davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-05-05

Saving of the United States mint at
San Francisco. which is the marvel of
all who know how the fire ragged about
II. goes to the credit of forty brave
mint employees and company of
coast artillerymen. says a special dis
patch to the New York Press. The
mint. alone OF all the buildings in its
district. was spared destruction. and
II now stands alone in district of
black ruin. 1t IS damaged. but in its
treasure vaults its one hundred mil
lions Of specie lie safe.
The mint did not merely escape burn
ing. 1t was saved at the risk of life
itself by the corps of defenders. for
they were for hours surrounded on all
sides by fire so widespreading that not
a man could have escaped alive If the
mint, too, had burned With flames
that often shot 200 feet pressing on
all four sides and frequently sweep
ing clear over the building. the men
fought in foods of sulphuric acid to,
as one put 1t. snatch the building safe
from the jaws of hell"
More than S1OO,OOO.OOO in coin and
specie are stored in the vaults of the
prize the guards fought for seven
hours continuously a sea of fire surg
ing around the mint all the time and
the garrison cut Off from retreat for
hours at time.
Harold French, an employee of the
mint, recently gave a graphic account
of how the flames were successfully
fought off from the old granite build
ing at Fifth and Mission streets.
After the fire had swept past the
Mission street side and the certainty
of its returning from the north became
apparent, Captain of the Watch Laws
ordered everything on the roof that
would burn thrown into the yard. Sol
diers and mint employees worked with
utmost haste, throwing great timbers
and tank slaves into the court. Here
were thirty tanks of blue vitriol, the
surfaces of which were soon covered
with debris. into which increasing
showers of cinders fell Fortunately
the mint possesses good well. and
Brady, the engineer. pumped water to
the fire fighters assembled on the roof.
las the fire swept up Fifth street
the heat increased to a dangerous de-
Sicc ds Oue w one lle IMelFOpOutdu
hall and the historic Lincoln school
burst into flames. reinforced by the
roaring furnace of the Emporium. On
the west the block bounded by Sixth
and Market streets on the north gave
the gravest concern, for from this quar-
ter the fire was certain to rage in its
fury. Famed by roaring northerly
wind the flames rioted through the
structures stretching from the Windsor
hotel to the Emma Spreckels building
Sheets of fire 200 feet high licked
up the intervening houses In Mint ave
nue.. Augmented by these finder boxes
the blast Of the fire burst fiercely on
the northwest corner OF the mint
"A few desperate fighters under for
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-05-05
HOMES
FOR THE
STRICKEN
Rent Free for a Year
Proposed by Pitts
burg Real ES-
tate Men,

If plans recently set going can be
carried out 1000 stricken families will
be carried free from San Francisco to
Pittsburg, where they will receive
homes rent free for one year and at
the same time heads of the families
will have all the work they can do in
order that they may once more get a
start in life. says a Pttsburg special
dispatch TO the New York Times.
This novel plan of helping the desti-
tute in the far west was decided on
by several real estate men and persons
with money. John Murphy. banker,
made the public announcement that he
would give ten of his houses rent free
for one year to families from the coast
and would also give steady employ
ment not only to the heads OF these
families. but many more that might
come with the others. Mr. Murphy
had several long conferences with
other business men and said recently:
I'VE have decided TO ask the Cali
fornia Relief Fund association here to
work with us IN this plan for helping
the people of stricken California. IL
they will spend part OF the money
turned in for help IN bringing to Pitts
burg 1000 families who want to leave
the coast, we will give Them their
houses rent free for year. ! have not
many houses, but / will donate ten for
the year. The many men | talked TO
today are In favor OF my plan, and
am satisfied that ii will be a go
There are thousands in San Francisco
who want to get away from there now
to leave the region forever. but they
have lost their all, and now is the time
TO set them up in homes and In work.
There Is $2O,O00.O00 worth of building
alone planned for Pittsburg this sum-
mer, and we shall be scarce of help"
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-05-05
Hos,kfi11fW usxSxzr,e1

