The waving folds of an American flag are credited with saving
a house in the midst of the fire following the earthquake in
San Francisco in April, 1906. The house stands at 1654 Taylor
Street. As the fire crept up to it, its owner determined it
should go gloriously and ran up a flag on the roof pole. The
eaves had caught fire, but a company of the Twentieth United
States Infantry, under a lieutenant, passing a block away, saw
the banner waving proudly amid the smoke. “A house that flies a
flag like that is worth saving,” is the expression the narrator
puts on the lips of the young officer. The men ran to the place,
beat off the flames and saved the house.
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