San Francisco's great disaster; a full account of the recent terrible destruction of life and property by earthquake, fire and volcano in California and at Vesuvius .. online

guided its activities hope was reviving. While the actual



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SAN FRANCISCO^S GREAT DISASTER. 1 63

refugees were numb and dulled by four days of horror and
hardship, hope was in the air again. The citizens, with the
fire still burning, were getting ready first to clear the city,
restore the water supply and sanitation and make it livable,
and then to rebuild. That they will rebuild is accepted with-
out question. The only debate is over ways and means.

ALL SOCIAL BARRIERS DOWN.

The common destitution and suffering wiped out all
social, financial, and racial distinctions. The man who on
Tuesday was a prosperous merchant was occupying with his
family a little plot of ground that adjoined the open-air
home of a laborer. The white man of California was main-
taining friendly relations with his new Chinese and Japanese
neighbors. The society belle wfio, Tuesday night, was a but-
terfly of fashion at the grand opera performance, was assist-
ing some factory girl in the preparation of humble meals.

Money had little value. The family that had foresight
to lay in the largest stock of foodstuffs on the first day of
disaster was rated highest in the scale of wealth.

A few of the families who could get willing express-
men were possessors of cooking stoves, but more than 95 per
cent, of the refugees did theii cooking on little camp fires
made of brick or stone. Kitchetf utensils that a week before
would have been regarded with contempt were articles of
high value.

Many of the homeless people were in possession of com-
fortable clothing and bed covering, but the great bulk of
them were in need. The grass was their bed and their daily
ck>thing their only protection against the penetrating fog
of the ocean or the chilling dew of the morning.



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164 SAN Francisco's great disaster.

Fresh meat disappeared on Wednesday momingf, and
canned foods and breadstuffs were the only victuals in evi-
dence.

A well-known young lady of social position, when
asked where she had spent the night, replied :

"On a grave."

Many a San Franciscan spent Thursday night in total
ignorance whether his family was alive or dead.

Women and children who had comfortable homes
Tuesday night slept on bales of hay, some of them wrapped
in flimsy sheets as protection against the chill ocean winds,
and others with no covering but the sky.

There was little water in the unbumed section of the
city, but it was promised by the water company that all
that section lying west of Van Ness Avenue would have
connections with the water mains before Monday morning.
About the only water to be had in the residence section was
that which had been conserved by the thoughtful house-
holders who filled bath tubs and every other sort of recep-
tacle.

The Relief Committee was advised that the water sup-
ply would be increased just as fast as pipes could be re-
paired. In some places railway tracks were torn up to facil-
itate the repairing of mains. Lake Merced supplied about
1,000,000 gallons to Lakeview Post Office and 7,000,000
gallons to San Francisco. There was water enough stored
to supply 35,000,000 gallons a day, the amount formerly
used.

16,000 SLEEP UNDER THE SKY.

Fully 15,000 persons slept in Golden Gate Park, many
without other shelter than the sky. There was ample food



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SAN Francisco's great disaster. 167

to feed the park refugees when morning came. Bread
stations were established at the park police station. All day
thousands stood in line in the intense heat waiting for food,
similar condiions prevailed in other parks and open places.
In all these camps, representatives from Alameda, Oakland,
and Berkeley relief committees urged homeless families to
leave San Francisco and cross the bay.

Twenty-five thousand persons left San Francisco on
Friday, and homeless people kept crossing the bay all night
All who wished to cross the bay were given to understand
that they might go to any point in the State on any trans-
portation line free of charge, but that they must not return
for some time. This condition was imposed to relieve the
food situation. People went to every point around the bay,
and even to Los Angeles, San Diego, and other cities in the
south, anywhere to get away from the sight of the skeleton
walls and smoking ruins of the city.

Oakland received the greatest number of refugees,
though Alameda, San Rafael, Vallejo, and every other bay
city was crowded. Hundreds of others walked southward
on roads leading toward San Mateo, Redwood City, and
other places on the west side of the bay.