I IneT Fire Chief Kennedy Of Oakland
We're driven from between the totter
ing chimneys, where the determined
men had been throwing buckets of wa
ter upon the blazing roof over the gold
refinery. which was on top Of the cop
per roof of the mint 1t is largely due
TO the experience of former Chief Ken.
nedy that the tar covered roof, the
weakest spot of all, was saturated with
sufficient water TO stay the flames.
when the fire leaped Mint avenue
in solid masses OF fame the refinery
men stuck to their windows as long as
the glass remained in the frames. Sew
enty-five feet of a one inch hose played
a slender stream on the blazing win
dow stills, while the floor was awash
with diluted sulphuric acid
ankle deep in this soldiers and en-
ployees stuck to the floor until the win
dows shattered and the inner walls
began to burn. Binding and suffocat-
ing smoke forced them to abandon the
hose and retreat to the floor below
Down In the treasure vaults artillery
men, ringed with blanket rolls and
leaning on their rifles, coughed in the
the walls of q dozen brick buildings
across the street had fallen In. There
was yet a fighting chance, so back to
the upper story the firefighters return
ed led by Superintendent Leach, who,
by example and words, encouraged his
men to eXtinguish the blazing inner
woodwork of the refinery.
The roof was next swept by a hose,
cooling the copper sheathed surface I'M
til it became passable for wet, acid
soaked feet. An army officer. AK in
hand, tore up sections of blazing tar
roof, beneath which a stream of wa
ter was directed. At length, as dawn
drew near, the mint was pronounced
out of danger.
The mint presents a scOrched and
glassless front on the north and west,
and the towering smokestacks are to
be torn down, but the building is intact
and the plant is unframed and ready
for a resumption of work
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-05-05
Financing q Fire Loss

| san E'ranciSco'S great fire has diret t.
ed attention TO the manner in which an
insurance company goes about to set
tie huge loss bill. says the New York
Post. Although the companies are
abundantly able to pay and many of
them possess very heavy bank bal
anceS, the adjustment of claims calling
for the payment of S1JO,0OO.OO0 or
more represents a financial operation
of sufficient magnitude to involve rath-
er careful financing. How are these
huge claims to be met. where will the
| companies get their money from and
how long will it take to effect a set
tlement! These questions have direct
bearing upon the money market and
TO limited extent the future cost of
security prices for such issues as are
usually held by large fire underwriting
corporations.
As soon as a great insurance COM
pany learns that it will have TO foot
the bill for huge confagration its
officials hold hurried conference and
get at the volume OF their liquid as
sets and the extent of their combined
foreign underwriting corporation it's
home office in London. Liverpool Man
chester. Berlin or Paris is Immediately
communicated with and rough esti-
mate made of the probable aggregate
demand. With most of these com
panies it is matter of pride to pay
the claims at the earliest possible mo-
ment. At the time of the great Chi
cago fire in 1871. when property valued
at $190.000,000 was destroyed. and
year later, when the insurance com
panies had to pay an $S0000,000 loss
bill for the Boston fire, many of the
claims were settled within n few days
after the conflagration took place.
In the same way the companies did
their best two years ago to pay the loss
es of the Baltimore fire without unrea-
isonable delay. In this way they gained
prestige Within one week after the
Boston fire one of the largest New York
companies, having dispatched vice
president TO the scene TO pay claims in
double quick time, wrote a sufficient
volume of new insurance to recoup 1T
self for all the losses sustained These
quick settlements involve equally quick
financing, and one of the features of
the present movement on the part of
the underwriters to effect speedy set
Element Of the San Francisco losses has
been the negotiation with the home
Offices of the foreign companies for ca
BILE transfers of money with which to
meet the claims.
When a loss occurs an insurance COM
pany first has recourse to its bank bal
ances, ana whol these are insufficient
to meet immediate claims the company
borrows what 1t needs. Most of the
large companies have accounts in four
or dive banks. so that they can easily
secure accommodations In case 1t Is
required. When the bank balances are
insufficient and losses. are heavily in !
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-05-05
PAGES o TO IL.

