USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > San Francisco, a history of the Pacific coast metropolis, Volume II > Part 56
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Martial Law Not In Force
In a decision rendered in a case growing out of the lamentable killing of Her- bert Tilden, a member of the Committee of Fifty, who had taken up the work of relief with great zeal, Judge Cook clearly indicated the existing condition so far
posted :11. by P. J. Water & Co.
THE RECONSTRUCTED CITY IN 1911. FIVE YEARS AFTER THE FIRE
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859
SAN FRANCISCO
as the operation of the law was concerned. Tilden, in the first hours of the calam- ity had devoted himself to the general welfare. In order to diminish his concern for his family he took advantage of a brief respite to remove his wife and children to San Mateo county. He returned to the City in an automobile which carried the flag of the Red Cross Relief Society. A citizen patrol hailed him as his machine rushed by 24th and Guerrero streets, and he shouted back "Red Cross." At 22d street he was again hailed but sped on, and one of the party hailing him discharged a revolver, the shot taking effect and mortally wounding Tilden, who died almost instantly. It appears that the citizen police and the regulars had been ordered to prevent any one entering the City, and the order was obeyed in this instance with fatal effect. At the trial of the man accused of killing Tilden one of the citizen police testified that he was under the impression that martial law had been de- clared. On this point Judge Cook in admonishing the jury said: "I charge you as a matter of law that at the time in question martial law did not prevail. The state law was supreme and mere proclamations could not make laws. No soldier or police had any right to stop citizens without legal cause, and ignorance of the law is no excuse." But he further charged that "the penal code expressly excepts from among persons capable of committing crime, those who commit an act or omission under a mistake of fact that disproves criminal intent." The jury after a mo- ment's deliberation acquitted the accused man.
There were two or three other cases in which the belief in the existence of mar- tial law was pleaded in justification of acts of violence. Two of these were the outcome of quarrels about the exercise of authority, and were not particularly sig- nificant or interesting. But the charge brought against Ernest Denicke who shot and killed an unknown man whose body was thrown into the bay developed facts illustrative of the conditions prevailing on the first day of the disaster. Denicke was a graduate of the state university and a retired captain of the National Guard. Recognizing the importance of the preservation of order the young man immediately after the shock donned his uniform with the view of assembling some of his com- rades. While pursuing this purpose he saw a man carrying off some chickens. Supposing that the man was stealing them he ordered him to put them down, which he did. On the trial it was testified that Denicke directed a sailor to prod up the supposed thief with his bayonet, but the man grappled with him and wrenched the rifle from his hands, whereupon Denicke fired several shots, killing the unknown. The body was subsequently recovered from the bay and Denicke was tried and ac- quitted by a jury. One of the singular developments of the case was the disclosure of the fact that the chickens had been given away. The owner of a consignment imagining that they would be lost had opened the coops and told the bystanders to help themselves.
These isolated cases formed the exception to the general acceptance of the conditions so suddenly created. It may seem remarkable that such should have been the case but it is nevertheless true that during the period when the City may be said to have been without law, and while it was acting under proclamations which the courts subsequently declared had no legal force, the disposition to evade was reduced to a minimum. There seemed to be an instinctive appreciation of the fact that common sense was dictating many of the requirements which at another time would have been denounced as arbitrary and unreasonable. Thus it happened that orders issued from military headquarters and by the citizens' committee which Vol. II-25
A Summary Execution
Good Sense Displayed by the People
860
SAN FRANCISCO
often reached the people in the form of mere rumors were promptly obeyed. Some singular illustrations of this disposition were furnished on the second day of the fire. Nearly all the householders in certain districts who had not deserted their homes, were told that an order had been given to open windows, so that the glass would not be destroyed by the concussions of the dynamite exploded to arrest the progress of the flames. They acted with a promptitude that could not have been secured under other circumstances. In like manner the order when passed that no fires should be lighted in stoves until chimneys had been inspected was scrupu- lously heeded even by housekeepers who did their cooking with gas. The necessity of conserving the water supply was appreciated and hardly needed the repeated ad- jurations of the sub-committee in charge of the sanitary part of the work of rehabili- tation. The enforced disuse of the conveniences of the toilet was acquiesced in, and an astonishing acquaintance was suddenly developed with the properties of disinfectants which were profusely used before they were publicly dispensed. Many druggists sold every ounce of material that could serve the purpose, and the opinion was expressed that the intelligent application of precautionary measures explained the immunity from disease enjoyed by the people suddenly liable to numerous dangers from exposure and the sudden deprivation of conveniences to which the inhabitants of a city with modern improvements became habituated.
