The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-05-29

(FrOm the Louisville Courier-Journtl)
A letter from Ernest 5. Simpson.
city editor of the San Francisco Chron-
icle, to a friend in New York, tells one
part of an episode which should be his
tOrical in American journalism-the Tn
successful fight of the newspaper men
to get out extras on the morning of
the disaster and the successful efforts
to keep the papers running without: a
break, says the New York Sun, It says
in part.
"An hour ago, in a candy store,
met n Of the saloon keepers OF the city
He was dusty and haggard, but cheer
full. He hasn't a saloon left out Of his
large and profitable flock.
Gimme a pineapple ice cream So
da, said the once naughty D. Of the
~tenderloin to a boy who was ever dirt
Ter h he-Or myself.
It's a hell Of leveller, amt it?' he
said to me. Nearly starved for four
days while | was rustling grub and
cooking for a family of six to twelve.
Then a Chinch that worked for me
showed up. He wanted to get out Of
town to e his brother somewhere.
Brother be damned!" says T..
You Cook" says l. and l grabs his
hat and skins the coat of of
him and hides EN- so he can't eIope,
and were eating the real chow again ,
Not a word about the calamity which
must have beggared him.
II you whimper now, YOU do it in a
uyhirrn- VO,.SI
left Of your dear old San Francisco,
Cal. She's crippled, thirsty, hungry
and broke; she has a few whole
churches, only half of her school hous
es, not n French restaurant, not a
theatre; she is full of people without
homes, jobs or clothing; she is the
worst bungtd up town that ever vas
But the spirit of her is something 10
bring tears Of pride to any Amer
cans eye; that was not crushed by
the quake O Scorched by the fire
She is as game as Bat Nelson, Britt
McGOvern, Hanlon and all the rest Of
the lightweight divisions put tOgeth-
ed. You can't pea a town that does
not know Whe nshe is likced.
ut is one of the things that l am
proud of that the newspaper gang had
so few we run outs dog-trotted to the
Office, arriving there about G.. A. NJ.
The managing editor was there, my
brother, and a few others. Men from
all departments came in steadily, AMI
began hustling for an extra The old
building was not seriously hurt, and
one elevator was in commission, and
we got a few typos upstairs. (The
t~ypeSetting room was on the top fioor)
| established the city desk in the bust
ness Office and O had a bunch of
copy going up while my brother
was holding the men upstairs. Al
8:15 We got another jolt-about No !,
/ guess-and no more upstairs fer
printers or sterotypers. The fire was
coming at us from the east and south
strong. We went upstairs to see
what we could do with the machinery
Then we found that We were without
water or power, and it was agreed TO
try to publish a one-fOr-all paper some
how and somewhere Thursday morn
ing. AS an emergency last chance, an
Examiner bunch was sent over TO the
Oakland Tribune to get out a Chron1-
cle-Call-EXaminer, lots being drawn by
Nicholson, Mcknight and me in the
Bulletin Office for order Of precedence
in title. CThe Bulletin is an evening
paper; the Chronicle, Call and Exani-
ner morning papers.)
The rest of the day was one hot
WEAKNESS. We tried until Z P. NJ. 70
get power on in the Bulletin oflce.
Then the war lords quit-those wliO
had not given it up earlier-and scat
tered to the four winds. | had watched
the Call and Examiner burn carrier
in the afternoon. When he game was
I'D for San Francisco paper | ploddec
along the edge of the fire and out mar
ket street, home. We tried to sleep in
our front doorway, but it was no
90. We could hear the fire east and
north of us, and it was so light that
Won could read easily indoors and out
The noise of falling walls and cornlces
was like a string of firecrackers, and
every few minutes the dynamiters
would puncture it with an earth-shak-
ing e~--DlOSion.
MY people were packed and pro-
visiOned and ready to Owe | stayed
with them until noon, and then SEM
French to make a deal with the Oak
land Herald and put Clarke, my second
assistant, in charge locally. | butted
into the committee of fifty, was nade
q member of the press committee, got
a special policeman's star, comnlan-
deered automobiles until | got a gooo
one-with a regular devil Of a driver
picked up staff reporters and got
to Oakland about 10 P. M. / took my
bunch to the Oakland Herald There
| found French and my brother Lynne.
We managed by 5 A. M. to pull out
1000 copies of a combined Call and
Chronicle, differing in title n ell
torial. There was no more paper lett
after the Herald had run of its own
extra at 1870 A. M. These 100 had
to count, stack and tie myself, as well
a spolice them from the gang that was
trying to grab them, papers being as
good IS wheat in that crisis. | helped
load them on a one-horse. rickety ex-
press wagon and sat ON them TO- a