Complete story of the San Francisco earthquake; the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and other volcanic outbursts and earthquakes, including all the great disasters of history ...

Front matter

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Author's Preface

Urged by survivors of the dread catastrophe that befell the imperial city of the Golden Gate to write the story of their fearful hardships and sufferings, and of the fate that befell their loved ones, I have undertaken the task of presenting it in permanent, historic form.

The work will include sad recitals of carnage — of remarkable escapes from death, and thrilling experiences of brave men who risked life and limb to save their fellow sufferers. It will deal with fortunes swept away in a moment; with a nightmare that settled down on a fairy-like city in the space of a breath and left it waste ; with the almost superhuman manfulness that awoke in the breasts of the poor, homeless, wretched victims of nature's wrath and stirred them to resolution to rebuild stronger, better, grander than before.

It shall be my endeavor to gather the actual facts pertaining to this terrible and overpowering affair. With a profound sense of appreciation, acknowledgment is made of the assistance and co-operation I have received from the highest officials and from leading experts and scientists versed in seismic lore. Through their courtesy and assistance I have been able to secure data and special information relating to this greatest of modern disasters, which can only be found in this volume. The task of preparing a book of this kind is necessarily trying, and one of mournful interest, keeping constantly in mind, as it does, the peculiarly sad and heart-rending features that characterized this horror of April 18.

Once glorious 'Frisco, with aching heart and head bowed in grief o'er the graves of its unnumbered dead, awakens the pity of the entire globe in this her hour of sorrow and need — sorrow and need brought on by a holocaust without parallel in the history of the new world, or, in fact, in modern times.

One fact and one alone stands forth to relieve the gruesome mournfulness of the hour — the prompt generosity of the world at large in hurrying to the assistance of the stricken, wrecked, flame-battered city of dead and dying. Never before, perhaps has an occasion arisen when the fellowship of man and the spirit of true brotherhood has been so fully and so nobly illustrated.

San Francisco the beautiful, a sparkling gem reflecting the radiance of the evenino- sun sinking in a golden shimmer in the calm Pacific, has fallen. Her glory, wealth, strength and proud position among the big cities of the

8 AUTHOR'S PREFACE

globe have been stripped from her, and she is all but desolate. The charity of the world has alone prevented utter desolation. San Francisco and her sister cities may have not been sacrificed in vain. The spirit of compassion, of helpfulness, of true charity awakened wherever the clicking telegraph key flashed the word of California's loss, will not die. Nor will the spirit of inquiry and investigation that was aroused. Man will learn more of the secrets of nature. He will wrest them from her jealous grasp and will build accordingly. Thousands of lives will be saved tomorrow as the fruit of each lost yesterday.

While this book is intended to be a fitting memorial in commemoration of the tragic and historic event it is my hope and firm belief that its wide circulation will be an instrument for great good. It will contribute its share in giving impetus to that spirit of inquiry and will contribute its quota toward disseminating such knowledge as we possess relating to seismicdisturbances.

In this belief and the firm hope the end will be attained, this volume is prepared. Before concluding this brief foreword it is only proper to call attention to the debt of gratitude I owe brave survivors of the dread visitation for the aid they have given me in its preparation. In grateful acknowledgment of their efforts, I respectfully dedicate the book to them.

MARSHALL EVERETT.

San Francisco, 1906.

PUBLISHERS' PREFACE

While the embers of one of the most heart-rending disasters of modern times are still warmly glowing its history has been caught from the lips of the survivors and embalmed in book form. The deep and far-reaching effects of the California casualty will not be eradicated, if much softened, for another generation. That this is true must be realized, when it is remembered in how many ways nature and circumstance seemed to combine to destroy the devoted masses of humanity who met death. The shock and grind of the heaving earth and the horrors of fire take on a fateful, fantastic irony when one recalls that there was water everywhere about San Francisco and not an available drop in the service pipes.

Calamity proves the kinship of the world. In the presence of disaster differences are lost sight of, enmity ceases, and the great heart of all mankind throbs in sympathy with the afflicted ones. Any event that brings the world together, though it be but for a moment, and though the sacrifice of human life precede it, not only deserves but demands to be recorded that the present and future generations may read of it.

And so, believing that the people of today and of tomorrow demand an authentic account of the destruction of San Francisco and of other similar catastrophes, we offer this volume to the public. Endorsed as it is by the survivors of the catastrophe, whose personal knowledge covers every phase of the record here presented, it commends itself to the consideration of every reader who would have an accurate account of the terrible holocaust of April 1 8, 1906.

