MARTIAL LAW ENFORCED.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12506, 19 May 1906, Page 10

MARTIAL LAW ENFORCED.

STERN REPRESSION OF LOOTING

" Martial law saved ban Francisco from, becoming a nell of human passions. Seven thousand soldiers nnd militia kept order most effectively, and fortunate it was that a large garrison was at hand and immediately available.

"All attempts at loot ing were sternly repressed. The mob lynched three plunderers themselves before the military came in, and quite a number were s-hot afterwards, but there can be little doubt that some lost their heads, and used the bullet and bayonet inhumanly. It is reported tint one poor old man was deliberately bayoneted by the patrol for merely roiuonstrating, and that anothou" of these guardians stabbed a policeman who interfered in some way with him. Although there were many such instances, without soldiers tho frenzied mobs could not have boon handled when the streets had to be cleared for dynnmiting. "This dynamiting did not proveefficient to cheek the flames. Hundreds of tons wore exploded, yet except towards tho ond, without the slightest <?ff<?ct. The fire immediately swept over the gap. or, vorsn still. fro-«h fires were started by it. Had it been resorted to at once, nnd wide swathes cut in tho path of fire and immediately drench-xl with water it might have been effective, but tho attempt to cut off a conflagration of such volume, inten.*itv, and tremendous heat by isolated explosions on no preconceived plans was futile—how hopeless mile after mile of ruins conclusively shows. There was no time, however, to rofleet or form plans when most of the city was wallowing in flames. Tho last gnm stmd was made at Van Ness Avenue , street, still wider than Market street, and running at an anglo from it in a northerly direction. It was full of costly abodes, great tenement houses, hotels, and churches. If that were tho small remaining portion of the city must go. ;, VALUABLE BUILDINGS DYNAMITED.

''The fire was sweeping on, and it was certain tliat, despite the width of the thoroughfare, it would do little as a barrier. Sixteen blocks were dynamit<<d. Imagine the horribly destruction and grim lnagnilicant couVage of it. . Tha explosive wae laid, and row after row 01" *tately edifices, rising storoy upon storey, sprang into the air and crumbled into d'lst. The owners, sit the sound of the bugle, silontly withdrew and watched their homes vanish into

nothing. The heroic remedies in this instance bore fruit, for though the fire ate in, the places on most of one eido were saved. Thus was almost the only place, except at North Beach, where explosives proved of any service, nor was their u<re unattended by loss or life. In Chinatown it is believed many Chinamen wore blown up with their buildings. They wanted to pray to their josses, and conld not be got out. San .Francisco has long wanted to get rid of this h!ot on the city. Now it has gone, but at what cost? At least one soldier was kilU-d by dynamite, and in one place a gentleman told mc that he saw three men and a number of animals who had all boon killed by one blast. A SCENE OF DESOLATION.

"With the elector I walked up Market street. I had read thrilling accounts I in. tho pap is; I had talke-u with men who had wit Jess, d the c.ty burning and natuu romui it. hold g;i»s in hard; I had pictured ro myeslt what it must j bo like and mentally compared the ruins i wit!i vi:. ws of thj Baltimore and ot'iier i great- fire.*/ but nothing approximately °pp:oach~ £ tho avaiity. It was uitonccivaulo tliat thLi culd be the bright, emiihng, busy, a;together striking city that 1 had lett 1-b.s than tour r.aws l)l v i\>ie. It was impossible to undersland how the great solid edinee.s !ol buck and f-.tono could have been j v.iX'.-n up in the time; not even a fctray ' portion ot a corner of a. block was 1 e-'jwred. Tho wind must have choppe-.l i and changed continually to enable tno flames to cover every rod or' epace so effectively, and. in fact, it did. For a time sections here and there under the lee or over iho otiiersido of the hill escaped, but always in the niest horribly persistent ar.d malignant manner tho wind changed, and brough: the h're back upon them, tili every inch •wins f-tarr. d and licked bare. On. ' all tfjiiaro miles, only three buildings remained untouch e<l by fire, the Ferry pile, Mint, and Pest Offico. The Ferry pJe was on the water's edge, and apparent .y before the wind changed and blew towards it, everything in its vic.nity had been levelled. Tho Mint was solidly built, and showed no signs ot harm'from earthquake. Tho Post Office, constructed of granite and lined with marble, at a total cost of £600.000, terribly shivered by the earthquake. jAt one coVner the ground wi-> ripped I into waves four or five feet high and torn away from the foundation. I mwb my way through lanes of debris and fires stillburn.ing bri-kly in oil and paint warehouses, wholesale liquor stores and other euch depots. Mostly tlure was some space clear, but hero and there the whciV--120 feet of width was piled high wiih bricks etiil quite hot. Over there an army of waggons, motor-cars, and other vehicles were stumbling a=> best they could. The lower part of tho street, i which is on the reclaimed land, had sunk down. There the buildings nad suffered much from the earthquake, and now in many ease» only fragments were standing. 'The big steel skywrapers, when built on good foundations, bad stood tho shock well, and though gutted, from a little distance showed not much sign of fire, so erect were they still. AN ERRONEOUS THEORY.