Berkeley accommodated 2,000 people, and sent word
to the authorities that it desired to take care of 4,000 more.
Alameda had room for 3,000, and Fresno telegraphed that
it wished to provide for 3,000, and asked that that number
be sent, for which the Southern Pacific would furnish trans-
portation.

H. E. Breeden, manager of the Standard Oil Company,
said that the city of Richmond could take care of 500, and
that he would transport them from the Fulton Iron Works.



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1 68 SAN Francisco's great disaster.

' PROCESSION OF THE HOMELESS.

The procession began from Golden Gate Park, the Pre-
sidio, and the north bay shore line as soon as the word went
out that it was safe to cross the burned area toward the ferry
building. There were two great processions to the ferry
building, one down Market Street,, the former great thor-
oughfare, the other from the Presidio, along the curving
shore line of the north bay, thence southward along the
water front . Throughout these routes, eight miles long, a
continuous flow of humanity dragged its way all day, and
far into the night, amidst hundreds of vehicles, from the
clumsy garbage cart to the modem automobile.

Almost every person and every vehicle carried luggage.
Drivers of vehicles were disregardful of these exhausted,
hungry refugees, and drove straight through the crowds.
So dazed and deadened to all emotion were many of them
that they were bumped aside by carriage wheels or shoul-
dered out of the way by horses.

There were persons with scanty clothing, men in shirt
sleeves, and women in under skirts and thin waists. Many
had no hats. Some carried children, while others wheeled
baby carriages over the debris. It was a strange and weird
procession.

At the ferry station there was much confusion. Min-
gled in an inextricable mass were people of every race and
class on earth. Ccmimon misfortune and hunger oblit-
erated all distinctions. Chinese lying on pallets of rags,
slept near exhausted white women with babies in their
arms.

Bedding, household furniture of every description, pet
animals and trinkets, luggage and packages of every sort



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SAN Francisco's great disaster. 169

packed almost every foot of space near the ferry building.
Men spread bedding on the pavements and calmly slept the
sleep of exhaustion, while all around a bedlam of confusion
reigned.

Major McKeever, of the United States Army, was
appointed commandant of the camps, and with his staff of
assistants on Friday tried to bring system and order out of
the chaotic situation. His first thought was to supply food
and water, and then to arranere sanitar\' measures.
These throngs of people, crowded elbow to elbow m the
open lots and fields, without the conveniences naturally
demanded, were threatened with an; epidemic of disease,
but for the wise precautions speedily observed.

In buildings close to the camps the police stored
available foodstuffs and bed clothing for convenient de-
livery. No distinctions were drawn and only few favors
shown.

The grave question was, "How soon would an ade-
quate supply of food arrive from outside points to avert
famine and destitution?*' There was little food in San
Francisco outside of what little each person possessed, and
this could not last more than a few days. San Francisco
is, geographically, an isolated city. Its nearest large neigh-
bor on the south is Los Angeles, 500 miles away. To the
north is Portland, nearly 800 miles distant, and its nearest
sister in the great East is Salt Lake City, 1,000 miles away.
These cities and all of the less populated nearer towns
made sacrifices for the destitute here, but it was to the big
cities of the nation that San Francisco looked with an
anxious eye for relief. How boundlessly it came is a
story worthy of the best traditions of American generosity.



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170 SAN Francisco's great disaster.

8CHMITZ TO ROOSEVELT.

Mayor Schmitz sent the following telegram to Presi-
dent Roosevelt:

"San Francisco, April 20.
"To the President of the United States, Washington :

"Generous contributions of $1,000,000 from the Fed-
eral Government for relief of destitute citizens received and
deeply appreciated. The people overwhelmed by your gen-
erosity. All of this money will be used for relief purposes.
Property owners determined to rebuild as soon as fire
ctases. City will immediately proceed to provide capital
for the purpose of reconstructing public buildings, schools,
jails, the hospitals, sewers and salt and fresh water sys-
tems. The people hope that the Federal Government will
at once provide ample appropriations to rebuild all Federal
buildings on a scale befitting the new San Francisco. We
are determined to restore to the nation its chief port on the
Pacific.

