led. A woman threw her arms
around my neck. I pushed her away and fled. All around me buildings were
rocking and flames shooting. As I ran people on all sides were crying,
praying and calling for help. I thought the end of the world had come.

"I met a Catholic priest, and he said: 'We must get to the ferry.' He
knew the way, and we rushed down Market Street. Men, women and children
were crawling from the debris. Hundreds were rushing down the street,
and every minute people were felled by falling debris.

"At places the streets had cracked and opened. Chasms extended in all
directions. I saw a drove of cattle, wild with fright, rushing up Market
Street. I crouched beside a swaying building. As they came nearer they
disappeared, seeming to drop into the earth. When the last had gone I
went nearer and found they had indeed been precipitated into the earth,
a wide fissure having swallowed them. I worked my way around them and
ran out to the ferry. I was crazy with fear and the horrible sights.

"How I reached the ferry I cannot say. It was bedlam, pandemonium and
hell rolled into one. There must have been 10,000 people trying to get
on that boat. Men and women fought like wild cats to push their way
aboard. Clothes were torn from the backs of men and women and children
indiscriminately. Women fainted, and there was no water at hand with
which to revive them. Men lost their reason at those awful moments. One
big, strong man, beat his head against one of the iron pillars on the
dock, and cried out in a loud voice: 'This fire must be put out! The
city must be saved!' It was awful."

TERRIBLE SCENE AT THE FERRY.

"When the gates were opened the mad rush began. All were swept aboard in
an irresistible tide. We were jammed on the deck like sardines in a
box. No one cared. At last the boat pulled out. Men and women were still
jumping for it, only to fall into the water and probably drown."

The members of the Metropolitan Opera Company, of New York, were in San
Francisco at this time, and nearly all of these famous singers, known
all over the world, suffered from the great disaster.

All of the splendid scenery, stage fittings, costumes and musical
instruments were lost in the fire, which destroyed the Grand Opera
House, where the season had just opened to splendid audiences.

Many of the operatic stars have given very interesting accounts of their
experiences. Signor Caruso, the famous tenor and one of the principals