I "I turned off whore fho street was ' blocked on account of threatening walls, and I tumbled uphill towards Van Ness Avenue. Every yard was cumbered with bricks, and my feet were constantly entangled in wires of Boma sort. Not many were tram wme, for electric trams are- not common in San Francisco. In this connection, I may say that the general impression at fmt was that the electric wires were principally responsible, for the destruction of the city. Thks idea was strongly combated by an engineer with whom. I held conversation. He slid it was no such thing; it was overturned Lamrss and household fires that started t'he" destructon. Tho electric : wms were put out of gear by the disloi ention cf machinery at the power houses, J and could have done little damage. As i this gsntlernan was Mr Leavitt. chief 1 engineer of one of the principal hotels, his opinion is entitled to respect. Ho also informed mc that he had gone round the town after the earthquake and taken notf>» cf the destruction, by the shock, and that it was enormous. Tins statement was borne out by another gentleman who scurried round the. cdty eairly in tho morning, and whom I cksely questioned. "The honors of the conflagration caused losses by earthquake to become a minor ; consideration,, but both these gentlemen ] concurred that tho seismic disturbance would have been considered a catastrophe had there been, no after consequences. They averred that.numbers of tho brick buildinys ac distinct from steel stnictures were wholly cr partially destroyed, and would have been condemned. HOTELS AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

"On my wav I peered into the ruins of the St. Francis Hotel. Standing up liko a cliff fifteen storeys or more in height, it looked as though at would be impossible to burn it. It faced an open square, half down ono side was an unfinished wing, nothing but steel was need in its construction; the open street was on the other side, and only at the back were there continuous buildings. Its floors were concrete, and (thy only wood apparent in at were .tho doors and window lintels. Just erected at enormous cost, it had been so successful that, big as it was, it was being enlarged. If any edifice oould be safe this ehould have been, but it was the victim of -the impish, almost fiendish whims of the fire. Three times tho flames swept by and spared it : then they crept in from tho back, and the towering structure jvas so thoroughly scoured that- not ono veHcigo of woodwork could 1 see. Tho heat irom the burning building's «t the side had flayed off great lumps from tho solid granite of the Jower storeys: never heiese, the polished granite pilars in front heel not a smear on them, and to all appeawnc-s the main structure of the building \va.s net greatly harmed. On the hill al>ove aUoJ the Fairmount Hotel, a day or two before tho meet conspicuous and noble pile in thi? city, now fluked and etamed with great black swathes where the flames had poured out of the windows. It was not a. skyscraper, but only t-even storeys in height, and was built of jrranit? and white terracotta, but its proportions were so harmonious that i f s greitt size was not realised at tho first view from Mount Tamnlpuirs, miles away acrr<.=; the bay. The previous Monday I had watched other and much tailor huildi.ngs fading away to iic'lrnrr as wo cHiiilkvl the mountain till Fnirmoun.t alone remained distinct, etandinsr out four i-quare to tlie heavens much liko the Parthenon at Athens, and in much tho same position. As a matter of fact. each. side is 300 feet in length, according to tho dimensions given mc by Mr Leavitt. and it was a monument of which any city mi slit bo proud. Tt. had already cost several million dollars, p.id was to have had a exeat Opera House added to it. Around it stood fome of the famous private residence*; of San Francisco, and for it and them a grand fipht wart made by men of all c'assea of iho community. Scores of them, by the way. were driven to work at the point of the pistol, whether they liked it or not. but nothing na« of avai'. Hunan skill and ccnrnge and ingenuity fniled, and the flimw tore th?ir way in. There wae nothing irs'de the hotel to burn, as the place had not been furnished. Yet the fire leaped out and stretched over to it, got nold of any woodwork there wa<f, nnd did a* much damage as it could under the circumstances. GUARDING THE MINT. "From the.ro I made my way down to tho great pile that was once tha City Hall. This was one of the first places w:\ckod by tho earthquake, which had shaken down great masses of brickwork from tho tail. central dam;?, and smashed the wing*. Much of it had been flung headlong into the streets, j

