Los Angeles herald., 1907-06-24
LECTURES TO GET
MONEY FOR CHURCH.
SHOWS SAN FRANCISCO BE-
FORE AND AFTER
Pastor of Only institutional Church in
Northern City Depicts Many
Sad and Unusual
Scenes

The San Francisco before and after
the disaster the days of trial with
bits of humor and the San Francisco
of today was the general theme or
Rev. e. l.. Walz, pastor of the Green
Street Congregational church, the only
institutional church in the northern
city, at the First congregational
church last night.
The address was preceded by fif-
teen stereopticon views of San Fran
cisco before the fire, the seismograph
record Of the earthquake, the ruins
of the hall of justice, new Jewish
synagogue, views of the burning
buildings, and the Valencia hotel
which sank into the ground one story,
the ruins, the rehabilitation work
down town and on Telegraph hill, and
diagram showing the areas OF the
large fires of the United States.
Rev. Mr.. Walz is an eloquent speak
er and delineated his experiences in
the days following the disaster with a
touch of humor. He said in part:
"The Green street church was found
ed in 1859 at the foot of Telegraph
hill, which rapidly grew and a larger
building was erected in 1855, which
lasted until the fire, a period OF ,, forty1
one years. In later years the church
went down as so many downtown
churches do, the foreigners moving
into the section and the Americans
going farther to the suburbs. The
italians, Mexicans and Chinese moved
in near the locality of the church. The
problem finally solved itself by the
adoption of institutional features, and
tie opening of the building every day
in the week for clubs and classes, lee
lures and socials. 1t helped itself and
many other churches.
Prayed in Street
"The Easter Sunday preceding the
earthquake was the biggest day in the
history of the church. A chorus of
twenty-five voices from the church
sang at an early Y. M. G. A. service,
at our own morning service and in the
afternoon the young people visited the
shut-ins with flowers. The following
morning the earthquake came. We
had prayer meeting that night in the
street crowded with frightened people.
We used candles for light and sang
hymns. Not one church service was
omitted on account of the disaster.
Beginning early in the morning
left home to go out and find the shut
ins, the invalids and the orphans
whom l knew would be helpless.
my wife's grandparents were in
the Chicago fire, and she had often
heard them tell how the people suffered
for water, so she Immediately thought
of the water, and we filled the bath
tub and every available utensil with
the water that was in the pipes and
about the time we had filled everything
the water stopped and for days we had
the only water in the neighborhood
We furnished hundreds of people with
water
There were many odd features in
the disaster that seemed perfectly right
and natural at that time. There had
been a grocery across the street from
us and the proprietor had often asked
us for our trade, but as he maintained
a bar we refused and went seven
blocks for our groceries. The next
day after the earthquake this man
came to us and said that he had taken
away his goods and was finishing TAX
ing them to a place of safety, and had
half a load and would like us to use
the other half of the wagon to carry
some of our things to safety,
Big Price for Hauling
"At that time loads of goods were
hauled to the ferry, mile distance, for