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and down to Franklin - noticing for the first time
that Cousin Florence had suffered the loss of the
house - and that it had been dynamite, not fire
that had levelled Hotalings and the white cottage
across California St. Along Franklin to
Jackson and Aunt Sophia's still there, also
Cousin Florence's old house - Down to Van Ness, and
here was the first view I had of the fire - It had
burned East of Van Ness to Green, and then farther
along the avenue - there was the last stand - Over
Russian Hill came the rolling clouds of black smoke
that marked the destruction of Chinatown and the
Latin Quarter - the flames over there finally began
to show over the hill. Everyone felt that if that
fire ever hit Van Ness in its full sweep - the
Western Addition would go - so we waited in suspense,
standing on the steps of the ruined house across from
Cousin Mary's. Boom! and a rising cloud of
broken things and dust hid a bit of the avenue - and
clearing revealed a vacant lot where a house had stood.
Again and again came the thunder, and as the dust
settled it was again carried aloft on a tower of black
smoke that arose - hurrying figures in the blue
and white of the Marines could be seen up along