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Ti CALIFORNIA DISASTER A Scene of Desolation and Ruin in San Francisco. . A (lespalch from Son Francisco soys: 01 Ih.- Mines tliut iimrlu'il tlie Irans- lomitiUuii (if lliis, llif tjayt'.st, tliu iiiosl carili'ss cily nn llu; coiilinciil, inUi a KKi-.U lUul 11 lnH, it is hard to write. 11ml llif (Jiiy sliiili'd wilh u bliiiii ^cn- (•ml pim;.: {jucs \villio\it sr.yiiii;. I'eo- I Ic \viil\(! up wjlh a start In find llioiii- wlvcs lloiiiMlcrinti (in the floor. In -such an ('arlhqu)iU(' iis tins it. is liiiniiui in- stiiii t t(j ;,•(â- ! out ot doors, iiwiiy from Jalliiij; \\:ills. Tlioy sl.ijmbl(vl across Itio Moors lit IliPir licavinn houses lo f'lid that even tlii* },'(jihI ourlli upon wliicli tlicy pliiccd liicir rl'lillno(^ wa.s swiiyint,' inid risiii;i niid falliiij;, so thai Hi«! fiJdcwulKs crtioki'd lunl {,'tcnt rents ^ oponc'l in Ihr cround. The Ihivc niin- Vijfcs wliicti, followed \vi'r(! an ('t(»rnity irt terror. \Vc loiir-ii her.: Of iil least two [H'opio who (jitd <if pure fri(;ht in Ihiit lln-co niuilltoji wlien Ihi-n' sponu'd ni.. Iii'lp on lorlli or llcavni. Tliorj WHS (1 roar liKi' n f,'i'<^'>l' I'ursl of Itiun- ili'r. und from all nIxMil cnnio ttin crash '•f fallint; walls. It died down at last, Icaviii}; llii- cnrlh quahinj; and (luivcr- inf,' like jelly. Men would run for- ward, slop as another shock, which iiiijjlil be firealer any nionicnl, bci'iiiihI Ir) tiikc the eiirlh from under their feel, I'.iyii throw llieuiselvos face downward Of. Ilie ground in a perfect Ufc'ony ol fear. roi'Nf) TiiF.in voiriis. II seemed lo he two or three minuter otler Ihe ;^i-eat shock WBS over liefore I'eo|i!e found Iheir voieps, There follow- ci' the scre;uiiint: of women, hesid-' themselves wilh terror, and llie cries rl men. With one impulse people nuidc for the parks as lar ns possible from falling walls. These siiredily became packed Willi people in their nijjht dollies, who .Streamed and mooned at. Ihe llllle shocks which followed every few minule.s. The dawn was jiisl break- inj;, hut there was no other lif,'hl, as Ihe pis and electric mains were (jone, and Ihe street lamps were all out. Hut liefnre Ihe dawn wiis white there earn' •1 lit;lil from Ihe ensl. Ihe liui'iiinj; war.' house disli'ict. 'I'lie l)raver men. wilh no fiimilies lo watch over, str-ucU oiiJL lo help. They were in the early loorn- inc lijjlit llllle lo .see the business di - Iriel of Ihe cily^ liiirninj,' liefor â-  itiem. Vroin every dlieclion came Ihe !lie en- flines, called from Ihe outlying district- li llie g'neral alarm runt,' in oy \\h' as sislanls of Ihe dead ci>icf CHINKS!- IN A i-nir.iir The spur nf the quake ran up the hill c\i which Chlmilown is situated, and shook down part of Ihe crazy little luildin^'s on the southern cdnc. 11 lori' down, too, some of the Italian len- cmiMils. The rush to Port.sinoiilh .'-Square went on aliiin.-.l iiiKliecked by the po- ii''e, who had more Imslne.ss elsewhere. The r.hjiiese came o\it of their under- proimd burrows like rnl.s, and tuiidilf^d Into Ihe square, beatinu' such (,'on>js and playinjj siieli noisy inslrumenis es they had sniilehed up. They wore met ch the other siile by the refugees of the Ihiliiin rpiarter. The pimie be. a me a ma(lm\ss. At Iia.sl Iwo Cliinamen were taken lo the niort'iie dead of knifo wounds, j!iven f'l no other reason, it .seems, than Ihe madni'ss of the pnnic. There arc ten thousand Chinese In the quarter, and Iheie are thousands of Italians, Spani- aids iiiid Me\leiins on the other side. It si'emed us lhout.'h every one of these, Inijetlier wilh the rift-raff of Ihe Barhary coiisl, made for llial one block of open Iiajil. The uneoidrolled streams met in â- 9u centre of the .square and piled upon the edges. Tticre lliey fought all the ii.orning until the Iroops restored or- «lei- villi their basonets. nA.NK.S HKMOVK noi.i). Then, as the dawn broke and the I.:wer city bepan to 1)0 overhung with .