rear office of the "California's" office. In fact, furniture was already
burning in the president's room. This was no place for me. The only
avenue of escape was the way I had come, since so rapid was the spread
of the conflagration that north, south and east were already in flames.

Upon reaching California street I rushed and headed west, and the
instant I had passed, the entire four-story outer wall of the building
located on the southwest corner of California and Battery streets (then
known as the "Insurance Building"), fell with a roar, completely
blocking the street over which I had just made my escape. Realizing that
my safety was measured by a matter of seconds, I was for a moment
unnerved. My legs trembled, my heart pounded and my breath came quickly,
and only by a great exertion of will induced by the thought that it was
time to do and not to hesitate, I made the effort and arrived safely at
the rope from which I had started. I shook as if with the ague. Sweat
and grime poured from me, but the shout that went up from the watching
crowd and the many friendly hands that sought mine, gave me my second
wind.

I had already made up my mind that possibly the Liverpool and London and
Globe Insurance Company and Colonel C. Mason Kinne would allow me to
store within their vaults whatever salvage I had taken from my desk. My
trust in their courtesy was justified. I was made welcome and the
Colonel, in the name of the company, placed anything and everything that
it had in the shape of assistance at my disposal.

As we stood talking on the corner of California and Leidesdorff streets,
a friend still living in San Francisco who had an office in the
Liverpool and London and Globe Building suggested to me that I had
better take an option on some of that company's vacant rooms. I spoke to