"Eugene E. Schmitz, Mayor.'*

SUPPLIES BY TRAIN LOADS.

On Friday night supplies began coming in by the
trainload.

At the Presidio military reservation, where probably
50,000 persons camped, affairs were conducted with mili-
tary precision. Water was plentiful and rations dealt out
all day long. The refugees stood patiently in line and there
was not a murmur. This characteristic was observable all
over the dty. The people were brave and patient and the
wonderful order preserved by them was of great assistance.

In Golden Gate Park were encamped 200,000 persons.



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SAN Francisco's great disaster. 171

A huge supply station was established there and provisions
dealt out.

Many thousands were camped in vacant lots and
squares scattered about the city, and these were the un-
fortunates that were hard to reach.

Six hundred men from the Ocean Shore railway ar-
rived with wagons and implements to work on the sewer
system. Inspectors went from house to house, examining
chimneys and issuing permits to build fires.

Clashes of civil and military orders made much trouble,
on Saturday and a serious situation arose. The civil
authorities gave way, however. A military district was es-
tablished for police purposes by Mayor Schmitz and General
Funston, and the army officer was placed in command.

A conference of Governor Pardee, General Funston,
and Mayor Schmitz was held at Fort Mason, and it was
agreed that all supplies sent to the city for the relief of the
homeless should be placed in the hands of the federal au-
thorities and distributed under the direction of General Fun-
ston and under the immediate control of Major Duvall. A
depot for the receipt of supplies was established at the Oak-
land Mole.

There was perfect harmony at the conference and an
earnest desire on the part of everyone to co-operate to the
fullest extent in order that the relief work might be carried
out without any confusion of orders.

This conference served to clear the atmosphere of any
impression that there had been any misunderstanding be-
tween Mayor Schmitz and General Funston.

Plenty of food was rushed into the city on Saturday,
and the work of distribution was put well under wiy. The



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1/2 SAN FRANCISCO S GREAT DISASTER.

work of making sheltered and sanitary camps and otherwise
providing shelter was well advanced.

The fire meantime was burning itself out against the
bay front. The ferry house was saved after a desperate
fight on the docks.

MILITARY IS PLACED IN CHARGE.

The wide separation of General Funston's headquarters
at Fort Mason, on the North Beach, and those of Mayor
Schmitz in Franklin Hall, at Fillmore and Bush Streets, was
the cause of considerable confusion between the authorities.
The distance was so great and the needs of the people so
urgent that frequently there was no time for consultation be-
tween them as to the proper measures to be adopted for re-
lief.

When Mayor Schmitz and General Funston co-oper-
ated, however, in the establishment of a military district
with the military headquarters at Park Lodge, engineer,
sanitary, and signal corps officers were detailed to take
charge of various departments.

COOKED BREAKFAST IN STREETS.

On Sunday morning, the wind having abated, the reg-
ulations were relaxed and many persons breakfasted on
food cooked in the open streets. A few bricks or stones
gathered into the semblance of a furnace, with a few dry
sticks beneath cans or kettles were the improvised kitchen
in which the food of the millionaire as well as the humblest
workman was prepared.

All through the fine residence section of Pacific Heights



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SAN FRANCISCO S GREAT DISASTER. 1 73

people sat on the sidewalks and took their black coffee, dry
bread, crackers, and in some cases bacon and eggs. At the
fires before some of the finest houses were many men and
women, apparently wealthy, who had nothing to eat. These
were supplied by neighbors in better circumstances.

In the parks and along the north beach, or wherever
people were camped, the relief stations Handed out the food
sufficient to relieve the situation. There were probably
very few persons who did not receive some sort of food.

The situation was worse at Golden Gate Park, where
during the early hours the hungry besieged every place
where it was thought food was stored. In some places there
was a disposition to overrun the guards.

In the meantime evrey sort of vehicle obtainable was
pressed into service by the authorities, and food supplies sent
to every part of the city where people were camped. Bread,
milk, coffee, and even more substantial articles were dealt
out.

A DIFFICULT PROBLEM SOLVED.

