a trio nf his smost trusted men
from Mare Island with orders to check
the conflagration at any cost OF life or
property. With them they brought a
ton and half of gun cotton TIE ter
rife power of the explosive was equal
/ 10 the maniac determination of the
/ fire.
Capt. McB,ine was in charge OF the
squad. Chief Gunner AdaDson placed
the charges and the third gunner set
them off.
The thunderous detonations to
which the terrified city listened all
that dreadful Friday night meant the
salvation Of 300. 900 lives. A million
dollars worth OF property, noble resi-
Gences and worthless shacks We're
blown 10 drifting dust, but that de-
structlon broke the fire and sent the
raging flames over their own charred
path
The whole east side of Van Ness
Avenue from Golden Gate to Green
WITCH was dyuamIted block deep,
though most of the structures stood
untouched by spark or cind er. Not
one charge failed. Not one building
was left upon its foundations.
Unless some malicious miracle of
nature reversed the direction nf the
west wind, the whole populous dis
Fl let to the west, blocked with fleeing
refugees and unilluminated except by
the disastrous glare on the water front
! seemed safe by 8 o'clock that night
Van Ness Avenue is flat as the earth
Oh the east side. Every pound of gun
cotton did its work and, though the
ruins burned, it was nut feebiy. From
Golden Gate Avenue north the fire
crossed the wide street IN but one
place That was the Claus SpreckeIs
! place on the corner Of California
| Street.
There the fla mes were writing
up the walls before the dynamiters
could reach it. Yet they made their
way to the foundations, carrying their
{ explosives despite the furnace-llt g
heat. The charge had to be placed so
sw fifty and the fuse lit in such hur-
~ that the explosion was not quite
successful. Eut though the walls still
stood it was only an empty victory for
the fire, as bare brick and smoS ing
ruins are poor food for flames.
Capt. McBr ide's dynamiring squad
realized that stand was bopless ex-
cept Oh Van Ness. They could have
forced their explosives furth er IN the
burning section bnr not pound of
gun cotton could be, or was wasted.
| The ruined blocks made the wide
thoronghfare formed trench through
| the clustered structures that the con-
flagration, wild as it was. could not
leap.
Engines pumping brine through Fort
Mason from the bay completed tine lit
| tie work that the gun cotton hac left,
put for three days the haggard eyed
firemen guarded tue flinkering ruins
The desolate waste. straig mt through
the heart of the city is q mute witness
to the most heroic and effective work
of the whole calamity. Three men did
this and when theii work was over
and what stood of the city rested quiet
ly for the first time, they departed as
modestly as they hau come. They were
ordered to save San Francisco andIthey
obeyed orders, aud Capt. Mcbrl de and
his two gunners made history on that
dreadful night.