ed with the best, and the others were
IN San Francisco. Here, especially on
Sunday night. almost everybody went
to vary the monotonylof home cooking.
Every one who was any one IN the
town could be seen there off and OH.
1t was perfectly respectable. A man
might take his wife and daughter
there. ON the second floor there were
private dining rooms. and to dine there
with one or more or the opposite sex
was risque. but not especially terrible.
But the third floor, ana the fourth
floor, and the fifth The elevator man
of the Poodle Dog, who held the job for
many years and never spoke unless
spoken TO, wore diamonds and was a
heavy investor in real estate.
A City That Never Slept.
The city never went to bed. There
was no closing law, so that the saloons
kept open nights and Sundays at their
own sweet will. Most OF them elected
to remain openjunttl O'clock I'm the
morning at least Yet this restaurant
life does not exactly express the care
less pleasure loving character Of the
people. In great part their pleasures
were simple, inexpensive and out or
doors. No people were fonder OF ex-
petitions into the country, OF plcnlcs-
which might be brought of at almost
any season of the year-and often long
tours in the great mountains and for
ests. And hospitality was nearly a
vice.
CenterS Of hospitality were the clubs,
especially the famous Bohemian and
the Family. The latter was an Off
shoot of the Bohemian, which had been
growing fast and vieing with the older
organization for the honor of entertain
ing pleasing and distinguished visitors.
High society" in San Francisco had
settled down from the rather wild spir-
ii of the middle period. 1t had come
10 be there a good deal as II is else
where. There was much wealth, and
the hills of the western addition were
growing up with fine mansions. Out
side OF the city, at Burlingame. there
was fine country club centering a re-
gion OF country estates which stretch
ed out TO Menlo park. This club had
4 good polo team. which played every
year with teams OF Englishmen from
California and even with
teams from Honolulu.
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-05-05

! excess Of 5000, 600 the company has to
either borrow funds or sell some OF
the stocks or bonds that II has In Its
| list OF assets. In the case OF the Balti-
| more fire most Of the companies man
| aged to pay out what was needed with
out resorting TO any violent liqulda-
lions at all. Whatever securities were
sold to pay the claims there involved
were for the most part sacrificed by
companies that were too weak to bear
the loss and We're forced TO reinsure
their risks with some stronger rival.
This was done in the case of nine or
ten companies that had to an extent
ignored the dangers of what our insur-
ance men call the "connagration haz-
ard and accepted too many risks I'm
the affected area.
In the case of very large companies,
however, which do a heavy business
throughout the United States ard Eu-
rope as well the perils of the "confia-
grafton hazard are minimiZed by the
fact that the risks are so widely dis
tributed as TO render 1t almost impos-
sible for any one disaster TO entail a
sufficient loss to cripple the company.
Whatever losses are sustained by for
eign companies operating I'm San Fran
cisco will have probably to be financed
from the other side, since the COM
panies doing the largest business have
only an insignificant amount OF money
invested in American stocks or bonds
For that reason these companies are
not likely TO sell any large portion OF
the stocks held in the United States.
The payment of a great fire loss Is a
very Interesting operation. Hundreds
of men are employed In 1t and special
adjusters for special risks have to visit
the scene. 1t will be weeks before the
San Francisco claims are wholly liqui-
dated, but within a month a large por-
ton of the insurance loss will be set
tied for. While the insurance com
panies will not pay for earthquake
damage, II will be difficult In many
claims TO tell where the earthquake
damage left off and the fire damage
began. For that reason the great fire
companies that were arranging with
their banks for large advances a few.
days ago based their negotiations ON
the probability OF having to stand n
very large proportion OF Whatever
loss was actually involved.
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-05-05

and collection of art objects valued
at as much more.
Mrs. PBHbs f ffeArsf has lost ST.
Examiner building valued at $7J0.000
Gardiner Williams. who was chief
engineer of the famous De Beers mines
in South Africa. has lost magnificent
residence. and the fire has destroyed a
number of enterprises in which he was
largely interested.
a. G. Jennings, a California mining
engineer, has lost his home.
Frank j. Heney, who prosecuted the
land fraud cases in Oregon, lost his
residence on Mob hill in San Francisco,
with a law library valued at SO, 900.
He had no insurance on either. He
ney's funds were deposited in n bank
which was wrecked by the earthquake
and burned over. He does not know
where he stands now, although little
while ago he considered himself fairly
prosperous.
d. Z. Skinner, president of the lar
gest lumber company of the Pacific
coast, who lives in San Francisco; II.
NJ. Wright, j. A. Sinclair, c. III. Ad-
ans and l.. III. Pierson. all wealthy
lumbermen of that city, left for home
the other afternoon.
I'VE do not know that we have any
thing left Mr.. Skinner said as he
boarded train.
Captain Roosevelt, of the marine
corps, a cousin of President Roosevelt,
has lost heavily. His wife, daughter
of Judge Morrow of California, had
large property interests in the city.
The wife of Commander Fechtler of
the navy, who lives in Washington, is
a sister Of Captain Roosevelt's wife.
Others who have lost heavily are
Mrs. Eddy, who lives at the Shoreham
hotel and is the mother of the wife of
Captain briggs of the navy. and Mrs.
Clement, who lives in the Connecticut
apartment house.
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-05-05

