was blown up, and the flying bricks and splinters came falling upon
them. The nurses fortunately escaped harm, but several of the
soldiers were hurt, and had to be taken with the other patients to the
out-of-doors Presidio hospital.

The Southern Pacific Hospital, at Fourteenth and Missouri Streets, was
among the buildings destroyed by dynamite, the patients having been
removed to places of safety, and the Linda Vista and the Pleasanton,
two large family hotels on Jones Street, in the better part of the
city, were also among those blown up to stay the progress of the
conflagration.


THE STRUGGLE AGAINST THE FIRE.


The fire had continued to creep onward and upward until it reached the
summit of Nob Hill, a district of splendid residences, and threatened
the handsome Fairmount Hotel, then the headquarters of the Municipal
Council, acting as a Committee of Public Safety. As day broke the flames
seized upon this beautiful structure, and the Council was forced to
retreat to new quarters. They finally met in the North End Police
Station, on Sacramento Street, and there entered actively upon their
duties of seeking to check the progress of the flames, maintain order
in the city and control and direct the host of fugitives, many of whom,
still in a state of semi-panic, were moving helplessly to and fro and
sadly needed wise counsels and a helping hand.

The fire-fighters meanwhile kept up their indefatigable work under the
direction of the Mayor and the chief of their department. The engines