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Franklin Hall, the committee's final venue

This Committee of Fifty, sometimes referred to as Committee of Safety, Citizens' Committee of Fifty or Relief and Restoration Committee of Law and Order, was called into existence by Mayor Eugene Schmitz during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The Mayor invited civic leaders, entrepreneurs, newspaper men and politicians—but none of the members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors—to participate in this committee in whose hands the civil administration of San Francisco would rest.

Schmitz thought it necessary to form this body to manage the crisis during the disaster, although there was no legal basis for it. It first assembled in the basement of the ruined Hall of Justice on the afternoon of the earthquake, Wednesday, April 18, at 3 p.m. By 5 p.m. the location became dangerous and the Committee crossed Portsmouth Square to meet at the Plaza Hotel, which in turn had to be abandoned two hours later. At 8 p.m. the Committee assembled at the Fairmont Hotel's ballroom, sitting along the edge of the stage and on packing cases. At this point, the 19 sub-committees were set up. Shortly after 11 p.m. they dispersed.^[1]^: 121^[2]^: 153

Overnight the Fairmont Hotel burned down. On Thursday, April 19, at 6 a.m., the Committee met at the North End police station. At 11 a.m. they had to abandon the police station because of the scorching heat, and reconvened at 2 p.m. at Franklin Hall, on Fillmore Street, where they stayed for the remainder of the crisis, which became known as Temporary City Hall. At 4.30 p.m. Abe Ruef appeared there. He had not been called to be a member, but invited himself, and Mayor Schmitz accepted his offer, and he became chairman of an additional sub-committee, trying unsuccessfully to relocate the Chinese. Actually, there were more than a hundred members, but they never met all together, since during the chaos members came and went as they could or would.

Members

On April 19, 1906, The New York Times published the first list of the members of the committee with 49 names - it did not include that of the Mayor - which originated the name Committee of Fifty. Later, more and more people went to the meetings and here are the names of people who were mentioned by different sources as members:^[1]^: 121

