child, but were unable to get near the point from which
the cry issued. Soon the onrushing fire ended the cry and the men turned
to other tasks."

ESTIMATES OF THE DEATH LIST.

The questionable point in those statements is that the numbers of dead
spoken of in these few instances exceed the whole number given in the
official records issued two weeks after the disaster. Yet they go to
illustrate the actual horrors of the case, and are of importance for
this reason. As regards the whole number killed, in fact, there is not,
and probably never will be, a full and accurate statement. While about
350 bodies had been recovered at the end of the second week, it was
impossible to estimate how many lay buried under the ruins, to be
discovered only as the work of excavation went on, and how many more
had been utterly consumed by the flames, leaving no trace of their
existence. The estimates of the probable loss of life ran up to 1,500
and more, while the injured were very numerous.

The shock of the earthquake, the pulse of deep horror to which it gave
rise, the first wild impulse to flee for life, gave way in the minds of
many to a feeling of intense sympathy as agonized cries came from those
pinned down to the ruins of buildings or felled by falling bricks or
stones, and as the sight of dead bodies incrimsoned with blood met the
eyes of the survivors in the streets. From wandering aimlessly about,
many of these went earnestly to work to rescue the wounded and recover
the bodies of the slain. In this merciful work the police and the
soldiers lent their aid, and soon there was a large corps of rescuers
actively engaged.

BURYING THE DEAD.

Soon numbers were taken, alive or dead, from the ruins, passing vehicles
were pressed into the service, and the labor of mercy went on rapidly,
several buildings being quickly converted into temporary hospitals,
while the dead were conveyed to the Mechanics' Pavilion and other
available places. Portsmouth Square became for a time a public morgue.
Between twenty and thirty corpses were laid side by side upon the
trodden grass in the absence of more suitable accommodations. It is said
that when the flames threatened to reach the square, the dead, mostly
unknown, were removed to Columbia Square, where they were buried when
danger threatened that quarter. Others were taken to the Presidio, and
here the soldiers pressed into service all men who came near and forced
them to labor at bur