River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1883-11-01

board jaw, partially mixed with tears.
Michael scrapsd it off and resumed his
weeping.
But soon we came where the fog-veil
was not so thick, and the top of the
shot-tower was seen piercing the haze.
| remember that some enthusiastic splr-
Its gave three cheers for the safety OF
the. city. And as we gradually APP
preached the pier, it was seen that the
city was apparently all there. We did
not learn until later that the shock had
been lighter on the San Francisco side
than on the other.
We FASTENED up the streets, looking
for damaged houses, ruined walls, and
corpses. We did not see as many as we
had expected. Coming up Clay street
however, near Sansome. there was a
frightened boy who, surrounded by a
crowd Of people, was pointing at a mass
Of blood and brains on the sidewalk.
Ills jaws were working convulsiyely, bnt
no sound came from them, A bystandeI
told me that the boy had witnessed the
death of the man who formerly used
the brains, and that the sight so horri-
fed lim that he had remained in that
condition ever since the shock--a mat
ter of couple of hours. The man, it
seems, had run out of the building
when the first shock came, and had got
10 the sidewalk just in time to catch the
falling tiTe-wall upon the top of his head.
! do not propose to weary my read
ers with an account of the earthquake
1t is ancient history. But these things
came into my head the other morning,
when I was awakened at one o'clock by
the familiar vibrating, twisting, grinding,
motion-the creaking Of the grooming
bricks, the ominous rumble of the shud-
dering metal roof. l said to myself:
The most severe shock since S.
| And, so saying, these recollections came
to me, and iotted them down.
| But | will indulge myselfin telling one
or two anecdotes which | recall. There
| WAS a gentleman here from the east at
| the time, whe had been signing for an
earthquake. | have met many like
him, by the way, but l never saw any
Of them who wanted to fee two. l do
not refer to temblors, but to good stitf
shocks. No one who has ever felt one
wants to feel another.
This pilgrim, then had been yearning
for an earthquake. Fortunately for
him, it came before he went away. lie
went away as soon as he could get away,
| may add. He was living in Brenham
Place, and was awakened by the shock.
He knew what it was. No man needs
an introduction to an earthquake. He
| fled through the door. He nearly took
| it with him. He was clad only IN 4
short night-shlrt. but despite that fact
| he went into the centre of the Plaza
and there he remained. He could Rol
| be induced to re. enter the house. Fl
nally, he hired a small boy to 60 ant
get his clothes, and dressed himself be
| fore the populace.
| Later in the day he ventured out o
| the Plaza, and, accompanied by Tommy
Newcombe, went to Barry & Patterns t
| get drink The barkeeper mixed the
| drinks and placed them upRn the coun-
| ter. Newcombe pushed his back, re-
ouesting the barkeeper to take the ice
| out. The other did the same, 1t was
| half past ten O'Clock. There was q
slight jingle of glasses, then a crash
| and the bar leaned forward
and courtesied to the two friends in the
| most familiar fashion. The barkeepeI
| was almost buried in a vitreous ava
! lanche. The eastern man knew, with
| out being told, that this was anothe
earthquake. He made for the street
| He got there before anybody else in thu
| house This despite the fact that h
| lacked experience. These Eastern mel
| are very Quick to learn about somt
| things-paTticularly earthquakes. liz
| reached the street with such impetuoslt,
| that he was on the other side before h'
| knew it. There was a building there be
| 0ngug to Sam Brannan, the top 0
| which was crowned with two long stones
| meeting like " One of these fell witt
| the second shock, just as our Eastern
| friend reached the sidewalk. The stoni
| came shooting down like conicaI pro
| iectle, struck the tagged sidewalk, mad
| clean hole and disappeared in tn
| depths below. The hole was about 81,
inches away from the Eastern man. H
! nearly fell into it.
| He took the next steamer for home.
When this shock took place, hap
| pened to he in the Odd Fellows Bank
| then or Montgomery street, opposite
| where the Safe Deposit building now Is
| 4 group Of us were talking over the frs
| shock [ remarked that had not bee
| in q bull ling when the first shock came
| but tha', had | been, | would have re
| manned. | further said that | considered
| running from huldlngas highly danger
ous, instancing the unfortunate mar
/ who was killed on Clay Street rs a cast
| IN point All agreed with me. One il
| particular-a friend named Maillot--re
| marked:
"You are perfectly right The MAJ
who would run out of building during
an earthquake shock is id fool"
The words were scarcely out of hi
mouth when the half past ten o'clocl
shock came. do not remember very
distinctly how got there. but in. abou
three seconds / found myself in tn
middle Of the street. ! have no recol
{ ,srA,,
| to say all The other fellows were Their,
TOO. Maillot looked at me, and re
| marked, with grim humor:
81 thought you never ran from an
earthquake"
II never do"
But you ran then"
mo | didn't run. ! few"
So l did. And ] very much fear
NAV again.