San Francisco During the Eventful Days of April, 1906 | Page 8

and opened a window, and in a few minutes put it out. Two of the
men would accept nothing; the soldier, the next day, accepted ten
dollars. I later presented Ferguson with a gold matchbox as a reminder
of that eventful night. Had Mrs. Schwabacher's house gone, all in the
block would have gone; the fire would have crossed to the north, up
Pacific, Broadway, and Vallejo, and probably over to Fillmore, when
very little would have been left of the residence portion of the city.
Now again another danger came. Another tier of blocks, from
Leavenworth to Van Ness, between Jackson and Pacific, had taken fire.
This was about 10:15 P. M.. At 11:15 it had got to Van Ness, and
Bothin's house, which was at the corner of Van Ness and Jackson, was
fully on fire, but although it was entirely consumed, the fire did not
cross to the west side of Van Ness. The wind during all the day and
evening was steady from the northwest, - not a very strong wind, but it
helped protect the west side of Van Ness. At 12 o'clock on the
beginning of the 20th I saw smoke coming out of the chimney of the
Spreckels mansion. I went out and spoke to a fireman, and he said he
had been into the house and that it was full of smoke and on fire. At 1
o'clock the house was on fire in the upper rooms, at 1:30 it was blazing
out of the upper windows, and in a short time afterwards was wholly on
fire. The fire caught the house from the rear windows by the blaze from
the Gorovan cottages. I feel quite sure that if any one had been on
guard inside with a bucket of water the fire could have been put out.
When the Spreckels house was well on fire I knew, from its having an
iron frame, hollow tile partitions, and stone outside walls, there would
be no danger from the heat to my house. As I was quite tired, I told the
man Ferguson that I would go into my house and take a nap. He asked
me what room I would sleep in, and he promised if they were about to
dynamite my house, or any other danger threatened, he would knock on
my window to give me warning to get out. I went in and lay down on a
lounge in the library at 2 A. M. and slept until 5 A. M.. When I awoke
and looked out the flames were pouring from every window of the
Spreckels mansion. At 10 A. M. the house was thoroughly burned out.
(The general appearance of the house from a distance is the same as
formerly, the walls and roof remaining the same as before the fire.)

In the morning I went over to the California-Street engine-house, and
found it in ruins. Beams, pipes, iron columns, tie-rods, car-trucks, and a
tangled mass of iron-work; all that was not consumed of 32 cars, bricks,
mortar, ashes, and debris of every description filled the place. The
engine-room was hot, but I crawled into it through what was left of the
front stairway, which was nearly filled with loose bricks, and the stone
facings of the Hyde-Street front. It was a sad sight to me, for I had
something to do with it from its earliest existence. The form of
everything was there, but rods, cranks, beams, and pipes were bent and
burned, whether beyond hope of restoration I could not tell. No one
was there or on the street, and I came away with uncertain feelings. I
had hope, but whether the loss would be total or partial I could not say.
A further examination showed much damage - one shaft fourteen
inches in diameter was bent out of line one and one-quarter inches; one
eight inches in diameter, seven eighths of an inch; some of the large
sheaves badly twisted. A new cable coiled on a reel ready for use was
so badly burned in the portion exposed as to render the whole useless.
As strange as it may seem brass oilers and fillers on the engine-frames
were comparatively uninjured. The tank, encased in brick, contained
6,000 gallons of fuel oil, and with its contents was uninjured. The
granite blocks on which the engines and drivers rested were badly
scaled and cracked by the heat, and in some places entirely destroyed.
The portions of the cables in use that were in the engine-room were
ruined, and on the street were burned off in five different places. The
prospect of ever repairing and getting this machinery and appliances in
operation again seemed impossible. It was, however, restored, and
started up August 1, 1906.
At this time, about