So they started on
their way to New York from Chicago in doubt as to whether they should
continue or turn back. On arrival in New York on the 20th there was much
excitement. Newspapers issued extras every hour, filled with fearful
stories and of the progress of the fire. The limits of the burned
districts were reported with great accuracy, but the stories were
alarmingly exaggerated, and in many instances absurd. One telegram read
that the dead were so numerous that it was impossible to give burial,
and the Government at Washington was asked to furnish a ship that they
might be carried out far into the ocean and thrown into the sea. Some
were fortunate enough to get a telegram, which was eagerly read and
discussed. The number of people killed was reported to be from one to
thirty thousand.
I finally received a telegram from them asking whether I would advise
them to return, which I answered at once to come by all means. So they
started back, arriving here on the 4th of May.
My sister was in Dresden, Germany, and was like others in an excited
condition, until she could hear by mail from San Francisco. She says the
first knowledge of the disaster reaching her was from a small evening
newspaper printed in English, which in a very brief item said that "San
Francisco was destroyed by an earthquake this morning [April 18th]."
This was all the information which she could obtain that afternoon and
evening.
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