• Ihe smoke of burning buildings, lhe?-e •ami! a bacK-oddy. Cabmen, hackmen, drivers of cxpro.s.s wagons and trucks, hired ot enonnons prices, began carting away from Ihe lower cily tlie valuables f I Ihe holds, wliioh saw their doom in the fires wliich were breaking out every- where, and Ihe spurl.s of ttie gas mains. Kven the banks began lo lake out Iheir bullion and securities, and, under guard r.( half-dre.s.spd clerks, sent them lo the hills, whence came to-dir>' Ihe salvation (â- ' San FrancLsco. One old nighthawU rah diiven by a cabman mad wilh ter- ror carried more than $1,00(J,i)00 in cui-- Kncy and .securities. Men pulling corpses or broken pe.i pic from fallen buildings slopped t) curse those processions e^ they pas-ed Time and again a line of wagons ntid cabs would run uii to an impass ible harrier of debris, where some bull Knp had fallen into the street, ond woui.l pile up till the guards cleared a way Ihrougli the siroet.s. SHOT DOWN THIEVES. And then the vandals formed and went lo Work. Houled out from the dens along the vvharveii. the rats • f the .'^nn I'ranci.sco water front, the Uiilters who have reached the back- eddy of European civili'/ation, crawled (lit and began to plunder. Early in Ihe day a policeman caught one oflliese men dropping ttirough the window â-  f J. small Bank on Montgomery street, and shot him dead. But the police wei-o keeping fire lines, beating back over- zealous re-scuei-s from llu! fallen houses and the burning blocks, and for a time these men plundered at wilt. News .f this development was carried euiiy to Mayor .'^chmilz, and it was this as much as anything whi(-h determined him and Cien. Kunston Cflnie over from the I lesidio on the double quick wilh Ihe whole garrison of United Stale-i troops ; 1 put the city under martial law. Or- (".ers were i.ssued to the troops to shoot anyone caught in the act of tooling, and Ihe same orders were issued to Ihe First BegimenI, National Guard of Cali- fornia, when they w(>re mustered and (iilled out later iti Ihe day. And all this I'me, and clear up until noon, llie carlh was shaking with Utile Ireiiiors, many of which brought down walls and chimneys. At (\ich of tlu^se the res- cuers, even thi; liremen, would stop for a moment, paralyzed. The H r/i-lock, the heaviest after the big one, (hove even those who had detennined lo slay by Ihe stricken cily to look for means of escape by water. A SAFETY COM.MirrEE. There was an open park opposite the City Hall. Here, in default of a build- ing, Ihe Board of .supervisors met and formed, together wilh 50 sutislantial citizens whom they had galliered, a ccMumillee of .safely. Tliey ul.so .'et them.selvej; lo Ihe problem of providing quarters for Ihe dying and dtnid. Mo- cliiinics' Pavilion, acro.ss from the Cily Hall, had (.'.scaped, and it was pressed into .service at once. The police and the troops, working admiraldy togelhcr, passed the word that the di^ad and in- jured should be brought ttiere, since the hospitals and morgues had become choked, and toward Unit point, in Ihe early forenoon. Ihodrays. e.xpres.s wag- ons, and hacks impressed as tempor- ary ambulances, look their course. There were perhaps tOO injured people, many of them terribly mangled, laid rut on Ihe floor before noon. DEM) AND INJUMED. Every ph3'.sician in the city volunteer- ed, and Ihey got together enough Irained nurses lo do the work. There were fewer corpses, loo busy were ihe fi.ices of order in slopping Ihe confta- gialion and caring for Ihe living lo care for Ihe dead. The first wagons I'.rought a whole fiimily-falber, mother and three childrenâ€" oil dead except Ihe baby, who hod a terrible cut DEL MONTE HOTEL AT MONTEREY. 