Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, April 19, 1906, Page 1

= VOLUME 3. NUMBER 306 . BEMIDJ1, L) MINNESOTA, TH STRICKEN SAN FRA 'BEYOND CONTROL CONGRESS TO GIVE $1,000,000 RELIEF This Sum Is Voted Today for San Fran- cisco Suffer Ers---Government Sends Tents. Death List 500, According to Latest Re- ports---Property Loss Close to $200,000,000. Summary of the Disaster. The list of dead is now placed at 500 and new bodies are being taken from the ruins hourly. The property lossis roughly estimated at $2,000,000, and does not seem to be exaggerated. Practically all the city’s fine public and office buildings are wrecked, and the water and sewer systems are ruined. The city is now at the mercy of the flames. which are sweeping the business district. The lack of water renders the fire-fighters-helpless. Allthe fine buildings of Leland Stan- ford, Jr.; university are wrecked. e Washington, D. C., Apr. 19. (Bulletin)—Congress today passed | a joint resolution -&pproprinting one million dollars for -the San Franeisco earthquakeand fire sufferers. Sap Francisco, Apr. 19. (Bulletin)—Latest reports place the dead at 500. San Francisco, Apr. 19 (Special Dispatch)—San Francisco is doomed. The city, partially wrecked by the earthquake, is now in the arasp of the flames, which the fire-fighters are powerless to check. K'rom present indications the firc will rage on unsi! it dies out itself for want of material to burn. The water supply was cut off by the first shock, and although the mains were temporarily repaired, they gave way again. The firemen had no choice but to blow up the buildings in the path of the flames, hoP‘mg te keep the conflagration within bounds in this way. i For awhile the progress of the fire was slightly checked, but now the dynamite and powder is giving out and the fight seems to be lost. There was neyer a more heart-rending scene than that dis- played in the city today. The whole business district is in ruins, crumbled or burned. Nearly half of the residence portion has also fallen under the flames. The dead are everywhere, and frantic relatives and friends are rambling in acrazed way among the bodies trying to discover a familiar face. The streets are being patroled by the military and although the city isnot under martial law, soldiers are everywhere protecting property at the point of the bayonet. General Funston has issned orders that all looters shall be shot, and following instructions, the troopers executed three mauraders early this morning. The soldiers are rendering great aid. Two hundred men, women and children are without shelter or food, and in many in- stances water, and are being cared for as best they may by the government servants, who are distributing rations and water. Government tents.are also being pitched for the shelter of the un- fortunates. A report from Palo Alto says that all but one of the buildings of the Leland Stanford Jr. university have been destroyed, includ- ing the memorial church. One student is known to have been killed. One of the appalling things is the extent of the disaster. The earthquake apparently has partially wrecked a number of towns near San Francisco, including Santa Rosa, Pala Alta, Healdsburg, Geyerville, Cloverdale, Hopeland and Ukiah. rlooters have been execufed orr TEN CENTS PER WEEK the to be dead. The San Francisco earthquake disaster easily ranks as one of the great catastrophes of modern tim'és- Cities have been swept by flames, shaken by earthquakg’é and buried under volcanic ashes and lava. but a modern city. the metropolis of a country- the s1ze of the western half of the United States, has never been so completely laid in ruins before. i Had the shock come ata later hour, when the streets were crowded and the office buildings filled, the death list would have been appalling. As it is, the loss of life is largely confined to lodginghouse districts, but five hundred are -known The property loss challenges the imagination. Whether the final returns show it to be one hundred. or two hundred or three hundred millions, the sum is to great to be fully grasped. One of the greatest losses will be at Palo Alto, where Leland Stanford, Jr., university, founded by Mrs. Stanford. is in ruins. dio has arrived to patrol the streets. The Thirteenth infantry, 1,000 sfirnng, has arrived from Angel Island and went on patrol duty. Soldiers have been ordered to shoot thieves caught robbing the d.ad and to guard with their lives, the millions of dollars worth of property placed in the streets to escape the ravages of the flames. Three command of General Funston. The Rirst--California_artiller. 200 strong, has been detailed to patrol duty on Ellis street.- Two more companies are pabrollingl Broadway in the Italian section. Mayor Schmitz, who has est.a.b-| lished his office at police head- quarters, has named a committee of safety. The mayor notified the bakeries and milk stations that their food supply must be harbored for the homeless. Preparations have been made to place tents in every park in the city and in these those who have lost all will be given food and shelter. Prisoners in the city prison on the fifth floor of the hall of justice were transferred to the basement of the structure. Later they were and if necessity arises they will be taken to the branch_ county jail on the Mission road. San Francisco, April 19 —The Pacific coast has been so fre- quently visited by earthquakes that it was deemed unwise: until a few yearsago to erect tall build- ings in San Francisco. It was only with the advent of modern steel construction which was be- lieved to render tall buildings safe from the earth’s tremors, that skyscrapers made their ap- pearance on the Pacific coast. In the last fifty years over 250 recorded in San Francisco. The most severe were. in 1868 and 1898. -Ia 1868 much damage was done to the city and many liyes were lost. The disturbance of 1898 did San Francisco, Apr. 19.