arrived at the wharf at 5:15, just fifteen
minutes before the boat left.

"The scenes we passed through were sickening and indescribable. I
fancy that scores of men, wharf rats, who had looted wholesale liquor
houses and were maudlin drunk, were burned to death without being the
wiser, because of their condition."

"I had been stopping at the Metropole in Oakland," said Frederick
Lemon of New York, "and Tuesday night went to Frisco, where I stopped
at the Terminal hotel, at the foot of Market street. The first shock
threw all the loose articles around my room and I attempted to run
unclad from the hotel. Just as I walked out the door I was struck by
some heavy beams. I was stunned and while I lay there some one from
the hotel brought me my clothing.

"At that time the streets were like bedlam. Soldiers were in control,
and while the regulars were almost perfect in their attempts to
maintain order the militia men lost their heads. They shot some men
without provocation, and never thought to cry 'halt' or 'who comes
there?'"

Henry Kohn of Chicago told of a horrible experience he had. "I had a
room on the fifth floor of the Randolph Hotel, Mason and O'Farrell
streets," he said. "The first quake threw me out of bed. By the time I
reached the second floor the building had ceased shaking, and I went
back, got my clothes, and went into the street. In the building across
the street twelve persons were killed. About 11 o'clock in the morning
we were in the public square, with about 1,500 other refugees, when a
severe shock was felt. People became panic stricken; some prayed,
women fainted, and children shrieked and cried.

"The stream of people going up Nob and Telegraph hills all Wednesday
was a pitiful sight. Many were barefooted and lightly clad. There was
nothing to eat or drink."

Sol Allenberg, a New York bookmaker, was with Kohn at the St. Francis
Hotel. "I was sick in my room when the shock struck us," he said, "and
my friend helped me out to a boarding house on the hill. There I had
to pay $7 for a room for the rest of the day.

"It was two miles from the fire and I thought I was safe enough when I
got into my bed at noon, but about two hours later they awoke me to
tell me that the fire was only two blocks away, and we got out only a
short time before the house went up in flames.

"No exaggeration of the horrible scenes on the street is possible.
There was one poor fellow pinned to earth with a great iron gir