'i.**- Map of the Stricken District Showing Towns Badly Wrecked by the Earthquake. across Ihe forehead and a broken arm. These had been dragged out from Iho ruins of Iheir hou.se, on the water front. As the day wore on, and the wind changed, th" (Ire along the water front burned ibclf out, and ran on further ('.own South .Market street. Except for the fire the cily is in darkness. The rifiigees coming over late report that the parks a- filled wilh pei'iple sleep- ing out of doors, under guard of Ihe troop.s. .SAN FRANrLSCO IS. GONE. Unle.ss all inforinalion is greatly ex- aggerated there remains nothing left (.•{ the cily except outlying suburbs, ii f(w blocks on the water fi'onl and a narrow district of middle-class resi- dences lying along Golden Gate Park. N{ American cily was ever so nearly dirslroycd as this, and ouf.side of die ciirlhipiake Ihe lire is probably the i stores and handed out by the .soldiers, tut Ihe wholesale houses are gone with Iheir stores of provisions and slarva- lion is imminent. There is plenty of money in sight for rT'licf. The Gover.lnient has approprial- i f'li ec' a million dollars and nl least half a million is awoiling oiiier in New York. The problem, however, is not so much one of money as of ways and means ot getting supplies through quickly. This is absolutely the greatest disn.s- ter that ever overcame an American cily, and one of the great flros of his- tory. Beside it the Chicago, Boston, and Balliniure fires are almost unimoorl- ant. THE KIllE 1.S CHECKED. .San Franci.sco, .\pril 21.â€" The fire is P'lotjably checked. \ turn of Ihe wind, which came lute Frida> night, blew it tack from the residence district, after It had leaped Ihe gup whicli the soldiers gieatest in American history. The city ' ' , \ i k. ,. , L c„f-^ . h„. „ nn>„>ini>r,n „f >,„„•.. ii.xn Ao,^,Ji.'""' '""''' ^^.'"' 'bnamde to save tliat has a population of mori! than 400,(X)(1 people. Not more than one-fourlli of these can have escaped In Oaklaiul op the peninsula, and at least 300.IXK) people piiist he homeless in the parks or the I icsidio military reservolion. .Ml the hospitals except the free City Hospital have been destroyed, ond Ihey have been dragging tti(\ injureil, sick and dy- ing from place to place of safety all (lay Thursfliiy. .\ late report by a West- ern Union wire direct from San Fran- ci.sco conlirms Ihe despatch whieh Gen. I'unston sent to Ihe War Dcpartiucnt larly on Thursday evening. He said I lien that the llames had crossed Van .Ness Avenue, the dividing line between Ihe better residence district and the rest of Ihe city, and that the town was C.oomed. As n mailer of fact, everv- I I part of Ihe town. The steady wcslern t:adc wind has set in. Telegraph Hill and the territory about it, a region cf poor dwellings, had been pa.sscd by the it.ain III!'. This shaft nf the wind blew the llames in that direction, und Tele- giaph Hill burned all day Friday. Hus- sliui Hill is also burned over, except for the sip.all area on the sea slope; but if the trade wind conlinoos strong, as it probatily will, thi^ lire will be turned buck entirely on Ihe urea already burn- (Xl over. There is every hope Thai Ihe ruins will be cooling in a day or two. Iteporl.i about the actual area of dam- oge are conllicting. It is probable, how- ever, that about thrro-ipiarlers of the improvements on real estate is destroy- ed, 'the fringes of the city, scattered hing worth mentioning except this re- mir^''". 