It is the aim to give this book an educational value that will accord it an honored position in the library in every home, where it will remain a permanent fixture — a fount of information, a never ending source for reference purposes and an inspiration to those who believe a Divine Intelligence rules the universe and that it is man's destiny to attain complete knowledge of the principles governing physical changes in this world. A glance through its pages will startle those who have given little or no thought to this subject, for the globe on which we dwell has changed with the passing years throughout all the ages. It is changing still and the horror of yesterday was merely a manifestation of it.

12 PUBLISHERS' PREFACE

Man must build with these changes in mind. It is difficult to understand how he has the temerity to do otherwise, in view of the story of the past — a story that is made up of chapter after chapter of tragedy in which human life has paid the forfeit of ignorance. All this is recounted in great detail in this book.

It is not only the story of the destruction of San Francisco, but the story of other great disasters as well, and will prove a valuable reference work in that line. The causes of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and hurricanes are set forth and made clear to the general reader not familiar with scientific theories, ^"e have made it accurate, and have tried to make it interesting and instructive. How well we have succeeded we leave to the judgment of that public which has bestowed such generous approval upon our efforts in the past.

As this is the only permanent publication to present the holocaust to the world, in all its startling completeness, the publishers trust, even in the midst of the deep gloom that pervades the country, that they will prove no ineffective agents in forwarding this work for the protection of the present and future generations.

It would seem that all that is necessary to bring about a world-wide awakening over this deeply vital question is to present to the public the true picture of the California disaster, as has been done in this volume.

THE PUBLISHERS.

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Contents

Author's preface 7

Publishers' preface II

Chapter I

Earthquake and Fire Descend Upon San Francisco and the Surrounding Cities of California, Causing Enormous Loss of Life and Property — ■ Shock of Death Comes in the Early Dawn — People Flee from Their Beds in Terror to Face Crashing Walls — Heaving Earth Shatters Gas and Water Pipes, Releasing Noxious Fumes and Kindling Countless Fires in the Ruins of the Once Beautiful "Fairy City of the Golden Gate" — First Shock Followed by Worse Terrors — Furious Flames Sweep Over Doomed City — Firemen Baffled by Lack of Water — Dynamite Used in Vain — Dead Abandoned to the Advancing Cyclone of Fire — Night Falls on a Scene Rivaling Dante's "Inferno" — Vandals and Ghouls Appear — Looting and Rioting Add to Hellish Scene — Police Powerless ; Troops Called — Corpses Everywhere — Man's Utter Helplessness Demonstrated — Denizens of Foreign Quarter Battle With Fury of Fiends — Mobs Fight at Ferries, While Dreary Procession of Refugees Trails Southward to Escape. . 49

Chapter II

"San Francisco the Beautiful" — Mecca of the Argonauts and Gem of the Pacific — Magnificent Metropolis of the Western Coast — Most Cosmopolitan City of the World — From Sand Dunes to a Fairyland of Palaces — Unique in Its Attractions Offered to Sightseers — Humble Start of Many of Its Millionaires — Magnificent Harbor That Dominated the Shipping of the Western Sea — Kipling's World-famed Characterization Recalled — Famed for Beautiful Women and Bountiful Living 68

Chapter III

Personal Experiences of Survivors — Albert H. Gould's Harrowing Recital — Crash Like the Roll of Thunder as Giant Buildings Totter to Ground — Flight Through Darkness — Naked Women and Children Trampled in the Streets — J. R. Ritter, of Houston, Fights Way Through Fire Line — Two Hours of Madness — George F. Williams

Makes Way Through Funeral Pyres — Death Preferable — Miss Agnes Zink Sees Hundreds Perish 76

Chapter IV

Famous Structures Swept Away — Great Monuments to San Francisco's Push and Enterprise Fall Before Quake and Fire — Mansions of Millionaires Drop Like Houses of Cards — Stanford, Huntington, Flood and Croker Homes Among the First to Go — Home of the Famous Bohemian Club No More — Giant Business Structures Consumed Like Chaff — Great Newspapers Fall a Prey to Flame 84

Chapter V

Maniacs Killed by Hundreds — Scenes of Horror at Agnew's State Insane Asylum, Santa Clara — Inmates Shriek in Terror in Cells — Walls Fall Under Second Shock— Aroused to Battle — Survivors Tied to Trees 90

