CHAPTER VIII. THRILLING PERSONAL EXPERIENCES--CONTINUED. =Hairbreadth Escapes from the Hotels Whose Walls Crumbled--Frantic Mothers Seek Children from Whom They Were Torn by the Quake--Reckless Use of Firearms by Cadet Militia--Tales of Heroism and Suffering.= For two weeks or more tragedy, romance and comedy crowded the lives of women and children survivors homeless in the city of ashes and in Oakland, across the bay, the city of refuge. In this latter place thousands separated from their loved ones were tearfully awaiting developments, and every hour in the day members of families were restored to each other who had been lost. On record in the Chamber of Commerce at Oakland, which was the headquarters of the Oakland Relief Committee, some queer stories were told. Not a day passed but there were from two to eight marriages in that office. Homeless young couples met each other, compared notes and finally agreed to marry. At the registry bureau in Oakland scores of women, young and old, worked gratis. One applied for work to relieve her mind. She said she had seen her husband and eldest son killed and had fled with her baby. During the rush of people she lost her baby. One of her first duties was to copy names of the lost and found. In one of the lists she believed she recognized the description of her baby. An investigation was made and the child proved to be hers. [Illustration: Copyright 1906 by Tom M. Phillips. =COOKING IN THE STREET.= A familiar scene in San Francisco after the disaster.] [Illustration: Copyright 1906 by Tom M. Phillips. =WING OF CITY HALL.= Two policemen were buried under walls.] [Illustration: Copyright 1906 by Tom M. Phillips. =CATTLE KILLED.= A view showing a drove of cattle killed by falling walls.] [Illustration: Copyright 1906 by Tom M. Phillips. =ST. JOHN'S CHURCH.= Mission Street looking west.] A grief-stricken mother came in crying for her child, which she had not seen since the day of the disaster. A member of the relief committee was detailed on the case and he found the baby. The same day, while walking on the street, he saw a woman carrying a baby in a pillow slip thrown over her shoulder. Two hours later he again met the woman. The pillow slip had ripped and the baby had fallen out unknown to the mother. When her attention was called to this fact the mother fainted. Again the young man set to work and found the baby two blocks away, but upon returning could not find the mother. One man escaped with his two babes as he saw his wife killed in a falling building. He seized two suit cases and placed a baby in each and started for the ferry. When he reached Oakland he found both smothered. He became violently insane and was put in a strait-jacket.