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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (April 29, 1906)
April 29. 1906. THE OMAHA ILLUSTRATED BEE. How Omaha Welcomed and 'i i- i. . .O. 1 1 . j l it -rr- TfcXM "-' If III w j n u J, . I - TUTS WOMAN SAVED A FRAMED CERTIFICATE BROUGHT FROM THE OLD COUNTRY. . i iUFV V. . AM alnlr4 nt Mft San ll Franclco refu(?e pulled !nto Omuh& people at the Union t Uon to greet them than the de tachment numbered. Part of the waiting throng was there to assist In feeding the tt-sngers, but fully half were mere on lookers. They testified to the Interest which Omahans, In common with the rest of the country, had in the Tactile coast horror. At every opportunity Omahans chatted with the homeless troops and asked them many questions. The conversations at times were deceptive and an onlooker might have got his San Franciscans con fused with his Omahans. Not a few of tha latter appeared to be able to spin a better descriptive narrative of tha dreadful nights and days than those who had actually experienced the terror and misery. Most of the. refugees doubted that Ban Francisco would ever rise again; every Omahan was sure the town would be built grander than ever before. All of which, tt la presumed, went to show that tha local folk study the newspapers. Omaha's Boaatr' Vnstlated. The kindness bestowed upon the refugees was not strange from the dwellers In a city that within a few days raised J26.000 in cash and sent a doien carloads of cloth ing, bedding and food, contributed direct by the cltisens In small lots, to the suffer ing multitudes on the coast Tet the sleht of the givers and the beneficiaries was a study In modem sociology hard to coun terpart. On one side society women snd stage hands vied with each other to see which could render the most good; on the other stood men and women who had lost every material thing, tney naa in me world, many without so much as a dime In their pockets, and most of them In clothing they had worn for a week with out opportunity for change or bathing. The shoulders of the refugees drooped, but their spirits were not sullen or rebellious. Some were proud and needed urging to make them partake of the bounty. Others looked upon It as a matter of fact but all were equally expressive of thanks and good will. Hard. Lack and Lone; Ride. A tall, intelligent looking man was ex plaining , some of the horrors he had wit nessed. He was surrounded by a group of women all such as be who could talk fluently were so besieged while waiting In lines to take their eastbound trains and held out his hand to illustrate a point he was telling. His fnce held 'a heavy stubble of beard. . He looked at his hand and discovered It was the color of mother earth. "Look at that hand." he exclaimed. Jerk ing it back quickly. "I haven't once thought about washing up since before the eartbquttke, but I don't believe I could have done very much In that line on the train." Nearly every one at some time or other has put In a night in a common coach on fx-,, . v .A a train. With dry and dusty weather and windows that have to be opened to keep the car cool, he knows what he felt like In the morning. These people after two days" partlclpancy In one of the most shock ing and terrifying calamities the modern world has known had ridden under such conditions the long way half across the continent. They were lit subjects for so licitous care and local history will take pride In being able to record that they re ceived such treatment In Omaha. Not True San FrsaeUesai. Making allowances for the necessarily seedy appearance of the refugees it Is true that they came a long ways front being representative people of San Fran cisco. Tha reporters talked with many la the crowds and usually inquired the busi ness or occupation of the refugee addressed. Afterwards the newspaper men agreed that it ' was largely the classes who had lived In the Golden Gate city but s short time, or who move abouW requently from place to place In search of new rcenes and sen ations, who were hurrying east Nearly all of them were going to their old home or places of former rendezvous. A great many headed direct for their nearest rela tives and only here and there could be found a man who declared he was going back to San Francisco as soon as he could raise a stake. The California metropolis has always been a great place for muslo and musicians of all sorts troiA high to low. It was remarkable how many of the refugees carried with great care man dolins, guitars, violins, 'cellos and other Instruments. They had been earning their living producing muslo and constituted no very stable or deeply rooted part of the population. Others were tailors, carpenters, laborers, teamsters, clerks and of similar sorts. Numbers spoken to remarked that they had lived In 'Frisco less than a year. These in the same breath declared they would never go thore again. But a few men Operations of the Qreaf Hudson Bay (Copyright 1906, by Frank O. Carpenter.) -.IINNIPEQ, April 24. (Special Cor lAy I respondence of. The Bee.) I had I I ft. Inn h laut n1-ht with man who handles the biggest combination of capital In British America, I refer to the Hudson Bay com pany, whose sphere of operations reaches from the Icy shores of Labrador to the Klondike and from the United States to the Arctic ocean. Its territory Is two thirds as large as our own country and more than half as big as the continent of Europe. This company has been doing business there for more than two cen- .turles. It has controlled much of the country, not only as merchants, but po- Utlcally, and Its agents have had power of life and death, Today it has stations scattered, all over 1 HUDSON BAT STEAMBOAT tT TITE sfACKETZXB. . it f BOMB OF 1 Vi 1 r . V;:.