'r"I?'!'M ' "''^''•- *^"''','''" ••' .;â- -.... j:.i_:,.i t.T. 1 ! .„ that no considerable area is .saved, c.x- .sidencc district was burned over or on l^re by the afternoon. Tlie (lonu's lin- ished with the district down-town, ran s( nth through what renmincd of the tenement district, extended out through the mission, ii region of cheap res- dences, and leaped to Nob Hill, where sland the great mansions of Ihi! early day California millionaires. Before that time the water supply had been wholly e.xhaiisled. Even Ihe sewers were sucked dry. At two o'clock the flrmen 1 rought to the volunteer helpers ihe news thai there was no more dvna- ,.,,„, ,u , n.ite. It passed from mouth lo mouth. ^'^' at 'h<' .^valer moms, and hope to . I'.ave drinking water by this morning. ".NO MOBE l)^NA^U^EI" rriie troops are preparing another eon- This er>' was the doom ol .Son Fran- 'r"''"'"""..â„¢")'^..'" '^';' ^'"'^ "' ""^ ''«• ci«co liero, south of Ihe city, where there is As' a last resort. Gen. Funslon emp- "'''â- 'â- '"' *" .« na'nral water supply. It is lied Ihe nilillerv magazines of the Pre- !'0W possible to reach the ferry build- ;idio, and Ihe iroops ond firemen t"ied '"f-' ^-^ " ''^^}^ running around the edge c(pt the belter residence district of the Wcotern addition and Pacille Heights. Except for a few mansions of the rich, sonic churclies, and probably, some su- lurbaii hospitals, every building in San rrunci.sco is gone. .More than 2riO,(iOO people slept last night in the cuiicenlralion camps of tlie Piv,sidio, Golden Gale Park and Fort Mu.son. There was a shortage of wab'r, food was scarce ond poorly distrilmted and many went hungry and tliirslv. The city authorities have been able io Is an unconfirmed report that several nwn were killed whil-e liying to rob the vaults of Ihe Mini, which holi *;'O(l,0(X).O(X) in treasure. There weri^ .several other instances of shooting fo^ robbery. Mayor .SchimTz, Gen. Funslon and the operators of Ihe telegraph eompoiMeg oil agree in .saying that Ihe fire, whil* still burning, will probably spread n« further, but will burn itself out. CO.MMOX.S VOTES .$100,00€. Ottawa, April 20. â€" A vole of JUifl,- fifli/ was pa.ss(d in Ihe Coninion.s to-day fi r llie relief of Ihe .sufferers in .San Francisco. Wi^n. Mr. Fielding, Mmiclor cf Finance, in announcing the Uovcrn- rr.ent's intention, said: "1 have a mai- ler of urgency to bring up, with infer- ence to Ihe disaster which has conic up- on one of Ihe great cities of tho neigli- bcring Bepublic. I think Iho informa- tion wliich has now reached us through the press is-^ufilcient lo give assuraiicw lliul Ihe disaster is of a very wideiipreafJ character, and there will be need of gen- erous nssislance from the Ubcral-mmd- ed people of llic United .Stales and other purls of the ".vorld. .-M all events, 1 ani; sure that this Porlinnient. lepreeenling th.e people who inhabit llio norlliern half of the CMntinent, will he glad to share in the opportunity of miniiiloriMg !o the assistance of our fellow-nicn .i» San Francisco. I propose, therefore to piesenl a loes.sage from his Excellency rtcommending a gr.ant of $IOO,CIOO as a contribution from the people of C'ina.Ju to the afllicled people of San Francis- co." (.