unacclimated person, especially in
doors. Californians, used to it. hardly
ever think OF making fires in their
houses except in the few exceptional
days of the winter season, and then
they rely mainly upon fireplaces. This
| is like the custom of the Venetians
and the Florentines.
But give an fastener six months of
it, and he, too, learns to exist with
out chill in a steady temperature q
| little lower than that to which he is
accustomed at home After that one
goes about with perfect Indifference to
the temperature. Summer and winter
San Francisco women wear light tailor
made clothes, and men wear the same
fall weight suits all the year around.
Picturesque Entrance to City.
One usually entered the city by way
OF San Francisco bay. Across its yell
low flood, covered with the fleets from
the strange seas of the Pacific, San
Francisco presented itself in a hill
panorama. Probably no other city of
the world could be so viewed and in
spected at first sight. 1t rose above
the passenger as he reached dOckage
in a succession of hill terraces.
At one side was Telegraph HILL the
end OF the peninsula, height so abrupt
that it had a 200 foot sheer cliff Cd
its seaward frontage. Farther along
lay Mob hill, crowned with the Mark
Hopkins mansion, which had the effect
of citadel and In later years by the
great. white Fairmount. Farther along
was Russian hill, the highest point.
Below was the business district, whose
low site caused all the trouble.
Except for the modern buildings, the
fruit Of the last ten years. the town
presented at first sight disreputable
appearance Most of the buildings
We're low and of wood. In the middle
part of San Francisco was building,
there was some atrocious architecture
perpetrated. In that time. too, every
one put bow windows on his house to
catch all c. the morning sunlight that
was coming through the fog, and those
little houses, with bow windows and
fancy work all down their fronts, We're
characteristic of the middle class resi-
dence district Then the Italians, who
tumbled over Telegraph hill. had built
as they listed and with little regard
for streets, and their houses hung
crafty on side hill which was little
less than a precipice. For the most
part the Chinese, although they occu-
pied an abandoned business district.
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-05-05

bad refnade the houses Chinese fash
Ion. and the Mexicans and Spaniards
Lad added II their houses those little
balconies Without which life is not life
10 Il Spaniard.
Yet the most characteristic thing
after all was the colorinS. for the sea
fog had n trick of painting every eX-
posed object sea gray which had a
tinge of dull green in it. This. under
the leaden sky of San Francisco morn
ing, bad a depressing effect on first
sight and afterward became delight
10 the eye, for the color was soft. gen
tie and infinitely attractive in mass.
Green Gray Tinge.
The hills are steep beyond concep-
ton. Where Vallejo street ran up
Russian hill it progressed for four
blocks by regular steps like flight of
stairs. With these hills, with the
strangeness of the architecture and
with the green gray tinge over every
thing, the city fell always into vistas
and pictures, a setting for the romance
which hung over everything, which has
always hung over life in San Francis
co since the padres came and gathered
the Indians about Mission Dolores.
And 1t was city of romance and a
gateway to adventure. 1t opened out
on the mysterious Pacific the untamed
ocean, and most of China Japan, the
south sea islands. Lower California.
the west coast of Central America.
Australia that came to the United
States passed in through the Golden
Gate. There was a sprinkling, too. of
Alaska and Siberia. From his windows
on Russian hill one saw always some
thing strange and suggestive creeping
through the mists of the bay. 1t would
be a south sea island brig bringing in
Chinese junk with fan-like sails back
from an expedition after sharks livers;
an old whaler. which seemed to drip
oil. back from year of cruising In the
arctic. Even the tramp wind TANNERS
were deep chested craft capable of
rounding the Horn or of circumnavi-
eating the globe. and they came In
streaked and picturesque from their
long voyaglng.
In the orange colored dawn which
always comes through the mists of
that bay the fishing fleet would crawl
in under triangular lateen sails. for the
fishermen of San Francisco bay are all
Neapolitans, who have brought their
costumes and their customs and sail
with lateen rigs shaped like the ear
of a horse when the wind fills them
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-05-05
CHILD'S SELF SACRIFICE,
Gave All Her Savings In Toy Bank tc
the Relief Fund.

