Oberlin Academy - Etean Yearbook (Oberlin, OH)

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one to the tree and to one of the columns for a roof, and the other he put up to the West to protect us from the dense cold fog that night was sure to bring. Mother was pretty nervous and tired, so Harry and I made her lie down to rest while we went to help the other people who were in trouble. Later we joined the bread line and received our scanty share of supplies for the following day. Scarcely anyone tried to sleep that awful night, filled with the roar of the huge fire and intermittent boom, boom as the soldiers blew up building after building to make a clear space at which the great sea of flame must come to an end. Sobs, groans, and half delirious cries were on all sides of us, and the loss of our home seemed very trivial in comparison to the loss of friends and relations of those all about us. Three days and nights we stayed in the cemetery, and then were taken on a govern- ment boat to Berkeley, where we could rest a while before going East to Father. Across the bay the once gay and beautiful San Francisco was still smoldering in ruins, and boat- loads of wounded and dead were constantly leaving the Ferry Building for Berkeley, Ala- meda and Oakland. The only good that came of this great conflagration was the complete wiping out of Chinatown, which has never been able to build up its former awful existence of filth and crime. . It was many weeks after the fire before any of us could sleep straight through a night without waking with a start, our hearts beating double time, thinking we had heard screams, or falling buildings, or cries of f1re! and the smell of smoke. One H-und: I l 7 t glt

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we-le rapldly approachmg the lesldence sectlons The filst b1g Jerk had broken the watel ma1n and when the fire had started 111 one of the b1g bu11d1ngs near Th1rd and Market Streets there was no means of stoppmg 1t The streets were jammed Wlth fam1l1es all headlng south toward Golden Gate Park whele there are acres and acres of land w1th no bulldlngs to fall O1 burn In a short tlme the soldlers from the P1es1d1o were on hand and were stat1oned about the stleets to dlrect the pamc StI'1Ck91'1 people Every glance took ln a tlagedy Here was a farnlly huddled outslde the I'Lll11S of thelr home whlle the father or brothels struggled w1th the soldlels to let them go back to look for the 1T11SS11'1g slster here a. woman kneelmg ln the street trylng to reV1Ve a hus band who had been stluck by falhng masonry Across the stleet a man who had been llllllllllg stopped, seelng some valuable 11ngs on a dead woman s hand and cut off two of them w1th the r1ngs stlckmg the1n 111 h1s pocket as he stalted off agam on the run But he only got a few yalds fallmg 1n h1S tlacks shot down by a soldler who saw the pel formance The sold1ers word was law and any person mtelferlng w1th orders was shot down on the spot The st1eets wele full of debr1s and We had to chmb ove1 p1les of bl 1cks fallen tlees dead bOd1GS of people and ammals and great twlsted PIECES of 1ron or steel g1rd1ng Reachmg the park at last we were d11ven on by the QOlCl1GI'S to the cemetery about half a 1n1le fu1the1 as the park was already over clowded and gettmg more jammed every mlnute We found an unoccupled spot undel a fir tl ee and between two tall malble columns r1gged up a sheltel w1th two comfolters g1ven us by the people next us Halry fastened 1 . . N . .- 4 . . A- c , . , c L ' c , ' ' ' c c ' . c ' c , c R . . . . ' . c c I . A . . N 7 , ' 2 f 7 ID . 1 c . . , A . . W. , , X c c , ' - , f. A c ' c . a ' ' ' 4 ' 4- . C Q 7 . . , . A . . c . c , A N - 0 . 1 ' 'I' 4 , 1 1 U c c c A ' '- c c A ' L , . 'I fi m 1 - . 1 C ' I A 1 C ' 'I 7 . 1 - 'I 11 . ' 'I ' ' . O H i 1' d Twenty- e' V

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