\pp!au.se.) Mr. Borden, on behalf of the Opposi- tion, .said: "1 do not think there aic any members of the Hou.se who will n(jt cordially support the Governmenl m this proposal. The disoster to Iho City of San Francisco i3 one which alni;isl sluggers our belief â€" one which wr aro hardly able lo understand. Wc have bad sub.slantial proofs in the past (.f llic sympalliy of the people of Iht; Unil- ed Stales in limes nf disa.ster lo Cnii;'- dian citizens. I wish merely lo add Ihat, in the presence of an appoftling disaster juch as llii'', ond for the pui'- jiose of rendering aid on such (7Ccnsions e.? thi.s, the two nations are one." (Ap- pl.iuse.) The message was received and ic- feried lo the Committee of .Supply. BECON-STBICTION NOW THE WORD Sun FrancLsco, .\pril 23.â€" The tTcal is no h'liger a menace. Its nshes will smoulder for weeks, but as an oc- tive force it ended on .Saturday uiom- iiig. The last stroke was Ihe destruc- tion on Friday night of almost n r.iile of docks and wharfage warehuUKC.*! on the northeo.shrn waterfront. It is known that Iho loss of life wilt be heavier and that of property tionie- V hat less than in the busty esljinales <-ent out while the Ore ruged. The san- itary parlies now systemalically st^orch- ing the ruins come acro.ss scores i f bodies in unsuspected places. The chief loss of life .soetns to have been in the large boarding houses and cliotip hotels lying south of Market street. In n single section nf the city adjacent to tlie Union Iron Works 2(X) bodies have teen cremated by ttio ollkials for 60ni- tary rea.sons. r)Uriul parlies are work- ing steadily, and it .seems likely that the deuth list will be far above the !ig- ure of iJOO .set by the acting ihiol ol Ihe lire brigade, may indeed be twlco thai h.tal. The property lass is still a matter .'I till wildest guesswork, figures »'uii|.!ing from .S20O,00«,(KX) ns n niininnmi lo.$.SK),- ('(Xi.OOO us a maximum. The fpeut down-town buildings, while injured badly by lire, seem Id have stood Urn curlliquake remurkably well. The sl.eel frame .-^kj .scrapers can be repaired ami Ittled for use in a \ve«.'k or two, and hotels like the St. Francis and Fairniont aic in the same position. The utter lo.^s has bvn in the case of tlimsy brick buildings und of wooden -.tiuc lures, which were swi-[)t out of exislciicc in Ihoii.sands. 'llic plun.s for rebuit(Jng alK^ady under consideration Iool< lo guuiding against liolh eaitliquako and lire bv slecl lonslruction, and U i.s es- timated that i")0,(XK) tons of steel froines will be put into the down-town scclni) o.' Ihe now .Son Francisco. There will bi' privation, but no star- vation in the destroyed cily. Train- loads of food .supplies are arriving from north, south and ensl. and Gen. b"uii- ston and the Mayor are organizing cffec- li\ e agencies for distribution. There will will lie no lack of money for this work. Already $1 l.sfiti.Odi) hove bi'c.n rontri- luted, a sum large enough lo fe<Mt Ihe entire poDulalion « for at leusk Iwn ii.onths, while thousands of tons ol food, clothing, tenis and medical supplies aro being .sent forward. Piv.slJent Bocsis velt has inlimalv'il in very couiteous hr' iakii ast 1 Tvan N^sT^ <^f '"- ''"V- ^^-^''his ?oute th^re was^a -'V'^- ^-' '"'"'^ '"""V- !|'"l ""^/^"'l-" (iiue, west of which 1^^ i:o';Zj':t S-^^.^^^^'^l!]..'''^ '"-i- >-'-!'ay- 1 1:!;^^ Ihe rich and gram at K showed thai lute news over Ihe direct wire conflrm- , ,. . . ^,\ 11,1s, |. supplies must have reached the cily Many must have died in the fliv. At .v'^'^'eidny. "nd Ihe Unittd Slates G(,\e,-n- lenst four men were shot during Pic ""'"^ ''' "^"1^ everything to rush la .1 weÂ¥to-d( F nslo 's ele ^â- "<' '•^•f"R^->^« ^vent lo Oaklu.id, whe?e ,^"^ Francisco and will no need md oVln 1 ." Ti rTdav iiiehl "i'^'"'' was at lea.st a water supplv. But '""" "'"â- '^="'- '•• '" P'-ohable Ihal as Ih's I I ev hi^^^y fnile( ami I P *" Oakland, too, there appears lA be a """"â- '"o" ^vas mu.le on Saturday after ver iLdrectwLclfirm:^^'''-'^^^ "f p.Mvisi(ms. " While some '"' ^^^'^x^r^. â- ''''. !!""