Gave All Her Savings In Toy Bank to
the Relief Fund.
A touching story of self sacrifice
made by a little girl out of sympathy
for the suffering children of San
Francisco was told recently by mem
Der of the Protestant Episcopal Church
Of the Redeemer In Brooklyn, says the
New York Times The clhld's name
is Marion, and she lives In Dean
street. She attends the Sunday school
of the church. Saturday april 2D
was Marion's birthday, and besides
other gifts her father and her aunt
each gave a dollar to her to place in
her toy bank. In addition to this money
the child had siXty-five pennies In the
bank.
On the following Sunday Marion
heard at the church that a collection
for the relief fund was to be taken at
the evening service. Marion had her
father tell her about the disaster. and
was greatly affected when told of the
plight of the homeless children in San
Francisco. That evening she insisted
upon accompanying her aunt to church.
When the San Francisco collection was
taken up Marion astonished her aunt
by dropping 500 in the basket
That's all l have" she whispered to
the collector apologetlcally.
When Marion reached home she
made timid and hesltating confession
to her father
Did l do right, papa?" she asked
anxiously.
The father Just reached out and,
folding the child In his arms, kissed her
in silence
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-05-05
MILLIONS IN PRIVATE LOSSES
Rich Californfans, Who Suffered
Heavily In Frisco Horror.

All the California people who spend
their winters in Washington have suf-
fered heavy losses through the San
Francisco disaster, says the New York
World. The Sharon estate, of which
Senator Newlands is executor, owned
the Palace hotel and many buildings
and tenements. Practically every
building it owned in the business dis
trict has been destroyed. 1t is esti-
mated that the loss to this estate alone
will be from $I,OO000O to 100000.
The California Wine Growers asso-
citation. of which Percy L. Morgan is
president. loses S5.0OO,OOO. Mr.. Morgan
recently left Washington for San Fran
cisco. He has lost his So. 900 residence
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-05-05
A Distinctive Type.

mated so that no trace Of them will be
found. A conservative estimate would
place he dead at from 1000 to 1000.
The guests at the Palace hotel had
but little difficulty in escaping. Not
even Il pane of glass In that great
hotel was broken by the shock. as far
as | could learn. The great glass
dome over the court was not damaged
in the least Captain Ralston. who
built the Palace hotel. boosted that the
hotel was both earthquake and fire
proof. No building In the city burned
more slowly than did the Palace hotel"
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-05-05
HOW STEEL STOOD 1T.
Testimony In Favor of Big skeleton
Sfruciurea

F. W. Leadbetter, president of the
Portland chamber of commerce. who
arrived at Portland, Ore. from San
Francisco recently, said:
Practically all of the big steel build
ings stood the earthquake. l think
this demonstrates that we'll construct
ed steel buildings are proof against
earthquakes. The old frame struc-
lures and the cheaper apartment
houses collapsed. and the loss of life
must have been fearful. 1t will never
be known how many lives were lost.
as many of the buildings which col
lapsed took fire Immediately and hun
dreds OF bodies must have been cre-
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-05-05
spaneIer'. Earthaualse Prediction

Spangler. the prophet, predicted in
the New York World of Dec. IS. 1905.
that these things would happen in
1906:
destructive eruption of Mount We
suvius.
Destructive earthquakes in Callfor-
mia and the Philippines.
Earthquakes in all parts of the world.
Volcanic eruptions in all parts of the
world.
Rebellion in Spain.
Great disturbances all over Europe.
The dissolution of Russia.
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-05-05
How Earthquake Aided Farmer.

AS a result of the earthquake Steven
Davis. a farmer of Columbus, Ind. has
an artesian well spouting thirty feet
high on his place. says Columbus
special dispatch to the Chicago Record
Herald The we'll had been drilled
800 feet without getting a flow of wa
ter up to quitting work Tuesday even
ing. April Il. Next morning, after the
earthquake. the well was spouting and
has continued so since.