s down Market Street to the Postal building. About
forty operators are employed to handle the business, but evidently there
was only about one on duty when the earthquake began.

What became of him nobody knows. But he seems to have sent the first
word of the disaster. It came over the Postal wires about nine o'clock,
just when the day's business had started in the East. It will long be
preserved in the records of the company. This was the dispatch:

"There was an earthquake hit us at 5.13 this morning, wrecking several
buildings and wrecking our offices. They are carting dead from the
fallen buildings. Fire all over town. There is no water and we lost our
power. I'm going to get out of office, as we have had a little shake
every few minutes, and it's me for the simple life."

"R., San Francisco, 5.50 A. M."

"Mr. R." evidently got out, for there was nothing doing for a brief
interval after that. The operator in the East pounded and pounded at his
key, but San Francisco was silent. The Postal people were wondering if
it was all the dream of some crazy operator or a calamity, when the wire
woke up again. It was the superintendent of the San Francisco force this
time.

"We're on the job, and are going to try and stick," was the way the
first message came from him.

This was what came over the wire a little later:

"Terrific earthquake occurred here at 5.13 this morning. A number of
people were killed in the city. None of the Postal people were killed.
They are now carting the dead from the fallen buildings. There are many
fires, with no one to fight them. Postal building roof wrecked, but not
entire building."

The fire got nearer and nearer to the Postal building. All of the water
mains had been destroyed around the building, the operators said, and
there was no hope if the fire came on. They also said that they could
hear the sound of dynamite blowing up buildings. All this time the
operators were sticking to their posts and sending and receiving all the
business the wires could stand. At 12.45 the wire began to click again
with a message for the little group of waiting officials.

This message came in jerks: "Fire still coming up Market Street. It's
one block from the Post Office now; back of the Palace Hotel is a
furnace. I am afraid that the Grand Hotel and the Palace Hotel will get
it soon. The Southern Pacific offices on California Street are safe,
so far, but can't tell what will happen. California Stree