Chapter VI

Stanford University, Most Richly Endowed Educational Institution in ■ World, Laid Low — Monument of California Pioneer's Generosity — Memorial to Son — A Wonderland of Architectural Beauty — Long Struggle Over Millionaire's Estate — Faculty Faithful Through Years of Legal Strife — Noted Educator at Its Head — Near Site of Famous Palo Alto Breeding Farm — Magnificent Establishment Endowed in Perpetuity — Upheaval Wrecks All Save One Building, , 94

Chapter VII

Horrors of the Seismic Disturbance Outside of San Francisco — San Jose Wrecked by Fateful Visitation — Santa Clara Falls Before Blow — Agnews Insane Asylum Crushes Unfortunate Inmates — Salinas Ruined — Leland Stanford University at Palo Alto Annihilated — Berkeley, Oakland and Brawley Suffer in Less Degree — Railroads and Drives Obliterated — Entire Garden Section Laid Waste and Transformed Into a Desert 100

Chapter VIII

Exciting Escapes — Hurled from Bed by Shock — Hotel Rocked Like Cradle — Removing Dead Bodies — Beyond Power to Describe — City Doomed from First — Helen Dare's Weird and Horrifying Experiences — Soldiers Judges and Jury — Earth Seemed to Fall — Hospitals Full of Dying 106

Chapter IX

Government Donates $2,000,000 for Relief of Stricken City — Prompt Response of Congress Unparalleled in History of National Legislation — Action Promptly Ratified by President Roosevelt — Text of Resolutions — Executive and Cabinet Show Their Sympathy for Devastated Communities — Other Federal Departments Quick to Offer Aid — Treasury Department Takes Immediate Steps to Avert Financial Crisis 120

Chapter X

Human Vampires Shot Down — Ghouls Begin Their Awful Work After Confusion Seizes the People — Robbers of the Dead Are Slain by Soldiers and Policemen — Diamond Rings on Severed Fingers Found in Pockets of Men Killed by Guards — Guest of the Grand Hotel Watches the Loading of Drays With Human Bodies — Women Walk the Streets With Their Bare Feet Cut and Bleeding 124

Chapter XI

Chicago, Remembering Days of '71, Leads in Offering Succor — Raises a King's Ransom for Relief of Suffering in Sister Cities of the Coast — Huge Committee, Organized on Day's Notice, Rushes Supplies to Starving Californians — Blow Falls Heavily on Local Investors — Thousands Pass Days of Suspense Awaiting Word from Dear Ones Imperiled in Wrecked and Blistered Zone 133

Chapter XII

Men and Women Weep, Curse and Pray — Scenes Beyond Description Enacted Wdien Fire Begins Its Work of Destruction Recited by a Survivor — Great Buildings Crumble and Fall Before the Mighty Sweep of the Blaze — Earthcjuake Shocks and Dynamite Explosions Make Deadly Din — Crowds, Driven Insane by Horror and Fear, Stand in the Street and Laugh Mechanically — Huge Rocks Fly Through the Air, Striking Down Dozens of Fleeing Victims 137

Chapter XIII

Shock Felt Around World — Delicate Scientific Instruments Record Terrific Seismic Disturbance Thousands of Miles Away — Marked at National Capital — Cause of Earthquake Is Given — How the Shocks Are Recorded — Startling Theories Advanced and Disputed — Blamed to Boiling Heart of Globe and Fracture of Shell 148

Chapter XIV

Bullet Brings Merciful Death — Mining Engineer Witnesses Shocking Sights — Policeman Shoots and Ends Sufferings of Poor Wretch Pinned Under Wreckage, With Fire Eating Away His Feet — Maddened Horses and Cattle Dash Through Crowded Streets, Trampling Down Human Beings — Persons Who Kneel to Pray Are Crushed to Earth by Falling Timbers — Agonized Women, Carrying Dead Babies in Their Arms, Vainly Plead for Assistance 150

Chapter XV

General Plan of Relief — All America Rushes Money and Food to San Francisco — Fifty Million Dollars Quickly Pledged — Government Saves Hundreds from Starvation — Theaters Give Big Benefits — One Man Donates $1,000,000 — Thousands of Refugees Cared for in Nearby Places — Red Cross Distributes Immense Amount — Europe Offers Help — Kings and Queens Send Condolences 157

