The Spirit of 1906 | Page 3

and ran a Marathon which was not only a surprise to myself but

also to the officers and the crowd who yelled after me. I am sure that in
this one block my speed record for a flat run still stands unequaled.
I reached the office and there found every intimation of a hasty
departure on the part of the janitor. The front door of the building stood
wide open. I rushed in, threw open my desk and hastily gathered an
armful of what I deemed were the more important books and papers.
Glancing around to see if there was any way of saving anything else I
again received a jolt by noticing that the fire was coming down a light
shaft from an adjoining building and through an open window into the
rear office of the "California's" office. In fact, furniture was already
burning in the president's room. This was no place for me. The only
avenue of escape was the way I had come, since so rapid was the
spread of the conflagration that north, south and east were already in
flames.
Upon reaching California street I rushed and headed west, and the
instant I had passed, the entire four-story outer wall of the building
located on the southwest corner of California and Battery streets (then
known as the "Insurance Building"), fell with a roar, completely
blocking the street over which I had just made my escape. Realizing
that my safety was measured by a matter of seconds, I was for a
moment unnerved. My legs trembled, my heart pounded and my breath
came quickly, and only by a great exertion of will induced by the
thought that it was time to do and not to hesitate, I made the effort and
arrived safely at the rope from which I had started. I shook as if with
the ague. Sweat and grime poured from me, but the shout that went up
from the watching crowd and the many friendly hands that sought mine,
gave me my second wind.
I had already made up my mind that possibly the Liverpool and London
and Globe Insurance Company and Colonel C. Mason Kinne would
allow me to store within their vaults whatever salvage I had taken from
my desk. My trust in their courtesy was justified. I was made welcome
and the Colonel, in the name of the company, placed anything and
everything that it had in the shape of assistance at my disposal.
As we stood talking on the corner of California and Leidesdorff streets,
a friend still living in San Francisco who had an office in the Liverpool
and London and Globe Building suggested to me that I had better take
an option on some of that company's vacant rooms. I spoke to Colonel

Kinne, a verbal agreement to that effect was made, and I turned and
smilingly remarked, little knowing what the future had in store, that the
California Insurance Company would resume business in the Liverpool
and London and Globe Building "tomorrow morning."
I then stood and watched the firemen lower a suction pipe through a
manhole in the middle of the street and pump sewerage on to the old
Wells Fargo Building. It had about as much effect as a garden hose and
the supply was soon exhausted. The firemen stood perfectly helpless,
like soldiers without ammunition, in front of the enemy. The fire had
now about everything east of Sansome street and in the absence of
water it was only a question of one or two days at most when the entire
city would be in ashes. This was not alone my impression but the same
ghastly prospect impressed itself upon all those who were gathered in
the vicinity.
The minutes had ticked off until it was now about 8 a. m., when
another violent shock occurred - a sort of postscript to the original 5:15
trembler. It was of short duration but while it lasted it was decidedly
impressive. The crowd scattered and I with them, for we suddenly
realized that another wall might fall with a crash and that we might be
caught. This is the only reason I can assign for our agility in getting
away, unless it might be that we simply followed the first and natural
impulse of our overwrought nerves.

The Dominant Thought

As the various impressions and shocks succeeded one another, there
always came in the interim the dominant thought of the California
Insurance Company. This thought again became uppermost and I
concluded to at once get in touch with the president. I proceeded by
devious ways over bricks, past wreck and ruin, through the stunned and
gaping crowds, until I reached the St. Francis Hotel where he resided,
and finally found him in the lobby, which was