One of the features of the first few days after the fire was the compulsory outdoor life imposed on a large part of the community. Golden Gate park and numerous squares were filled with refugees who were provided as rapidly as possible with tents and other sheltering devices. In a very short time these little commu- nities within a community were effectively organized for sanitary and other pur- poses. The large quantities of supplies of food, bedding and household articles which were poured into the afflicted City soon relieved all apprehension of famine or excessive discomfort, and it was not long before the fear arose that mischief might result from the creation of habits of dependence. But this apprehension was groundless, the very fact that it suggested itself giving ample assurance that pre- cautions would be taken to prevent its occurring. While the articles contributed so generously were dispensed in the spirit that the donors meant they should be the relief committee, whose duties were by far the most arduous of those voluntarily assumed by members of the Committee of Fifty, exercised care to guard against abuse.
The outdoor life imposed on those rendered homeless by the fire was to some extent shared by those whose homes had been saved from the flames. The order respecting the disuse of chimneys compelled the transferrence of cooking oper- ations to the street, usually the edge of the sidewalk. Here temporary fireplaces were built, and not infrequently attempts were made to provide shelter for the cooks. Fortunately the elements were propitious, only one rain storm of conse- quence occurring to add to the discomfort. This al fresco life endured for only a brief period, and was patiently borne by those on whom it was imposed, and caused less protest than the rigid enforcement of the rule respecting the use of lights within houses. In some cases, owing to the lack of discretion accorded to sentries, real hardships resulted, the plea of sickness often proving unavailing. It is surprising that there should have been any feeling of discontent engendered by these minor discomforts in view of the extraordinary peril through which the people had passed, but it was a healthy sign, and to the observant indicated that there was no
Outdoor Kitchens After the Fire
Work of the Relief Committee
860
SAN FRANCISCO
often reached the people in the form of mere rumors were promptly obeyed. Some singular illustrations of this disposition were furnished on the second day of the fire. Nearly all the householders in certain districts who had not deserted their homes, were told that an order had been given to open windows, so that the glass would not be destroyed by the concussions of the dynamite exploded to arrest the progress of the flames. They acted with a promptitude that could not have been secured under other circumstances. In like manner the order when passed that no fires should be lighted in stoves until chimneys had been inspected was scrupu- lously heeded even by housekeepers who did their cooking with gas. The necessity of conserving the water supply was appreciated and hardly needed the repeated ad- jurations of the sub-committee in charge of the sanitary part of the work of rehabili- tation. The enforced disuse of the conveniences of the toilet was acquiesced in, and an astonishing acquaintance was suddenly developed with the properties of disinfectants which were profusely used before they were publicly dispensed. Many druggists sold every ounce of material that could serve the purpose, and the opinion was expressed that the intelligent application of precautionary measures explained the immunity from disease enjoyed by the people suddenly liable to numerous dangers from exposure and the sudden deprivation of conveniences to which the inhabitants of a city with modern improvements became habituated.
One of the features of the first few days after the fire was the compulsory outdoor life imposed on a large part of the community. Golden Gate park and numerous squares were filled with refugees who were provided as rapidly as possible with tents and other sheltering devices. In a very short time these little commu- nities within a community were effectively organized for sanitary and other pur- poses. The large quantities of supplies of food, bedding and household articles which were poured into the afflicted City soon relieved all apprehension of famine or excessive discomfort, and it was not long before the fear arose that mischief might result from the creation of habits of dependence. But this apprehension was groundless, the very fact that it suggested itself giving ample assurance that pre- cautions would be taken to prevent its occurring. While the articles contributed so generously were dispensed in the spirit that the donors meant they should be the relief committee, whose duties were by far the most arduous of those voluntarily assumed by members of the Committee of Fifty, exercised care to guard against abuse.