Chapter XVI

Scientists Stand Aghast — Professor John Milne Has Startling Theory — May Be Caused by Earth Swerving Back Upon Axis — Vibrations Proved — Wabbling of Pole — Sunspots Blamed by Some — Vesuvius May Be Responsible — 140,000 Earthquakes Recorded — Science Gives No Warning — Appalling Roar Accompanies Shocks — Source Twenty Miles Below — How the Seismograph Does Its Work — Awful Power of Vibrations 170

Chapter XVII

Looked for End of World — Many Sects and Superstitious People Generally Foresaw Doom of Globe in California Crash — "Flying Rollers" Greeted Tidings With Brass Band — Alarmists Become Busy — Prepare for Death 185

Chapter XVIII

All Classes Send Quick Aid — Intense Suffering of the Victims of Earthquake and Fire Appeals to This and Other Nations — Food and Money Pour Into the Ruined District by Trainloads — None Too Poor or Too Lowly to Render Assistance — Millionaires and Laborers Vie With Each Other in Rushing Help to the Stricken — Unique Ways of Raising Cash to Relieve Distress — Chinese in the United States Forget Race Prejudice and Contribute Their Cash to the General Relief Fund 190

Chapter XIX

Weird Incidents Amid Suffering — Pays $100 for a Carriage — Letters Go Without Stamps — Fat Man Carries Bird Cage — Misses Death by Few Inches — Goes With Coffin in Flight — Prima Donna Clad as a Man — Skyscrapers Stand Shock Best — Twelve Gored to Death — Woman "Waiting for Husband" 198

Chapter XX

Loss, $500,000,000 — Rebuilding the City — Earthquake and Flame Sweep Away Property Valued at $500,000,000 — Insurance Companies Hit for More than $200,000,000 — Giant Concerns Rise to the Emergency and Pay Losses — Victims of the Disaster, Their Courage Unbroken, Begin Rebuilding the City Before the Ruins Are Cold — New 'Frisco a Rival of the World Renowned Paris from the Standpoint of Beauty .' 209

Chapter XXI

Vesuvius — Beginning of Latest Eruption — Refugees Flock to Naples — Cardinal Furnishes Peasants Food — Scientist's Bravery in Face of Almost Certain Death — Naples Shaken to Foundations — Angry Women Mob a Church — Think King Effected Miracle — Faced Death from Famine — Likened to Dante's "Inferno" — Search Ruins for the Dead — Scenes of Beauty Around Vesuvius — Previous Disasters Due to Vesuvius — Eruptions Gain in Frequency 221

Chapter XXII

Charleston Wrecked by Earthquake — City Laid in Ruins After Tremors Lasting Three Months — Many Killed and Immense Damage Done — Earth Undulates Constantly for Long Period — Scores of Women and Children Buried in Debris 245

Chapter XXIII

Johnstown's Fatal Flood — Disaster Comes After Warning — Nearly 23,000 Perish in Deadly Trap — Deluge Rebounds and Fire Comes — Gorge at the Railroad Bridge — People Crazed by Their Sufferings 249

Chapter XXIV

Destruction of Galveston — Storm Breaks Over Fated Island — Deadly W r ork of Four Hours — Fury of the Hurricane — A Fearful Saturday Night — People Stunned ; Food Gone — What a Relief Party Saw Sunday Morning — Vampires and Thieves Held Sway — Looting and

Plunder Everywhere — Bodies Consigned to the Flames — Supplies Delayed and People Starving 254

Chapter XXV

Eruption of Mont Pelee — St. Pierre Falls Under Avalanche of Fire, Ashes and Lava — Great Tidal Wave Sweeps In — Steamer Wins Race With Death — Bodies Piled in Streets — Thousands Suffocated by Gas — Stirring Story of a Prisoner — St. Vincent Bathed in Flame. . . 262

Chapter XXVI

Great Earthquakes of History — List of Most Disastrous Seismic Disturbances — Shake Up in Ancient Sparta — At Antioch — The Crash of 1755 — Fifty Thousand Slain at Lisbon 276

Chapter XXVII

World's Disasters from Wind — Cyclones; Their Cause and Effect — Hurricanes — Hearn's Graphic Story — Tornadoes — How They Differ from Other Storms 285

Chapter XXVIII

Mystery of Volcanoes — Millions of Lives the Toll — Awful List of Active Volcanoes — Light Shed on Mystery — Pompeii Eclipsed — Careful Study Made — Pacific Dotted With Volcanoes — Active Six Years at a Time — Many in United States 290 m

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The Call Building When the Earth Trembled.