—A| New York, Apr. 19.—The last thousand troops from the Presi-|great earthquake in the United removed to the Breadway jail and fires broke out. earthquake shocks have been! States was that of Charleston, S. C, in 1886. This earthquake was preceded by minor tremors, to which-little attention was paid The principal shock occupied about one minute, and other shocks followed at intervals with gradually diminishing violence. At the end of four weeks they had ceased to be destruetive, but tremors were - occagiohally ob- served forseveral months Tonger. In Charleston the movements center of the' disturbances, a point fifteen miles westof the city. A large number of houses in the city were thrown down and nearly all the buildings in the city were more or less damaged. The damage was computted at many millions of dollars. Twenty-seven persons were killed outright and many others died afterwards from injuries received., San Francisco, Apr. 19.—Re- ports from outside districts in- dicate widespread damage. San Jose, 50 miles south, lost many buildings and between 15 and 2) persons were killed. The annex of the Vendome hotel collapsed Stanford university and Palo Alto suffered, At Stanford many of the hand- some buildings were demolished ard two people killed. One of them was Pulius Robert Hanna, of Bradford, Pa., and the other was Otto Gurts, fireman. Six other students are lying in the hospital, bruised, with cuts and internal injuries. These are Ross .D. Howard, of San Francisco, Henry L. Dearing, of Santa Ana, Cal.; Froli, Halhert R. Thomas, of Los Angeles; Al- bert Westwick, of Santa Barbara, and W, H. Masters, of Portland, Oregon. The court house at Redwood City and other buildings col- lapsed. Menlo Park, Burlingame and other places report damage. San Francisco, Apr. 19.—For the benefit of the eastern people not result in loss’ of life, but caused much damage to property. This shock occurred at 11:43 p-m., Oukland, Cal., Apr. 19.—A correspondent of the Ouakland Trib- une, wiring from San francisco, says: 2 At this writing there seems to be practically no hope of saving any of the city. Those who were sanguine of the ultimate success of the firemen in controlling the flames have now entirely given up hope and are fleeing from the flames in despair. March 31, and houses all over the city were shaken to their founda- tions. There was intense ex citement and many miraculous’ ascapes - were recorded. The who have friends visiting in San Francisco, it is safe to say that they are nct injured, as the loss of fire was confined to the cheap lodging houses and the wholesale districts. % All persons in the larger hotels escaped, and most of their effects Many people are being burned alive, imprisoned in the doomed|damage was particularly severe|have been removed and are out buildings where the rescurers could not reach them. The last big structure to burst into fiames was Grace church at the corner of California_and Stockton streets. The entire dis- trict from the channel to Broadway and from the water front to Octavia and Golden Gate avenues i8 a mass of flames. The St. Francis hotel is one of -the last big buildings to take fire. The flames seem to be entirely beyond control, The workers destroyed block after block of residences with dynamite in the hope of hem- ming in the flames, but after each such effort the blaze wculd leap across the seemingly impossible gulf, along the water front, for a tidal wave rolled in from the bay and wrecked small boats aud docks. of the way of the fire peril. Los Angeles, Calif. Apr. 19— The city was cut off from tele. | Reports from Brawley, a small graphic cummunication with the town on the Southern Pacific 20 coast for several hours. The Mare Island navy yard was l damaged. [N miles south of this ecity, state that the town was practically wiped out by an earthquake Wednesday. RrErrErEATIAIEE AN were less violent ‘than: 'af the| San Francisco, Apr. 19.—The residential portion of the city is still burning. The flames have not yet reached the aristocratic section, but this district is directly in the path of the fire. Thousands upon thousands of people are homeless. The absolute helplessness of survivors to render aid to the victims adds to the horror. While the semblance of order is preserved, the city is panic stricken. Numbers of persons haye been driven insane by the terrible catastrophe. On every hand are heard moans and sobs: Mingled with the scenes of horror many dramatie-incidents are being enacted: X Building after building has toppled over, the giant sky scrapers succumbing to the fierceness of the flames as readily as the more insignificant struc- tures. Some steel edifices offered a temporary check to the fire, but the tallest and best fella prey to the irresistable whirl- wind of flames. The great holocaust. perhaps the most destructive in the history of the Pacific coast, did