"THE WICKEDEST PLACE ON EARTH."

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12483, 20 April 1906, Page 8

"THE WICKEDEST PLACE ON EARTH."

A POST OFFICE OFFICIAL'S VIEWS. '■San Francisco is the wickedest placii on tlio fact* of the earth, and I am iii>t surprised that something has happened to u-.' , Such wiL- the of Mr H. Blaokniore wtien a.-kcd to say Romothing about tr.e city. Mr Blackmo-re H:i> " in many P^ lts ,- but wha.t he saw in 'Frisco -when "dting" the placu quite recently almost passes U.'YfH. He hari talvs to tell ot the ccmniorcial convmi'isitui of the blackest <-.i black .mih which, to one accustomed to a reasonably mural atmosphere, *eeni iiciedible. "When I left the place." In.- said, -"I fe-lt that some judgment went:! overtake it."

Mr Black more i& a resident of Christeh in oh. He is a rosponeib'e officer in in-- local Pvst Offic?, and visited 'Frisco as nuiii agent in February last. He arrived about the niiciile of the month, an-.l l/l't towards the end. During the lorsnight he w;is there, however, lie managed to sec practically all tin re was to s.'e. both outside and in. For three days lie was working in the Office rc.pU!'te<l to have been destroyed. "It La the loveliest building that there i.s in 'Frisoo/' he isaid. 'It is built ol .s;/'id marl.lp, am! ca=t feveral million dollars. It is a massive place, built m two Kfoivys, and 300 cilerks are empl;>y<tl in the biii.lJi!i£. I cannot uiideih-tand how it could have caught lire, for it '* constructed only of mai'ble and iron. On the water front, however, there a large wooden Post Ofßco used for Porting mail*, and I think this will Ik? the cm. inferred to. There are a number of other bi.ildings along tin-whIlM- I rent, every second one being a saloon or cigar

bhop. Sprocket's building, «tb« t-Uted to have b'jen M-r Blackmore says consists of eighteen storeys, and is the highest in the city. The Grand Opera lions?, another magnificent building, Mr JJlackinoro adds, is situated in Mi*-ion street, clew to the. Po:-t Office, and not far from Spreckelis's biiild'ing, and the earthquake eeenis to have been .heaviest in the centre of the town. A curious fact noted by Mr Blackmore is that the buildings reported to have been destroyed stand practically in a straight Speaking on the. construction of buildings in 'Frisco- Mr Blackinore said that the new structures have iron frames, the brick and the etorte being built in afterwards. This construction is intended to allow of a certain amount of swing. . J>ealing with the conditions of life in the city, Mr Blackmore said there was practically no Sunday there. The hotels we're open night and day all the year round, and the music halLs wore open until 3 or 1 o'clock in the morning every day. Mr Blackmore elates that the Sonoma should have left 'FrißOo for New Zealand at one o'clock yesterday afternoon, and her passengers ooii-si-quently would probably have been in the town when the earthquake happened. In reply to a question, ho said that New Zealanders usually put up either at the Palaco Hotel, one of those destroyed, or the California, which is not far distant from tho Palaco. , Referring to the Nellie Stewart Company, which has l>een playing in 'Frisco lately, he said that the season had nearly cloeed when ho left at the end of February, and the company would have left long before the earthquake happened.