COMPLETE STORY

OF THE

SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE

Chapter I. Destruction Of San Francisco

Earthquake and Fire Descend Upon San Francisco and the Surrounding Cities of California, Causing Enormous Loss of Life and Properly — Shock of Death Comes in the Early Dawn — People Flee from Their Beds in Terror, to Face Crashing Walls — Heaving Earth Shatters Gas and Water Pipes, Releasing Noxious Fumes and Kindling Fires in the Ruins of the Once Beautiful "Fairy City of the Golden Gate" — First Shock Followed by Worse Terrors — Furious Flames Sweep Over Doomed City — Firemen Baffled by Lack of Water — Dynamite Used in Vain — Dead Abandoned to the Advancing Cyclone of Fire — Night Falls on a Scene Rivaling Dante's Inferno — Vandals and Ghouls Appear — Looting and Rioting Adds to Hellish Scene — Police Powerless; Troops Called — Corpses Everywhere — Man's Utter Helplessness Demonstrated — Denizens of Foreign Quarter Battle with Fury of Fiends — Mobs Fight at Ferries While Dreary Procession of Refugees Trails Southward to Escape.

And he said go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. — I Kings, 19: 11, 12.

Destruction fell on San Francisco in almost every conceivable form. The heaving earth shattered the walls of its towering structures and brought them crashing down on the helpless people within. Combustion spread to the ruins and the fire fiend smote the wrecked city with merciless fury. Absence of water, famine and pestilence each lent their portion to the dismal tragedy. Maddened men and women of the lowest strata of society battled in the scarred and smoking ruins for plunder, while soldiery shot down the ghouls and looters.

Such a scene can only be imagined after a midnight session with Dante. It was Inferno apotheosized.

It followed a night of restful calm — a night during which the fairy city of the Golden Gate throbbed with the joy of life. Its palatial theaters were crowded. Its bright lights flashed from the highlands over the bay and adown the rugged passage to the western sea.

Morning brought the transformation just after rosy dawn awakened early risers to their toil — and death.

The first shock, which lasted almost five minutes, and which started the wrecking of the city, came just at daybreak, and through a day of terror the people fought, aided by soldiers, to check the following flames. At midnight the fire still burned fiercely in every direction, checked on two sides by the water of the bay, and held back from the other two and from the main residence districts by the half gale that had fanned its fury all day.

The* firemen and the 4,000 soldiers who were fighting the flames and rescuing the dead and injured labored all day without water, for the earthquake snapped the water mains and left the city helpless.

Dynamite and powder were the only agencies left with which to battle. Many of the finest buildings in the city were leveled to the ground by terrific charges of explosives in the hopeless effort to stay the horror of fire. In this work heroic soldiers, policemen, and firemen were maimed or killed outright.

FLAMES FURNISH ONLY LIGHT.

With nightfall there was no light, except the glare of the flames — for • the gas plants were blown up or shut off for purposes of safety and the earthquake destroyed the machinery in the electric light works.

Nearly a quarter of the population of the city either fled to the hills and other supposed points of greater safety — or were homeless in the streets.

Martial law was proclaimed, nearly 4,000 soldiers patrolling the streets with orders to shoot all vandals.

While the center of the earthquake was in San Francisco, the destruction and death covered the coast for miles, and the scenes in San Francisco were duplicated on a smaller scale in half a dozen of the nearer cities.

As night descended upon the city of death and destruction the fact that there were no lights brought on fresh terror, which was accentuated by the third sharp shock, which came just before dark.

As the flames spread into the residence districts people left their homes and fled to the parks and squares.

The city resembled one vast shambles with the red glare of the fire throwing weird shadows across the worn and- panic-stricken faces of the homeless wandering the streets or sleeping on piles of mattresses and clothing in the parks and on the sidewalks in those districts not yet reached by the fire.

SCENE OF DIRE GRANDEUR.

Forgetting for a moment the terrible suffering, physical and financial, that trailed in the wake of the disaster, the scene presented by the flames was one of unspeakable grandeur.

Looking over the city from a high hill in the western addition the flames could be seen rolling skyward for miles and miles, while in the midst of the tongues of red fire could be seen the black skeletons and falling towers of the doomed buildings. At regular intervals the booming of the dynamite told of the work of the brave army of men attempting to save the city from complete annihilation.

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The troops from the Presidio, the Thirteenth infantry from Angel island, the coast artillery, and the militia patrolled the streets — with orders to shoot at any person seen robbing the dead or wounded or looting the wrecked stores — so that it practically was impossible to cross the streets.