The admirable ability shown by General Funston and
^ayor Schmitz in providing speedily for the homeless,
greatly reduced the extent of the sufferings of the many
thousands who were driven for refuge into the city parks.
The task was one of tremendous proportions. While the
fire was a continued menace the task of subduing it had to
share the attention of the authorities with that of the work
of succor. But, when on Sunday, the battle against fire had
been won, great headway was speedily made toward insur-
ing comfort, ample food and sanitary surroundings for the
shelterless victims.

Burying the dead proved a duty of immediate import-



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174 SAN FRANCISCO S GREAT DISASTER.

tance, and this work went on with determination and energy
wherever there was need.

Two hundred bodies found in the Potrero district,
south of Shannon street, in the vicinity of the Union Iron
Works, were cremated at the Six Mile House by order of
Coroner Wals^h. So many dead were found in this limited
area that cremation was deemed absolutely necessary to pre-
vent disease. The names of some of the dead were learned,
but in the majority of cases identification was impossible,
owing to the mutilation of the features. A systematic
search for bodies of the victims of the earthquake and fire
was begun by the coroner and the State Board of Health
inspectors. The city was divided into sanitary districts, and
squads of searchers were sent out to every quarter. The
ruins of the burned buildings in the business and the old
residence section had sufficiently cooled to make the search
possible.

The body of an infant was found in the center of
Union street, near Dupont. There was nothing by which
it could be identified. It was learned, however, that a num-
ber of persons had camped at this place, and it is presumed
that the child died and was left when the party was forced
to move. Three bodies were found in the ruins of a house
on Harrison Street between First and Second. They had
been burned beyond all possibility of identification. They
were buried on the north beach.

The body of a man was found in the middle of Silver
street between Third and Fourth. A bit of burned envelope
was found in the pocket of the vest bearing the name "A.
Houston."

Reports were made by deputies sent out by the Board
of Health of the finding of 23 bodies in various parts of the



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SAN FRANCISCO S GREAT DISASTER. \^^

city. Few of them could be identified. The bodies were
buried in various places and the graves numbered.

The Board of Health reported a very encouraging
health condition, considering the circumstances. Sickness
was constantly on the decrease. There were very few con-
tagious diseases, and these were being attended at Deer
Lodge in Golden Gate Park. Sanitary conditions in the
residence district were improved.

Most of the sickness was among the people who were
living out of doors, and it was upon these cases that the
Board of Health concentrated most of its attention. Hun-
dreds of volunteer doctors, dentists, nurses and helpers
joined in the effort to allay suffering. Since the fire started
there had been no lack of volunteers for every kind of work.

Major Torrey of the United States Army, and Dr.
Foster, of the State Board of Health had charge of the
work among the people who were out of doors, and Dr.
Hassler was the head of the sanitary work.

Oakland furnished an engineering corps to assist in
restoration of the water supply and another to aid in cleans-
ing the streets.

MEDICAL ATTENTION INCREASED.

Dr. K. A. L. Mackenzie, chief surgeon of the Oregon
Railroad and Navigation Company, arrived in charge of 20
physicians, a number of nurses and plenty of hospital sup-
plies. Dr. W. E. Carl, of the Oregon State National Guard,
arrived, in addition to the entire Third Hospital Corps of
Oregon.

At the emergency hospitals which were quickly estab-
lished and attended by many physicians almost within a



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178 SAN Francisco's great disaster.

half hour's notice the only complaint that really existed was
the lack of bedding. Though the army and navy were
called on for blankets, quilts and the like, the supply fur-
nished by these departments was not enough.

More than 100 physicians and attendants served in the
park. 'Nevi volunteers and inspectors who were appointed
by the Board of Health were assigned to districts other than
the park, as the physicians were assured that the park emer-
gency hospital was under perfect surveillance.

PLE^^TY OF FOOD AND WATER.

Major Frank V. Keesling, in charge of Golden Gate
Park, made this report to General Funston on Friday.

