T

HE great fire that devastated San Francisco, Tuesday, April 18, 1906, was started by an earthquake at 5:10 a. m. Almost immediately sixteen fire alarms from as many separate localities were turned in to the central station. These fires were chiefly caused by the upsetting of lamps and gasoline stoves, the rupturing of house chimneys, the scattering of chemicals and upsetting of furnaces. Electricity cut practically no figure.

Unfortunately for the city, Chief Engineer Sullivan of the Fire Department was ill in bed at the time, and was killed by bricks that fell upon him from a toppling chimney. He was generally regarded as an unusually capable expert in handling big fires, and undoubtedly would have saved a large part of the burned section had he lived. He was thoroughly familiar with every angle of the fire department and had made a close and careful study of plans to save the city in case of a great conflagration.

The fire department responded to the sixteen alarms with alacrity, only to discover that their chief was dead and that the water mains in many districts of the city had been wrecked out of service. In private buildings the incipient fires were quickly extinguished -but in the wholesale and factory centers the flames, fed by chemicals and light materials, made racing headway and quickly grew to alarming proportions, and no facilities at hand to check them. Within three hours there were nine big independent fires raging in the heart of the wholesale district and in the Mission store and residence section. There was little wind at first, but the heat increased rapidly to a degree where it ignited buildings across the street by spontaneous combustion. Currents of scorching air swept the flames in all directions, served by the rising winds. Within twenty-four hours the fire had consumed nearly a square mile of the city on the south side of Market street. In the after

noon it swept across that main thorcughfare, oughfare, dividing San Francisco north and south, near the location of Newspaper Row and the Palace Hotel. Once across that broad line it began wiping out the structures of the northern section of the city. A wall of flame swept through Chinatown and over the nearby Latin quarter, and later joined the roaring column of fire spreading along the water front. The wharves and harbor buildings were saved by the great torrents of salt water pumped from the bay by scores of tugs and bay steamers. On the third day the flames raged westward, and leveled the wooden residences to ashes on the western hill slopes.

Three hours after the big fire started attempts were made to check its advance by dynamiting buildings. The men fought bravely, but were unskilled and succeeded only in scattering the flames. Late on Thursday a dynamite expert was put in charge, but by that time the fire was apparently master of everything in sight. Later at Van Ness avenue, one of the broadest thoroughfares in the city, a well organized stand was made by the dynamiters, and the western residence section of the city was saved.

The area burned covered 4.05 sq. miles, or 2,593 acres, and included 490 city blocks burned and 32 blocks partially burned. Heaps of bricks, stones, twisted iron and cinders covered the burned area, a chaotic mess. The U. S. Mint and a few other stone buildings survived the terrific heat Great skyscrapers were reduced to twisted scrap iron gripping portions of ma

sonry.

United States Government agents classed the conflagration as the greatest fire in history, and estimated the loss in values at $500,000,000, less one-quarter insured. The loss of human lives was placed at 800. The local authorities gave a lesser figure. This fire was the seventh of the great fires that have become historical in the life of the city.

I

T WAS all over. My mother, with her six children, the oldest twelve, the youngest scarcely three, followed the pall bearers through the church door. My brothers and sisters were placed in the carriage with their mother. I, a boy of ten, was placed in the carriage with Mrs. John Sime. Her husband, on horseback, was superintending the funeral procession, and joined us later on Bush street.

Mrs. Sime, ever a second mother to me, placed me by her side, on the back seat, to her left. How considerate, How considerate, consoling, kind, was she to me, on this the saddest event of our family life.

We moved north on Stockton street, from the Unitarian Church, thence down Washington to Montgomery street, thence along Montgomery street south through a dense multitude crowding the sidewalks. Suddenly, as we approached Sacramento street Mrs. Sime, grasping my hands with one of her own, reached across and with her other hand quickly lowered the carriage blind looking down Sacramento street. It is possible that I looked into her face with childish wonder. But everything she did was right, correct, thoughtful, and therefore submitted to in silence.

When we arrived at home, after the funeral, I learned the reason of this action. Those looking down Sacramento street could see the murderer of my father, and also another murderer, Casey and Cora, hanging by their necks in front of the rooms of the Vigilance Committee.

The law had died. Crime, in all its revolting phases, absolute crime, unpunished, remorseless, vindictive crime caused the people of San Francisco to

rise in their might, and on two separate occasions to take the law into their own hands.

The first occasion was on June 9, 1851, and their organization is known as the Committee of Vigilance of 1851.

The second occasion was on May 14, 1856, and that organization is known as the Committee of Vigilance of 1856.

At the close of the war with Mexico in 1848, California being properly ceded to the United States, immigration immediately commenced. The discovery of gold in California in January, 1848, caused a much greater immigration, and from all parts of the world. Among others, convicts recently released from jail, and companions equally as vile, flocked to our shores. At that time, England was sending her malefactors to Australia who as rapidly as they could sailed for San Francisco. This particular branch of lawbreakers was known as "Sydney Ducks."

The population of the new city of San Francisco grew rapidly, and as each inhabitant was busy making money, little attention was paid to the making of laws, and still less to their execution.

Criminals and lawbreakers ascertained this fact, and became correspondingly bold. Theft, brutality, murder went unpunished. Evil men banded together, committed all three of the above crimes, and remained unpunished. Each citizen felt it necessary to carry a revolver, and it was dangerous to be out at night in certain localities. Those accused of crime were tried before unprincipled juries, and were soon at liberty, com