not have its origin from a single source. In the houses of many workmen breakfast was being prepared when at 5:13 in the morning the first shock of the earthquake struck the city. In scores of homes the stoves were dashed to the floor and dwellings immediately burst into flame. As soon as the crash of falling buildings ceased the rumble of the fire apparatus was heard and the entire fire fighting force of the city was soon being concen- trated at the places where the most good could be-done. The ever-increasing force of the wind aud the twisting of the water service out' of existance was a handicap that could not be overcome and theyflames swept on, With ever-increasing fury they licked their way toward the center of the city, leaving a path iof ruin. Past the lodging dis- trict, up beyond the department store section, and even to the commercial center, and still again on to the residence district, |stretched the path of the flames. Sacremento, Calif., Apr, 19.— Both telegraph,companies have practically lost communication with San Francisco. Wires west of here come up and go down in a ftitful way, making continuous usc impossible. Washington, D. C. Apr. 19— The following telegram has been received by the war department this afternoon from General Funston. 2 “:At this time, 9:15 a. m., there is nothing new. The city is still lburning-,a,ud it could not~ he , worse.” i 0 DOOMED; FIRE FIREMEN IN DESPAIR BEMIDJI PEOPLE FEAR FOR FRIENDS Many Local Residenté Have Relatives in the City of Earthquake and Fire--- Awaiting News. Stops Blowing Up of Buildings " to Check Flame§. The last earthquake of great import- ance in the United States was in Charles- town, 8. C., in 1886, when 27 peovle were killed, many wounded, and property val- ued at many millions destroyed. California has been visited with a number of earthquakes in the last fifty years, but none have been great enough to be called disasters. The last seismic dis- turbance felt in San Francisco was in 1900. Los Angeles wasshaken by a shght tremor in 1894. Scientists explain earthquakes by say- ing that in cooling, the crust of the earth contracts, and often unevenly. causing the sliding of the strata along the lines of structural weakness. g0 : Great anxiety is felt by many residents of Bemidji who have relatives living in the stricken city. Owing to the fact that all wires are down, no communication can be secured with San Francisco. and news of the disaster is eagerly awaited. J. M. Richards, manager of the Crookston Lumber Company, has a brother, U. G. Richards, living at Oakland, but who is en- gaged in the lumber business with offices in the Kohl block in San Francisco. Mr. Richards attempted to get word from his brother by sending several telegrams, but no response has yet been received. Mrs. Asber, mother of L. E Asherof Bemidji, was also a resident of San Franciseo at the time of the disaster, having re- moved to that city last Monday. Mrs. M. W, Lyon, mother of Charles Lyon of this city, and Mrs. G. W. Trout, his sister, together with her two children, are residents of San Francisco, but nothing isknown as to their fate, J. Rogers conducts a restaurant on Market street, the main thoroughfare that was almost completely destroyed. He is a brother of Frank Rogers of Bemidjt. Mr. and Mrs. G. A. Jones, former residents of this city dnd well known here, are residents of San Francisco at 809 Market street. Nothing has been heard from them, and N. W. Helmer of this city, a brother of Mrs. Jones, is anxiously awaiting some news.as to their fate. It will probably be several days, however, before telegraph communication is restored and any list of the dead and injured secured. San Francisco, Apr. 19.—Day dawned this morning on' a scene of death and destruction. During the night the flames consumed many of the city’s finest structures and skipped in a- dozen directions to the residence portions. They made their way over into the North Beach section and springing ap anew to the south, reached along the shipping section, down the pay shore, over the hills and across toward Third street and Townsend avenue. Steel warehouses and manufacturing plants fell in the path of the flames, thus completing the destruction of the entire dis- trict known as south of Market street. Downtown everything is ruined, not one husiness house stands. Reports from the interior are most alarming. = Santa Rosa, one of the prettiest cities of the state, is a total wreck. There are 10,000 homeless men, women and children huddled together. The loss of life cannot be estimated, but will reach thousands. The destruction of Healdsburg, Geyserville, Cloverdale, Hopeland and Ukiah is reported, and in each case the loss of life and property is shocking. ; Washington, D. C., Apr. 19.—The war départment has re- ceived the following telegram from General Funston at San Francisco: “Impossible now to inform you as to full extent of the dis- aster, but the city is prac.cally doomed. The troops are aidiu‘& the pelice patrol the city and maintain-order. W s Martial law has not been declared. We are working in- conjunction with the civil authorities. You cannot send too many tents or rations, as about 200,000 people are homeless and food 1s very scarce. all government buildings are gone.” the city is destroyed. Provision houses are all destroyed and Every business building and half of the residence portion of : -~ 3 .i')‘