"I beg to advise you that not a case of serious sickness
exists in this park. All rumors to the contrary are false
and malicious. I will promptly advise you if there is any
change, or if anything of a serious nature occurs."

Though the heroic work of the officials in charge of
the great task of caring for the homeless saved the victims
from some of the direst of possible consequences, there was
much misery and suffering. This reached its climax on
Sunday evening when a heavy rain set in. Once thoroughly
drenched the city could only be described as a hopeless, de-
spairing, miserable mass of stricken humanity. The blind-
ing torrents of rain poured down on the refugees in the
scantily dickered camps and dispelled the buo3rancy ^nd
hope which marked the tent dwellers after news came thav
the fire had been quelled. Sitting dully beneath* the drip-
ping tents, chocking from the heavy smoke of the tiny ex-
temporized srtoves, breatfiing the damp and reekinpf air,
utterly disconsolate and disheartened, thousands spem •»



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SAN Francisco's great disaster. 179

night and day of indescribable privation and hardship.

Carefully nurtured women lay on the soaking ground,
pools of water around them. The suffering of the ill and
wounded in the hastily thrown up hospitals, too, became in-
tensified. Everywhere were men, women and children,
clothed in dripping garments without hope of change, for
in practically every case, what they had on was all they had
in the world. Colds and pneumonia made their appearance
to add to the misery and the grim spectre of contagion
stalked amid the wretched throngs.

The rain began at midnight on Saturday, a few hours
before the beginning of the fifth day since the disaster befell.
In despair, thousands adopted the philosophy that all nature
had turned upon the once splendid city of San Francisco
and its people. The brave talk of a new city speedily rising
was no longer heard. Indeed, the new despair, after up-
lifted hope and faith which came with the general
improvement of Saturday, was one of the really great trag-
edies of this long series of unprecedented horrors. Now
there would be a downpour of tremendous force. Then a
chilling drizzle would add a new form of misery. Again
torrents of rain. So through the Sabbath, a day which will
not be forgotten by any of the 300,000 who lived through it
in San Francisco's camps. The effect could be seen in the
crowds which gathered to watch the relief trains from the
East come in. On Saturday, smiles and cheers were the
greetings of the train crews. On Sunday, silence, a pro-
found, melancholy silence had taken the place of the cheers.
The people looked on with the indifference of utter despair.

The sanitation problem, too, became doubly serious.
The rain laden atmosphere blanketed the camps. The
brisk, fresh breezes of the preceding days were a mighty



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i8o SAN Francisco's great disaster.

factor in safeguarding health. Vile odors lingered under
the pall of cloud and were responsible for hundreds of cases
of illness. Frantic efforts were begun to cope with this
great problem. Sanitary officers commanded the services
of every available man, and every wagon and cart available
was set to work carrying debris and offal beyond the con-
fines of the camp. Everything that human power could do,
was done. But the problem was almost beyond solution
even under the best of circumstances. With the infinite
difficulties to be overcome there is little wonder that the
results of the effort were far from satisfactory to the men
who labored so valiantly against an invasion of disease,
bom of the great disaster. But while the city lay in a stu-
por of misery, the work of relief throughout the camps and
in the city, itself, never faltered. Fifty-two food distribut-
ing points were established and from these tons of pro'
visions of every kind went out to the people.

THE RAIN CLIMAX TO MISERY.

The rain, with all its attendant discomforts, really
caused more utter misery than the devastating flames. No
one who has not experienced the heavy downpours of the
coast can realize the agonies suffered by the refugees.
Water was everywhere and where, but a few days before,
drops were sought eagerly by parched throats, there ran
rivers and the stricken thousands were as busily avoiding
the water as they had been frenzied in finding it. While the
fire raged, men fought without thou.erht of self and peril
and toil kept from their minds a full realization of what
was happening and the awful extent of the disaster to their
city. At the very moment when there was time to stop and



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SAN Francisco's great disaster. i8i

think, when the mental reaction was inevitable, then came
the rain, and the scene, heartrending in any guise, seemed an
hundredfold more dreadful under these conditions. There
is excuse if in those Sunday hours San Franciscans utterly