-:-;; V'.;' KKFUOfiES TROM SAK ffSAiVCISCO MOVING FBOiJ. TRAIK TO LUNCH TENTS AT UNION STATION. - . - , v-At 'rO-. : V who had owned business Institutions looked at the matter differently and expressed an Intention of returning when possible. His Business All Gone. "AH my advertisers and subscribers are burned out; I have only the keys left' to my office. What use was there of me stay ing?" asked the proprietor of a prosperous publishing business before the disaster. He said he had concluded that It would be far better for him and his family to go else British North America and its traders are moving on Its every stream, lake and river. gathering furs for shipment to Europe. It is doing one of the biggest mercantile busl- nesses of the continent Its department stores are scattered throughout Canada mw lumm in m nean oi ine wuas. This company has Its own factories In England and the Dominion. It makes a Urge part of the goods it sells. It owns flouring mills and steamboats, and almost all the Canadian Indians are tributary to It No one knows how much the instltu- tion has paid out In dividends. It has been making fortunes for its stockholders right along since It was Incorporated by Charles II In 1S70, and its stock today Is away above par. The American manager of this institution la Ui. C C. Chlpman. He is a Nova Sco- Fed Refugees from San "1 TUB OMAHA WOMEN WHO HELPED FEED ..' GROUP OF THE SAN FRANCISCO SUFFERERS. where and make some money before trying to go back to the coast. The survivors were a remarkably humble and easy lot to handle. ' To facilitate mat ters the police lined them up in rows when they detrained. Every man and woman carried luggage, if they happened to be possessed of any, and waited patiently their turn to enter the lunch tents. It was nec essary to take their names and destinations to arrange for the free transportation the railroads provided eastward, and there was considerable delay both ' before and after tlan. who has held dlplomatlo positions In jVttawa and London, and who for the past fifteen years has been commissioner of the Hudson Bay company. I met him first In his offices back of the great Hudson Bay stores In Winnipeg, and afterwards spent an evening with him at his house here. Mr. Chlpman is quiet and unassuming. Like all Hudson Bay men. he Is rather reticent in speaking about the company, and it was only repeated questions that brought out the information that follows. He Is a man of great organising ability and is notably successful in the handling of men. Bald he: . "The Hudson Bay company has had an active business existence of more than 230 years. Its history Is well known. It started In the times of Charles II and has practically managed the greater part of British North America from then until the taking over of the government of the northern wilds by the Canadian Dominion. It would take book to tell its history, and, indeed, several books have boen pub lished concerning it.',' "What la the capital of the company, Mr. Chlpman, and who are Its stockholders?' "The capital stock is l.QJO.CCu, or S5.000. .000. The corporation Is an English one and the most of the shares are held In England and esecially In London. The stock Is not a speculative one and the company does not encourage dealing In It. We would rather not have them rise and fall. In deed the shares are not listed anywhere ex cept on tue London Stork exchange. Most of the holders do not care to sell and much of the stock has r.ot changed hands for generations. It Is what might be called a strongbox security-something that la sure to pay its dividends year after year." Hndson Bay Posts. "What Is the present field of the Hudson Bay company? I suppose It has been greatly restricted within recent years?"' "No, that Is not so," replied the Hudson Bay commissioner; "our field is practically the same that It has always been. We have about 260 trading posts scattered here and there throughout British North Amer ica. They extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the United States boun dary to the mouth of the McKentle river." "But how can the company control such a vast territory, Mr. Chlpman?" I asked. "We have the country as carefully or ganised as any wholesale dealer organises the territory of his trade. The wilds of British America are divided up Into dis tricts and subdlstrlcta. Each district has Its ablaf trader, with subordinate traders Pi. . THE VISITOR& they were fed. But not a complaint was uttered. The first day, when some of the most prominent and best known women of the city worked In the tents from early morn ing until late in the afternoon, the wind blew clouds of dust ael chunks of dirt over everything. A cup of coffee .placed on the tables In. the tents had a coating of debris Inside of two minutes. The local women were so begrimed that they looked like refuKees themselves. But the Callfornlans tackled the coffee, sandwiches and frul under him. The under traders report to their chiefs and the chiefs report to me and I report to the directors at London, Everything is controlled from London and the directors theVe know Just as well as I do what Is going on all over the country. We give detailed reports of the conditions at every post. Our system is thorough and at the same time It is so simple that we can tell Just what the trade Is, what goods are needed and what skins we may ex pect. We can estimate the demands and supplies from year to year." "Nevertheless, the posts must be widely scattered?" "They are," replied the commissioner. ''Some are hundreds of miles apart and some are thousands of miles from our