The outdoor life imposed on those rendered homeless by the fire was to some extent shared by those whose homes had been saved from the flames. The order respecting the disuse of chimneys compelled the transferrence of cooking oper- ations to the street, usually the edge of the sidewalk. Here temporary fireplaces were built, and not infrequently attempts were made to provide shelter for the cooks. Fortunately the elements were propitious, only one rain storm of conse- quence occurring to add to the discomfort. This al fresco life endured for only a brief period, and was patiently borne by those on whom it was imposed, and caused less protest than the rigid enforcement of the rule respecting the use of lights within houses. In some cases, owing to the lack of discretion accorded to sentries, real hardships resulted, the plea of sickness often proving unavailing. It is surprising that there should have been any feeling of discontent engendered by these minor discomforts in view of the extraordinary peril through which the people had passed, but it was a healthy sign, and to the observant indicated that there was no
Outdoor Kitchens After the Fire
Work of the Relief Committee
ROSS
ESCALLE
LARKSPUR
SAV
RICHMOND
VALL VALLEY
CORTE
.MADERO
STEGE
ALTO
ALBANY
IBURON
BELVEDERE
OF CALIFORNIA
ANGEL
ISLAND
CLAREMONT
SAUSALITO
ALCATRAZ ISLAND
GOAT
OAK
PIEDMONT PARK
ERRY
WESTERN P
Para
SAN FRANCISCO
UNION IRON WOR KS
ISLAIS CREEK
HUNTERS POINT DRY DOCKS
MELROSE
L. MERC
ACEDI
DALY CITYA
SAN LEANDRO
COLMA
EDGEMAR
BRIGHTON
VALLEMAL
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO
SAN EL LORENZO
ROCKWAY
INLAND HARBOR
HAYWARDS
TOBIN)
SAN
BRUNO
MILLBRAE
(ALVARADO
FARALLONE
HALVERN
HILLSBOROUGH
INLAND HARBOR
BURLINGAME
MITWESTERN
DECOTO
MOSSBEACH
SAN MATEO
Act
C
GRANADA
BELMONT
CENTERVILLE
SHORE
2\HALFMOON BAY
NEWARK
DUMBARTON
S . P. R.
REDWOOD CITY
FAIR OAKS
MENLO PARK
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
U PACIFIC
NILES
R.
CRYSTAL SPRINGS LAKE
ITO
FRANCISCO BAY
LAKE SAN ANDREAS
DOCKS
APOINT SAN MATEO
KERN
OCEAN
SAN
ALAMEDA
FRUITVALE
ELMHURST
S. P. R.R.
LAND
PIEDMONT
BERKELEY
QUENTIN
OCEAN
MAP OF METROPOLITAN AREA OF SAN FRANCISCO AS INDICATED BY UNITED STATES CENSUS BUREAU, 1910
861
SAN FRANCISCO
paralysis of endeavor, and that the most of those who showed restlessness were under the influence of the desire to get the City back to its normal condition at once. Had this uneasy spirit not manifested itself there must have been a different story to tell, perhaps one similar to that of unfortunate Messina which two or three years after its disaster had hardly made an effort to clear away its ruins.
That San Franciscans failed to furnish an example of acquiescence in results was wholly due to the proprietary feeling. Had not self interest prompted the owners of property to devote themselves to the work of repairing their dissipated fortunes, the City must have experienced the fate which many other centers of popu- lation underwent. It is not probable that any calamity could utterly discourage the use of a harbor as favorably situated as that of San Francisco for the purposes of commerce, but there is no doubt that adversity, if accepted in the spirit of resig- nation, can effectually retard growth and postpone achievement for years. But this disposition did not exist in San Francisco. While the sub-committee assigned to the work of relief in conjunction with the Red Cross Society devoted itself to satisfying the pressing needs of the moment, an equally important body was sur- veying the situation, and taking steps to bring about the restoration of the City. The committee to whom this task was entrusted were men of affairs and went about their work in a business-like manner. They took an account of stock, roughly estimated the loss incurred and considered their resources and instinctively acted on the economic proposition that wealth is the product of energy, and that the form it must take in a commercial community is trade and they at once devoted themselves to its restoration.