The worst feature of the night was that the temporary morgue and hospital, established in Mechanics' pavilion, crowded with the dead and injured, was threatened with destruction by fire. The troops, the firemen, and the police used dynamite to hold back the flames from the building.

LEAVE DEAD TO BURN.

Through all the streets automobiles and express wagons hurried, carrying the dead and injured to the morgues and the hospitals. At the morgue, in the hall of justice, scores of bodies were on the slabs. The flames rapidly approached this building and the work of removing the bodies to Jackson square, opposite, began. While the soldiers and police were carrying the dead to what appeared safe places, a shower of bricks from a building dynamited to check the progress of the sweeping flames injured many of the workmen and sent soldier after soldier hurrying to the hospital. The work of removing the bodies stopped and the remainder of the dead were left to possible cremation in the morgue.

Offers of relief poured in all day — from every direction — but the city was isolated from the world except by telegraph. The railway traces for miles were destroyed, twisted, and contorted. In places the tracks sunk ten feet, in other places they w r ere torn to pieces.

It was days before the city could communicate with its sister cities by railway, and appeals for food and fresh water to be sent by steamers from coast points were sent out.

NUMBER OF DEAD NEVER KNOWN.

It was many days before the complete story of the ruin wrought by the double calamity of earthquake and fire that visited San Francisco was realized and there will still remain untold countless tales of pitiful tragedy. The exact loss of life will never be known as hundreds of unfortunates were incinerated in the flames which made the rescue of those buried under toppling steeples and falling walls impossible.

The first shock was at 5:13, and it came without warning save a slight reverberating roar, the motion of the earth being from east to west. The upheaval was gradual, and for a few seconds it seemed as if the entire city was being lifted slowly upward, and then, after perhaps five seconds of the sickening rising sensation the shock increased in violence.

Chimneys began to fall, the houses trembled violently, swayed, and some fell with crashes.

In an instant the panic. began. People driven from their beds ran unclothed into the streets, screaming, crying, and praying. They screamed to each other, begging for help and asking each other what had happened.

Many fled in terror to the basements — others fainted or fell terrorized in their own homes. They were safer than those who rushed into the streets at the first awakening — for these were struck down by showers of falling brick.

BUILDINGS SWAY AND TUMBLE.

Buildings tottered on their foundations. Some rose and fell, and, when falling, the fronts or sides burst out as if from explosions, hurling tons of brick, mortar, and timbers into the streets. Great rents opened in the ground.

Those who remained indoors generally escaped death or injury, except in cases where the entire buildings collapsed, although hundreds were hurt by falling plaster, pictures, or flying glass. It is believed that there are more or less injured persons in every family in the city.

The great skyscrapers stood the strain much better than the brick buildings, or even the heavy stone ones, and but few of them were badly damaged by the first shock, most of them standing, with the terra cotta, brick, or stone filling burst out, mere skeletons of their former appearance, waiting for the fire to complete the destruction.

There were exceptions even to this. The great eleven-story Monadnock office building, in course of construction, which adjoined the Palace hotel, was an exception, part of it falling while the rear wall collapsed, and great cracks were made across the front.

DAWN LIGHTS UP HORROR.

The dawn was just breaking when the terror was at its height. When the sun at last broke through the mist that drove in from the bay and the people saw and realized the devastation hope almost left them.

Women lay down in the streets to await the death that seemed inevitable. Others fainted and lay where they fell. Humanity was forgotten, and the primal instinct of man seized on the people.

The dead and helpless were left where they fell in that first wild frenzy of terror. Men in the delirium of fright leaped over forms that lay in their way and ran on, not knowing where they were going, impelled only by the dread of unseen horror and struggling for life.

Before the first flush of horror had passed the thousands of persons, men, women, and children of every nationality and color were streaming down Market street to the ferries. Out on the bay away from the toppling, swaving buildings and the horror of death and desolation seemed the only place of safety. Order and sanity were thrown to the winds.

None knew where to turn. They fled like panic-stricken animals towards any place that offered shelter, finding death or injury in the open streets, and fearing each instant that a new shock would bring their homes down upon them.

At hundreds of places the streets had opened from the shock, especially in the made land. At others, where the water mains had burst, basements were flooded, streets torn up, and buildings undermined.

FLAMES BURST FROM RUINS.

Hardly were the people of the hill district out of their houses when the dawn to the east was lit up in a dozen places by fires which had started in the business district below. The first of these came with a sheet of fire which burst out somewhere in the warehouse district, near the water front.