Munson, one of those in the building, leaped with her child
in her arms from the second floor to the pavement below and escaped
unhurt. She says she was the only one who escaped from the house. Such
horrors as this were repeated at many points. B. Baker was killed while
trying to get a body from the ruins. Other rescuers heard the pitiful
wail of a little child, but were unable to get near the point from which
the cry issued. Soon the onrushing fire ended the cry and the men turned
to other tasks."
ESTIMATES OF THE DEATH LIST.
The questionable point in those statements is that the numbers of dead
spoken of in these few instances exceed the whole number given in the
official records issued two weeks after the disaster. Yet they go to
illustrate the actual horrors of the case, and are of importance for
this reason. As regards the whole number killed, in fact, there is not,
and probably never will be, a full and accurate statement. While about
350 bodies had been recovered at the end of the second week, it was
impossible to estimate how many lay buried under the ruins, to be
discovered only as the work of excavation went on, and how many more
had been utterly consumed by the flames, leaving no trace of their
existence. The estimates of the probable loss of life ran up to 1,500
and more, while the injured were very numerous.
The shock of the earthquake, the pulse of deep horror to which it gave
rise, the first wild impulse to flee for life, gave way in the minds of
many to a feeling of intense sympathy as agonized cries came from those
pinned down to the ruins of buildings or felled by falling bricks or
stones, and as the sight of dead bodies incrimsoned with blood met the
eyes of the survivors in the streets.
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