As already stated the fire was practically arrested at Van Ness avenue, leaving the major part of the residential district west of that thoroughfare undisturbed. There was also a large unburned area in the Mission district. In the latter a con- siderable neighborhood trade had been transacted before the conflagration, and the principal street was provided with shops of a varied character. These at once began to extend their operations, and for a time it appeared as if the Mission might become the most important retail district in the rehabilitated City. The Western Addition had two streets, Fillmore and Divisadero, upon which commerce in a small way had been developed, and which at some future day promised to be- come important crosstown thoroughfares, but at the time of the fire they were vegetating. Both of these streets were traversed by trolley lines of the United Railroads which were speedily put in operation after the disaster. The circum- stance that the Committee of Fifty in its last flight from the encroaching flames took refuge in a hall on Fillmore street, determined the course of business and brought that street a prominence which it has, in a measure, since maintained. The fire broke out on Wednesday morning and raged throughout that and the two succeeding days. On Saturday men whose establishments in the old business cen- ter had been destroyed were already seeking quarters on Fillmore street. There is a record of at least one acquisition of a lease on that day by a concern whose manager recognized that for a time the crosstown thoroughfare would be a business street of importance.
This action was followed during the ensuing week by other former downtown merchants, and in an incredibly brief space of time the work of transforming the cramped stores into larger establishments was under full headway. In some in- stances the change merely consisted in a readaptation, but in a few cases one story
Efforts to Resume Trading
New Basi- ness Centers Created
Plate Glass Effects 3 Transforma- tion
862
SAN FRANCISCO
structures were hastily run up, which a little later were followed by more preten- tious structures. Some one has been at pains to assign names to the various periods in the evolution of civilization. We have had a stone, a bronze, and an iron age, but no one has seen fit as yet to comment on the wonderful part played by glass in modern times. Its use has developed so slowly that the uncritical person is apt to underrate its importance in modern domestic economy. The least observant San Franciscan, however, could not have failed to note the transformation effected by the resort to plate glass on Fillmore street. Its stores had formerly been pro- vided with show windows with moderate sized panes of glass; the new occupants put in ambitious plates as large as those of the stores from which they had been driven, and behind them made effective displays of their wares which gave the street a business like aspect, it had not previously possessed.
The rapid development of Fillmore street appeared to some to have definitely settled the location of the new business center, but there was a well defined opinion, which soon found expression, that Nature had marked out the burned district as the proper place for the conduct of important commercial operations. It was pointed out that it was to its harbor San Francisco owed its growth, and that the same causes which had induced men to show their appreciation of propinquity to the water front in the past would again assert themselves. The bay was still in its old place, and the wharves and their facilities for handling commerce, had es- caped destruction; and opposite the City, on the transbay shores, were several hundred thousand people who were as much a part of the metropolis as though they were included in the political subdivision known as the City and County of San Francisco. The centripetal tendencies of business, and the centrifugal movement of population, responding to improved transportation facilities were clearly dis- tinguished by the discerning, and by those whose fortunes were bound up with those of the burned section, and who still owned the land even if the buildings upon them which gave them their rental value were destroyed. It is doubtful whether plans were made to bring about the result which has to be noted after six years rehabilitating work. It would probably be nearer the truth to say that the economic phases of the redistribution of business and population were worked out uncon- sciously, and in response to an inexorable law. It is certain that the movement which made Fillmore street for a time the center of activity was due to opportunism, and not to the belief that it was the best place for carrying on business. An extra- ordinary occurrence had suddenly made a hitherto neglected thoroughfare avail- able for the purposes of commerce. The bustle and activity which followed the establishment of new stores brought the purveyors of conveniences and amuse- ments to the front, and very soon there was created a district in which all the features of downtown day and night life were reproduced. Theaters were built on the lateral streets, and the blocks on either side of Fillmore between Post and Golden Gate avenue were filled with more or less pretentious restaurants, while for a time the leading after theater resort was on the corner of Eddy and Fillmore. The Orpheum management and the Alcazar people promptly erected houses more nearly absolutely fireproof than any hitherto constructed in San Francisco and numerous minor places of amusement were provided.
