The Topeka state journal., 1898-03-31
EARTH QUAKES.
San Francisco People Aroused
From Their Beds
By the Rocking of Houses and
Crash
OF BROKEN TIMBERS.
Mare Island Navy Yard Badly
Damaged.
Spreckels' 19 Story Building
Swayed Like a Reed.
LIGHTS TURNED ON
At Electric Plants by the
Shock.
F BROKEN TIMBERS.
Mare Island Navy Yard Badly
Damaged.
Spreckels' 19 Story Building
SWayed Like Reed.
LIGHTS TURNED ON
At Electric Plants by the
Shock.

San Francisco, March 31-This city
and a portion of the state was shaken
at 11:43 last night by the most severe
earthquake experienced here since 1868,
when several persons were killed. This
time, however. no fatalities have been
reported
rive families narrowly escaped being
buried in wreckage by the collapse OF
the tenement at AS CIementina street,
which followed the rocking tremor
Propped upon the frailest of supports,
with practically no foundation the finn
sy structure sank three feet below the
sidewalk in the shifting sand and now
stands a mis-shaped mass, ready to
tumble like pack of cards at the first
disturbance. The occupants. most of
them awakened from sleep, were caught
as in trap. Doors, warped out OF
shape, would not open, and windows
were jammed.
While the widest excitement prevail
ed within. neighbors, attracted by the
crash and the screams of women and
children, We're doing their best to lib
crate the unfortunate prisoners.
The doors were finally burst open, and
the women, many of them scarcely able
to walk, were conveyed across the way
and cared for by friends. All were luck
lily gotten out without injury except W.
F. Howe, who was badly jammed by
falling timbers.
Mrs, J. N. Davis, an old lady of IS
years, and Mrs. Herman Kaiser. the
latter an invalid. had to be carried from
their wrecked homes
another house at Fifth and Tehama
streets was thrown down and the great
crane at Garrett's foundry was sent
crashing to the ground.
Along the water front and among the
shipping in the harbor the shock was
very severe. Windows were broken,
glasses and crOckery were shattered in
the saloons and residences and excit-
ing personal experiences were related
by many.
Out on the bay violent tidal wave
I1fted small boats high upon it's crest
| and threatened death to their occu-
pants.
In the Strathmore- house, on Larkin
and Fulton streets, the plaster was
shaken off the walls by the severity OF
the Shock.
The old supreme court building. on
! the corner of McAllister and Larkin
streets, was shaken up considerably,
the visible signs of the seismic vista
| ton being one chimney tilted at an an
gle OF 10 degrees from the perpendicular
and another turned almost completely
around from it's original position.
In the Merchants Exchange a guam
| tity of plaster was shaken down, but
| no great damage was done.
The 10 story Claus Spreckels building
| was not injured in the least, though it
SWayed like a great tree in a storm. At
| least 100 stores south of Market street
| suffered severely, chiefly by the break
| ing of frail articles.
At the store of II. Van Costelback. on
| Market street, several hundred dollars
! worth of interior decoratings were in
| jured-
The drug store of z. Happensberger,
| on the northwest corner of Mission and
| Sixth streets, was damaged severely.
| The rear room was a mass of broken
! bottles, the mixed contents of which al
| most flooded the store.
| The entire electric light system on all
! the floors of the White house, on Kear-
! ney street, was thrown on by the VII
| bratiOn and the building was brilliantly
| Illuminated.
Telegraph and telephone wires were
| badly crossed and for a short time COM
| munication was interrupted.
/ In the Winchester house, FOrty-third
| street the windows were broken, walls
| and ceiling were cracked, scattering
| broken glass and plaster.
| A coal oil lamp was upset by the VI
| bration at the house of Mrs. Hayes, 1TS
| Minnesota street. The oil ignited, but
| was soon extin guished-
| The shock apparently was confined to
northern California, the southern part
| of the state reporting this morning that
| no shock was felt there. Vallejo and
| Mare Island suffered much damage.
| the loss at the navy yard being esti-
mated at not less than $25,0 600. The ma
| val hospital was wrecked and the gov
| ernment sawmill blown down. In the
town of Vallejo, just across the chan
mel the loss runs into the thousands.
| At the University of California. IN
| Berkeley, the seismOgraph at the stu
| dents observatory in Berkeley, shows
| that the shock lasted between 90 and
40 seconds. The general direction of the
| vibrations was from east to west The
| instrument shows that the shock was
! very heavy in a small area. A slight
| vertical vibration was also recorded by
/ the instrument.