head quarters here In Winnipeg- We have In spectors who visit the posts every year or t A if; V 4 ,3.. ' imlS iT . i.i if V:-. ' ,- ITALIAN WHO WAS INDIGNANT BECAUSE HE HAD PAID HIS FARE WHJLB OTHERS RODE FREE. placed before them as though it were served In the daintiest of dining rooms. Some scribbled their thanks on the paper plates used. Sick and Wounded fsrfd For. The refugee trains carried their quota of sick and wounded. It was necessary to es tablish a hospital tent In charge of County Physician Swoboda, the Visiting Nurses' as sociation and volunteer physicians. Chil dren were born on the trains and not a few of the survivors had cut and crushed feet, wounds of other kinds and many had fallen sick from exposure and nervous excite ment. The hospital tent was a badly needed affair and its occupants found plenty to do. Cots and resting places were pro - vlded and the right kind of aid adminis tered. Another need that forced Itself upon Mayor Zlmman, who was the active leader In caring for the refugees, was that of women and children for clothing. As soon as this condition became apparent quantities of garments were sent from the tores at the city hall. This. enabled many of the women and children to change filthy and ragged clothing for better ap parel. The city hall relief depot, also, had 'a considerable amount of home canned fruits. Jellies, etc., and some of these were sent to the hospital tent to be given to travelers not able to eat the heavier foods. Chance Meeting; at the Depot. One of the most Interesting things seen at the Union station was the meeting be tween an aged father who had been through the affair at San Francisco and a son who had come on from Brookvllle, Pa., to search for the former. Telegrams had miscarried and the son, Edgar Deertng, bad become so worried that he started for California. Chance worked It so that the father. John Deerlng, was on the first train of refugees via the Union Pacific. There were glad shouts and laughter and tears Company so, and we know exactly what Is going on In them." Department Store Business. "But, has not your buslnes changed greatly within recent years?" "In some respects, yes," replied the com missioner. "Although the most of It Is managed Just as it was generations ago. The Hudson Bay -company has always been known as 'ancient and honorable.' It now adds the word progressive to Its titles. Its great changes came with the settlement of the northwest. When the railroads were first built across British North America the laborers found that the only places they could get tobacco, clothing and other sup plies were at our posts, nils started their (Continued on Page Seven.) 0- ' A: GROUP OF HUDSON BAT &ttIAKB, Francisco i when the two embraced heedless of the gaping crowds. There were comparatively few children. This fact again bore out the conclusion that It was not the dyed-in-the-wool resi dent San Franciscans who left the city so hurriedly. Most of the children aboard the trains were babies In arms, usually the first and only child of .the parents. There was a phaso to the situation, too, that had pathos In the fact that many Omaha people were at the trains to Inquire about relatives who lived in the stricken city and who had not been heard from. These searched among the refugees looking for familiar faces and asking many ques tions. They were not able to learn much more than they have from the newspapers. Many Instances of direct personal charity were witnessed. Several women serving In the lunch tents gave their hats and other bits of attire to refugees of their sex who needed them worse than the origi nal owners did. A well known society girl tied an expensive veil under th chin of an ancient, dirty and formidable-looking old dame. Children had more milk than they could drink In several days. The local ' women tried to find out from their sisters what they most needed and perform the service. Tobacco for the Men. Richard Harding Davis has feelingly de scribed the highly beneficent effects of to bacco upon men weary and hard-pressed and the maie refugees fairly wept with de light when Robert Cowell, Market Master Gerke and others passed among them dis tributing pipes, smoking and chewing to bacco. These were boons to be craved for and Immensely enjoyed on the dreary rides. Not a few of the travelers fended ani mals, birds, dogs, cats and the like. One . woman had a cage of canaries. A French tailor and his wife bestowed more atten tion on a rat terrier than they did upon themselves. One man had three small dogs and when asked If they were trained animals replied that they were trained to eat and that was about all. The couple that carried the most baggage was an old Italian, once owner of a Divi sion street fruit store, and bis wife. It looked as If they had enough stuff to start housekeeping and they carried It about in packs. Giuseppe had paid for their fare to the seaboard on the way back to the lesser terrors of Vesuvius and could not help but talk about It with feeling when everyone else on the train rode free. His wife was mute, but sympathetic. All of the refugees were willing to talk yards but so far as could be ascertained none was able to contribute much new to the general story, which all agreed could not be described in Its utter confusion and terror. Most of them were empthatto In declaring the military authorities during the fires had been rash and wanton to an unnatural degree. All had dreadful tale to tell of shootings and the Incidents that came close to plain murders. Tet they agreed that stern measures were necessary. There were some negros, but no Chinese or Japanese among the refugees passing through Omaha. , s . , " -it . 1 ;