New Shopping District Created
The substantial character of these improvements may suggest that the com- munity had settled down to the conviction that the new center was fixed, but this is disputed by the fact that the people of the Mission were imbued with the idea,
Rapid Growth of Business OD Fillmore Street
TA 4
SHERMAN.
DOCKS SOUTH OF THE FERRY BUILDING
863
SAN FRANCISCO
and were energetically endeavoring to give it effect, that their section of the City was to be the future great retail shopping district. They, too, or rather individuals taking that point of view, began branching out. An epidemic of plate glass trans- formations ensued and the stores assumed an air formerly absent. A substantial theater was built on Valencia street, restaurants multiplied, and the appearance and character of the district was vastly changed. Meanwhile, however, another move- ment was in progress which suggested the desire on the part of merchants to es- tablish themselves as near as possible to the former retail center, but which was really as much prompted by mere expediency as the temporary acceptance of Fill- more street. Recognizing the desirability of procuring locations which would bring together some of the leading firms that had failed to establish themselves on Fillmore street a meeting was held which had for its outcome the determination to make Van Ness avenne the fashionable shopping center. This was not accomplished with the same celerity as the transformation of Fillmore street. The eastern side of the avenue had been swept by the flames but the western had escaped, only one or two houses being destroyed in the northern part on that side. The surviving struc- tures were not well adapted to conversion into stores, and many of them were removed to make way for more suitable buildings which were hurriedly erected and were wholly constructed of wood. In some cases fronts were added to buildings which had formerly stood back of green lawns. A few spacious residences were utilized in this fashion. In a brief period, both sides of the avenue, from Wash- ington on the north to McAllister on the south, were lined with stores, many of them with a pretentious array of display windows. These stores were occupied by firms whose names were well known to the community, and were well stocked with goods of as varied and costly a nature as were offered to their patrons before the con- flagration. It hardly needs to be added that Van Ness avenue promptly took rank as the leading thoroughfare and became the fashionable promenade.
There were peculiarities, however, which impressed themselves upon the observ- ant as indicative of the makeshift character of the new business thoroughfare. A glance up and down the avenue which did not take into account the show windows suggested the main street of a seaside resort rather than the principal retail street of a big city. Strangers familiar with Atlantic City promptly noted the fact that the modern buildings and the liberal display of bunting reminded one of the board walk of the New Jersey watering place. There was an air of unsubstantiality which made it easy for the visitor to accept the statement that like the prophet's gourd it had sprung up in a night. But although its ephemeral character adver- tised itself there were some who, misled by the remarkable business activity which the liberal expenditure for reconstruction brought about thought that Van Ness avenue could, by the decision of the more prominent merchants, be fixed as the important retail thoroughfare of the City, and proposals were actually made which had for their object the accomplishment of that purpose. But there were some who saw that economic laws could not be defied with impunity, and they pointed out that while those agreeing to remain permanently on Van Ness avenue might adhere to a resolution of that sort, there was nothing to prevent the occupation of the old positions of vantage by others who believed that the section which developed naturally before the conflagration was the logical business center and that it could not be departed from with safety.
Van Ness Avenue Devoted to Shops
864
SAN FRANCISCO
The financial and cognate interests moved with less celerity in the matter of relocating themselves. For several months after the disaster banks, insurance com- panies, agencies, corporation offices and similar institutions were widely scattered, many of them securing quarters in commodious residences which had escaped the fire. In many instances the parlors or drawing rooms of the homes of men con- nected with important concerns were converted into offices. Lawyers saw their clients in rooms in which the surroundings were more suggestive of domestic life than of business. The more important social clubs maintained their organizations and moved into private residences and occupied them until they were able to erect new buildings in which to house their membership. The necessity of providing quarters for the suddenly ousted resulted in an increase in the rents charged for desirable places, and many owners of fine private residences, tempted by the offers made to them, abandoned their homes and found their way to the transbay region or to the suburban places on the peninsula.
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