A neighbor, a German lady, came in the next morning and told
her that the German newspapers of that morning said that the city of San
Francisco was on fire, and that the loss of life was enormous. That day,
the 19th, she visited the bulletin boards of the different newspapers,
and with her daughter endeavored to translate the brief cable telegrams
which were posted. The news came to London in English, and there cut
down as brief as possible and translated into German, so the information
was very brief. San Francisco people who were there sought one another
for news. Within a week the New York papers came, which gave more
particulars. While waiting for authentic information, such items as
these were in circulation: "Golden Gate Park has been withered by the
intense heat, and people are crowded to the beach," and that "Typhoid
fever has broken out"; that a tidal-wave had swept over the city; that
the earthquake shocks continued; that all communication with the
interior by rail or otherwise had been cut off; that thirty thousand
people had been killed. Whether her family and friends were alive she
did not know.
In this state of mind, she found in a New York paper a picture of the
Spreckels residence which showed mine. This was the first information
that she received in reference to her family or their belongings. Mr.
and Mrs. Dohrmann and his sister, Mrs.
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