Eugene Schmitz, Mayor, Chairman of the Committee of Fifty
Rufus P. Jennings, Secretary of the Committee of Fifty, executive officer of the California Promotion Committee
Frank P. Anderson
Hugo K. Asher, afterwards Delegate to the 1920 Democratic National Convention from California
William Babcock, Vice-President of the Pacific-Union Club 1897,
William J. Bartnett, chief counsel of the Western Pacific Railroad
Clement Pelham Bennett, court reporter
Maurice Block
Henry Ulysses Brandenstein, lawyer
J. Dalzell Brown
S. G. Buckbee
H. M. Burke
Michael Casey
Albert E. Castle
Myrtle E. Cerf, California's first woman CPA
I. Choynski, Press Agent of the Committee
Oscar Cooper
R. H. Countryman
Paul Cowles
Harry T. Creswell, some time City and County Attorney and Police Commissioner, afterwards Delegate to the 1912 Democratic National Convention from California
Henry J. Crocker, businessman
R. A. Crothers, publisher of the San Francisco Evening Bulletin
O. K. Cushing, lawyer
Horace Davis, ex-United States Representative
George Dillman
Jeremiah Dinan, Chief of Police
Edgar J. De Pue, President of The Pacific-Union Club 1906-1908
Michael H. de Young, owner of the San Francisco Chronicle
A. B. C. Dohrman
Frank G. Drum, Treasurer of The Pacific-Union Club 1911-1914
John Sylvester Drum, attorney, afterwards President of The Mercantile Trust Company, Director of the Pacific Gas & Electric Company, and president of the American Bankers Association
George F. Duffy
F. J. Dwyer
Garrett W. Enerney
C. W. Fay, postmaster
Tirey L. Ford, attorney for United Railroads, ex-California Attorney General
Charles S. Fee
Katharine Felton, Director of the Family Service Agency of San Francisco
John W. Ferris
Dr. Thomas Filben, Methodist minister
James L. Flood
T. C. Friedlander
Dr. Garceau
Thomas Garrett
Mark L. Gerstle
Louis T. Glass, director of telephone companies, and inventor of the Jukebox
Wellington Gregg, Jr.
R. B. Hale, owner of Hale Brothers department store
Dr. Harris, physician
Ralph Harrison
Richard C. Harrison, attorney, partner in the law firm of Harrison & Harrison
William Greer Harrison, agent for Thames and Mersey Marine Insurance Co, Liverpool
John Downey Harvey, major shareholder of Ocean Shore Railroad
Isaias W. Hellman, banker
Francis J. Heney, special federal prosecutor, later the same year prosecuted Schmitz and Ruef for bribery
George A. Hensley
William F. Herrin, Chief Counsel of Southern Pacific Railroad
Dr. Marcus Herstein, physician
Howard Carlton Holmes, Chief Engineer of the San Francisco Dry Dock Company
J. R. Howell, Chairman of the San Francisco Real Estate Board
A. M. Hunt
Judge John Hunt, of the San Francisco Superior Court
D. V. Kelly
Homer King
George A. Knight
F. H. Lamb
Franklin Knight Lane, lawyer, afterwards US Secretary of the Interior
Hartland Law, manufacturer of patent medicines
Herbert E. Law, brother of Hartland Law
W. H. Leahy
John J. Lermen, attorney
Charles Loesch
H. D. Loveland
C. G. Lyman
C. H. Maddox
Frank Maestretti
Thomas Magee
John J. Mahony
Rabbi A. W. Mann
John Martin
Dr. McGill
John McLauren
Gavin McNab
John McNaught
S. B. McNear
John F. Merrill
William H. Metson
Archbishop George Thomas Montgomery, coadjutor of San Francisco
Edward F. Moran, former President of the San Francisco Civil Service Commission
US Circuit Judge William W. Morrow, president of the San Francisco Red Cross
Irving F. Moulton
Thornwell Mullally, assistant to Patrick Calhoun, of United Railroads of San Francisco
S. G. Murphy
George A. Newhall, Secretary of The Pacific-Union Club 1896-1897, 1908
William Ford Nichols, Episcopal Bishop of California
Hermann Oelrichs, of Norddeutsche Lloyd shipping line, son-in-law of James Graham Fair
Father Phillip O'Ryan
Robert Park
A. H. Payson
James D. Phelan, ex-Mayor of San Francisco, predecessor of Schmitz
Albert Pissis, architect
Willis Polk, architect
Allan Pollock
Edward B. Pond, ex-Mayor of San Francisco
A. S. Porter
Harry V. Ramsdell
J. W. Raphael
James W. Reid, Secretary of The Pacific-Union Club 1899-1900
J. B. Reinstein
Dr. George David Rich
Dent H. Robert
John Rogers
Abe Ruef, political boss
Hermann Schussler, hydraulic engineer
Henry T. Scott, president of Union Iron Works, and Chairman of the Board of Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Company
Homer T. Scott
Frank Shea
James Shea
Samuel M. Shortridge, lawyer
George Smith
John H. Speck, realtor
Claus Spreckels, sugar magnate
Rudolph Spreckels, sugar factory owner, son of Claus Spreckels
I. Steinhart
Charles Sutro
Gustave Sutro
Andrea Sbarbaro, founder of Italian Swiss Colony
Frank J. Symes, president of the Merchants' Association
Clem Tobin
Joseph S. Tobin
George Toumey
Rabbi Jacob Voorsanger, rabbi of Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco since 1889
John P. Young, editor of the San Francisco Chronicle
Fred Ward
James Ward
William Watson
Fairfax Henry Wheelan, vice-president of the Southern Pacific Milling Co., graduated from Harvard with the class of 1880, together with Theodore Roosevelt
Benjamin Ide Wheeler, president of the University of California
Charles Stetson Wheeler, lawyer
A. W. Wilson
George W. Witton
Andrew J. Wood
Thomas P. Woodward

Sub-Committees

Relief of the Hungry, chairman Rabbi Jacob Voorsanger
Housing the Homeless, chairman W. J. Bartnett; Fairfax W. Wheelan
Relief of Sick and Wounded, chairwoman Katharine Felton
Drugs and Medical Supplies, chairman Dr. Harris
Relief of Chinese, chairman Rev. Filben
Transportation of Refugees, chairman Thomas Magee
Citizens' Police
Auxiliary Fire Department
Restoration of Water Supply, chairman Frank P. Anderson
Restoration of Light and Telephones, chairman Rudolph Spreckels
Restoration of Fire in Dwellings, chairman Jeremiah Dinan
Restoration of Abattoirs
Resumption of Transportation, chairman Thornwall Mullally
Resumption of Civil Government, chairman Garett McEnerney
Resumption of the Judiciary, chairman Judge Charles W. Slack
Resumption of Retail Trade
Organization of Wholesalers
Finance, chairman James D. Phelan
Sanitation
Relocation of the Chinese, chairman Abe Ruef
History and Statistics, chairman Frank S. Drum

References

^ ^a ^b Bean, Walton (1974). Boss Ruef's San Francisco: the Story of the Union Labor Party, Big Business, and the Graft Prosecution. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520000940.
^ Thomas, Gordon; Witts, Max Morgan (1971), The San Francisco Earthquake, New York, London: Stein and Day, Souvenir Press, Dell, ISBN 978-0-8128-1360-9

External links

List of Members (many names misspelled)
List of Members published by The New York Times on April 19

Sources

Gordon Thomas & Max Morgan Witts: The San Francisco Earthquake (New York: Stein and Day, 1971; London: Souvenir Press, 1971; reprinted Dell Paperback, 1972, SBN 440–07631)