!<:"' '0".'< -â- ^^â- ''•'" (Jay for looting. The unbiiried dead. iMiiny ot them halt burned in the ruinsi nr( becoming a problem. It may be- come nece-ssary to sink^ many brdies lit many Iwlng to toward granting .$t(Xt,on(1 the Canadian ctiiiialion will be accepted. SANTA rtOSA'S DISASTl-.lV Saeriimento, Cut., .^pril 23. â€" .SaiUa in proiiorli(m lo ils size, has snf- t.ons. Gen. Funslon has told the War Dcporlment that there is imminent danger of famine. This stands lo n^a- son, for .San Francisco has never kept rtrisa, ... ,..,., In Ihe bay or ocean. Owing to tlu' fire", "'"•'"' '^''" "\''*^ '^1-^'** "'"''"' with ils I fei-rd' worse 'than .San Franciseo." Tho which caught niony stniclures before P>'>^''s">" «"PP'y. on" much of Ihat must ijct ,,t dead numhei-s about sixly, l.ut Ihe dead could be taken out of Ihcm. ' ''""" '^-'-'""' â- " "- 'â- â€¢â- " ' . . . •> the real mortality will never be known. 1! is hard lo eslimaln t'-c lc?i of mon- bflv ey. U may be said thot practicallv a'l improvements on rent estate and a gieal pari of the personol prop«erly are gone leen des rriyi'il in the lire. : ,;„,„• persons arc mi.ssing ami a sliU Onklimd IS choked with refugees, who .^e^ier nuoiber seriuuslv wounded, ore sleeping in the porks or public j-orlv .snilor< from Mare Islnnd, fullv building.s or being accommodated by equipped wilti uppiuatiis, are worKi-ig privale citize^is. wtiile volunteer aid lias been (inslinlctl., Admiral Goodrich landed all his | santa Mosu has ^ Wh«r« thr«« ehlmn«y« fell through th* reef, klllinf â-  bridal MU^U »n4 Itt h«**\ Mrvanl, intf Injuring ••vtral •♦•♦♦r MneM. ,.,.^.^J,^^^ ^ - I ,..,.,....., ...„ ,, ., , , , , „ 1 .-^iiii.t ......L ,.„,, suffered Ihe greatest riic los.s will ccrlainly be more available forces y(>,sterday and they will disaster in her history, but the indomil- ihan 8200,0(10,000. The last ns,ses.smenl J^elp out Ihe exhausted troops. fho oMp .spirit of her people has been .«howii roll gives the value of land and inqirove- I'niversily of California, which is tern- n,(-nls in San Francisco at $402,000,000. pnrarily clo.sed. has .s^nt over its ea- llie insurance held in Son Francisco '•<"' battalion. The Coniniillee nf ,S;,f. is estimated in New Yory at from ».150,- 'â- ')' has taken up the work of supplying fOf,,000 to $300,000,000. This pslimaleis '""'' â- ^'ali""-';- Mayor Schmilz has rc- Lased on the payment of premiums, pealed his proclamation, onlering cili- The housing of the homeless people who ' ««"» ""' '" build Ares in houai«, and are sleeping in the parks and the mill- erokmg is slill done In the public lory reservation is going lo be a great squares. Ch mneys are so un.safc that problem. So, indeed. Is their feeding, i house llres would certainly make trou- No supplies can conic Into the town blr. I at present. The people have been Mv- 1 The Iroops, tired and irritated, have I ins on the .•i>ipp)i«s token from grocery ' »»«fl many conllicts with looters. There nil alonng the line. Benjamin F. Esben.shade, of Lancaster, Pa., aged sixty years, a civil war vi'l- eran, has just ended a forty days' fa-st made with the design of curing slomach Iroublcs. A pint of water daily was hU that passed his lips. Frcmi 161 luiiinds his weight dropped lo 101 pounds, and he is weak as • child, but he believes himself cured.