and all in the former were
buried in the debris. We heard the stifled cries and prayers, 'For
God's sake, come this way,' 'O, lift this off my back,' 'My God, I'm
dying,' and others, nerving us to greater efforts.

"Finally we got to some of them. Bruised, bleeding, blinded by smoke
and dust, terrified past reason, the poor fellows who fell in the
street fell from utter exhaustion. Those that were penned away below
we could not reach, and their seeming far-off cries for mercy and life
will ring in my ears till death."

Henry Herz, a New York traveling man, after a terrible experience,
made his escape and constituted himself a traveling relief committee.
At Sacramento he organized a shipment of eggs. At Reno he set the
housewives to baking bread, and in Salt Lake City he had raised a
potato fund of $400. Mr. Herz crossed the bay in a launch. The boatman
asked him how much money he had, and when he replied, with a mental
reservation, $46.60, the boatman charged him $46.60 and collected the
money in advance.

Worn by the exposure, hardships, and terrors of a two days' effort to
escape from the stricken city, Mrs. D. M. Johnson of Utica, N. Y., and
Miss Martha Stibbals of Erie, Pa., passed through Denver.

"The first that we knew of the earthquake was when we were awakened in
our room at the Randolph Hotel by a terrific shaking which broke loose
fragments of the ceiling," said Miss Stibbals. "There followed a
tremendous shock which shook the building sideways and tossed it about
with something like a spiral motion. When we reached the street people
were running hither and thither.

"Fire was breaking out in hundreds of places over the city and the
streets were becoming crowded with hurrying refugees. Where they were
unable to procure horses, men and women had harnessed themselves to
carriages and were drawing their belongings to places of safety. As we
passed through the residence district where wealthy people lived we
saw automobiles drawn up and loaded down before houses. Their owners
remained until the flames came too near, and then, getting into the
machines, made for the hills.

"We saw one man pay $2,000 for an automobile in which to take his
family to a place of safety."

"I climbed over bodies, picked my way around flaming debris, and went
over almost insurmountable obstacles to get out of San Francisco,"
said C. C. Kendall, a retired Omaha capitalist, upon his arrival home.

"I arrived in San Francisco t