The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-04-19

new Merchants Exchange in which is situated the Marine and Stock Ex- changes ai are still standinE hd,a but ns the scores of bank and office buildings are on fire, while blocks of other hous- es are in the path of the flames. and nothing seems to be at hand to stay
 Block after block of banking houses are now masses of red hot ruin and 1t will be months before the money that was housed in their vaults can be reached.
 The earthquake caused the partial wreckage of the California Hotel on Bush and Kearney streets and the fall ing chimney and cornice of the hotel crashed through the fire house ad- joining. severely injuring Fire Chief Sullivan so that he was unable to di- dect the work of fire fighting. He is now in a hospital in a precarious con dition.
 MANY LOSE LIFE IN
 FIGHTING THE FLAMES.
 Despite this disheartening accident, the entire fire department. assisted by part of the Oakland department and many volunteers from outside dis tricts, did heroic service. many brave men losing their lives while perform ing the work of succor. The earth quake. however, had broken most Of the water mains and the men were without water to battle with the fire fiend. Whatever water was obtained 10 fight the flames in the harbor front and in the factory districts was pump ed from the hay.
 This compelled dynamiting as the only possible method of saving any of the city
 The flames were. kept confined to the , south of Market street in the business section until about 8 o'clock in the afternoon when the wind carried sheets of flame into the richest part ry that has shelted famous peddltlt of the city. The Palace Hotel. hos teIry that has sheltered famous people from all parts of the world, was burned clean. Nothing except the gutted frame work of its 1000 rooms now stands.
 Among the other notable buildings destroyed were the Grand Opera House on Mission Street where the Conreid Opera Troupe opened up its season Mon day night. The members of the troupe are now at the St. Francis Hotel, one of the few big hotels that are still stand ing The Majestic Theatre at Market and Eighth streets was burned. the Columbia wrecked by the trembles and IHe ttulIdl TdZtu Dy tne haIuCo.
 The $2,000,000 Fairmount Hotel is still standing and suffered little damage. The Odd Fellows Temple on Market Street( the St. Nicholas Hotel and The Call and Examiner buildings and the Parrot building are gone, while the big City Hall caved completely in when the earthquake shook the city.
 Nearly every big factory building has been wiped out of existence and com plete enumeration of them would look like a copy of the city directory. Many of the finest buildings in the city were 1eveled to dust by terrific charges of dynamite in the hopeless effort to stay the horror of fire. In this work many heroic soldiers. policemen and flremen were maimed or killed outright.
 THOUSANDS ARE FLEEING
 FROM THE STRICKEN CITY,
 At 10 o'clock tonight the fro was unabated and thousands of people are fleeing to the hills and clamoring for places on the ferryboats and the ferry building
 The damage is now believed to have reached $200,000.000. and 100, 900 per- sons are thought to be homeless.
 At o'clock this afternoon the ffre- men were as far as ever from check ing the progress of the flames In the northern section of the down town busi- ness section the fire swept around the Hall of Justice and communicated to Chinatown, thence proceeded westward into the heart of that colony. It then began rapidly eating it's way south ward on both sides of Kearney Street, and at p. m was within a block of the California Hotel. This point is in the direct vicinity of the plant of The Bulletin, an evening publication, in which the three morning papers had agreed to join issue for q four-sheet paper tomorrow, but that plant was abandoned as the building lies directly in the path of the flames. About 6 o'clock tonight the world-famous Pal ace Hotel, built at a cost of millions, fell a prey to the coniagration and the Crocker building across the street be- gan emitting smoke.
 One of the big losses of the day was the destruction of St. Ignacio's Church and College at Van Ness Avenue and Hayes Street. This was the greatest Jesuit educational institution in the West and was built al a cost of couple of millions.
 At o'clock tonight the fire had swept from the south side of the town across Market Street into the district called Western Addition" and was burning houses at Golden Gate Avenue and Oc- tavia This result was reached after almost the entire southern district from Ninth Street to the eastern water front had been converted into a blackened waste In this section were hundreds of factories, wholesale houses and many business firms in addition to thousands of homes.
 On the north side. the fire tonight was not making such rapid headway as in the Wetsern Addition. where there Is limited water supply available and the firemen are making desperate ef- forts to prevent the encroachment of the devastation.
 In the southside district on Rincon Hill, St. Mary's Hospital. a landmark, conducted by the Sisters of Mercy, was reduced to aghes.
 SCENES OF DESOLATION
 IN THE PUBLIC SQUARES.
 Throughout the city where there Is q