and then the fire, raged through most but not all of it, past the Post Office and Mint. At the latt-er, a hundred soldiers were stationed to guard the two hundred million dollars in the vaults, with forty emp.oyecs. This baud fought the raging lu-il or tiaine tor weary houis. Ihere was a well on tho prenmes. Everything wooden was torn down outside, ana ior a iong timo their efforts were successful, Tiu.ll. irom tha north a ot ilame wa= Jiuried over iroui a block of tail buikiuig-, and biiiet in the windows, and again aid again the fire gained a ho.d. always to bo beaten out. Hepeatvdly the gallant hand worked, and a: length gwi ciio mactyry. Near hero were a lew wilts in ti:e roadway sheltering h-meat*- wandereis. I looked out over laumireds of acres where, ior ioiiij. stretches, everything but a tew ciiaiii;evs seemed to have vauithed. This in one ol tlie m<*<st startling things noticeable in the mint*. V\ha; has become ot the dsbris tu.ua.liy seen afCt'T the ordinary tirei , Whether dynamite had reduced •everything to dust, or the terriiie iieat haU crumbled t'ne very biicks, 1 cauix>t say, but in [ many i>lacv& where there had. boon bricks and mortar, and not merely wooden, hous.s, th-oro was nothing leu.

'•Turning b.ick into Market strict another Irt-ali c-t the- tiro was Ji.oticeabie. A tali ba.uk had com,' or its windoA-is ttill intact, and further down tiu> Monadii'L.ck buiid.ng shewed with five or fcix uppeir itoieyo in winch all vie rront window* were- K-.it, me.-,: of them being not even cracked. Yet the lire Jia.l giitt.d all tilt- nst, Including two iowcr btoivy.>. An attempt was made to dynamito this building, and its wails were ritted, cracked, aud bu.givg in ail direction;,, yet it sMiiis iiuuvuiblo in tlio utter ruin all around that anything to fragile gi-s cjuld "nave ci-caped. "SPOUTING FIXE." "By it towered tlu» "c..!! ' buildings, of stoivyfi, and some 2ol) feet m height. It had f-tujcl tills and other earthquakes nobly, but fire had mastered it. The dioiiij' c.uiijat first, and it burned fioni top to bottom. 'What a eight it must have been when this and Oiiiw g.gantic buildings round were tire from every window! Almcst was another sky scrap.-r, tho "Cnronicle" oilice, nearly, it not quite, as lolty. Jts tallest portion was in-course, ct construction, «nd merely steel and brick, but tho llames flown! through and through it. Other .vteel buildhig.j were in procc-s of erection hero and there. 1 noticed ono that tho flames, as though angry that they could find nothing to destroy*, had licked into and blackened in impotent rage, though no material harm was done.

"Then I camo to the Palace Hotel, justly described α-s one of the nioeb famous of host dries. When tii>:.t built, three years ago, it wa.3. considered tho finest hotel then in existence, and it deserved its name far more than tome buildings known as palaces. Seven stork* in height, and covering a great ■area, it contained 925 rooms, and 300 more were just about to bo added. Gone now were the countless projecting bow windows that formed such a feature of t'ho building, and gone was the great central court, with its white pillars and balconies, and its marble floors, that presented such. <a gay and brilliant scene cTery day, and more especially in tho evening. Nothing but the bare gaunt brick remained, and in tho .basement fires were ktill glowing. The Palace was very nearly paved, and like the Mint it had a privato water supply and good apparatus. The firo was actually beaten off on all sides but one, whero the Monadnock building was separated from it by a narrow street. Here tho judicious uso cf dynamite might have succeeded, but the attempt failed at the same moment that the water gave out, and further resistance was abandoned, and the Palace became a seething volcano like the rest. Opposite the Rand Hotel was a dishevelled mass, mostly fallen on 'the ground, with only fragments of the walls remaining. "Painfully I picked m y way' down Market street again. It was night, but the way was lighted by fires still blazing in many of the ruins, which now shone out prominently. Many more fires were perceptible tlian when I landed—>and would probably go on smouldering for days. I left behind mc five-six.hs of a populous and handsome city in the mert awful and meet complete, ruin, that can be conceived. There are five square miles at least of desolation and tangled destruction, and two hundred million pounds' worth of property gone up in name in two phort days—a nation's random — and above all, three hundred thousand people mostly ruined, all homeless, and threatened, as I write, with famine and disease."