Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1906-04-27
WATCHED FIRE
Edwin Thatcher Returns From Ill.,
 Fated City.

consulting engineer employed by a company which expects to bid on the bridge to be constructed across the Arkansas river at Pine Bluff, reached Little Rock yesterday from San Fran cisco. He was in Berkeley at the time of the earthquake, but was in quake from o'clock until 2:30 o'clock in the afternoon and watched the progress of the fire which de- .troyed the greater portion of that city.
 q never saw anything like it." said MT. Thatcher last night. "I ar rived in San Francisco Tuesday after. noon and registered at the Palace hotel. Later met friend and went across the bay to Berkeley to spend the night. It was lucky did, be- cause the shock there was probably rot as great. left my baggage at the Palace hotel, however. I was awakened Wednesday morning by the earthquake. My bed was placed north and south and the earthquake threw me against the head of the bed and then against the foot. Had the bed been the other way the shock would probably have thrown me out. The house where l stayed that night was not damaged to a great extent. A chimney was broken off and most tn. A few walls of brick buildings were shaken down and a part of the Baptist church there was destroyed. All the chimneys in town we1a de stroyed, but there was not great amount of damage. There was nc less hy fire. Shortly after the earthquake I got word that fire had started ill San Francisco, and started for that ] city 70 get my baggage al the Falace Et.e,.
 
 ferry house, but the debris on Market street and the fires on streets next to it made it necessary for me to go ro,.nd a mile or so to get nelr the Palace hotel. When I did get neal there I found line of soldiers and it was some time before l was able to get through the line.
 Palace Hotel Was Deserted.
 When reached the Palace hotel fires were raging on two sides of it and I expected the hotel to be de- s.royed in few minutes. l could not find the porter to get my baggage, but went into the baggage room and picked it up and went to the Union i club on a hill few blocks away, where l expected to get something to eat. There was little left at the club, however, except scraps of food. From this club, however, I was able to watch the progress of the fire in the downtown district. I remained at the club until o'clock. when l again made my way to the ferry house.
 From the hill where the Union club stands I saw the flames eat up most of the business district. The fire in the Call building was as pret- ty a sight as I ever witnessed. For two or three hours the mammoth building withstood the intense heat and fire, but finally it caught fire in two places, one about the fifteenth foor and the other neN the ground. l watched the flames eat up room after room and floor after floor of the great building. The iron framework was still standing when l left, but burned away. Although buildings all around the Palace hotel were burn ing when I went after my grip at o'clock it was 1 o'clock before the hotel was burned.
 Panic at Ferry House.
 Leaving the Union club about 2:2f ocCck, l sought to cross again tC Berkeley, and made my way toward the ferry house. had to cross through a portion of Chinatown which was burning. and make my way around toward Fort Mason tf get there. The streets were all or of shape in the vicinity of the ferry house on the made ground In some places they were five or six feet low and in other places that much high CT than ordinarily. At the ferry hoNst there was a vast crowd. As wen
 inside the building there was a crN that the tower. which had been crack ed by the earthquake, was falling