Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1906-05-11
The California Horror.

A@NaNNi hsNhNf
THIS section "f California has 6een
visited by terrible calamity. am
ihint ing that lhr readers of the HERALD
would l-e glad To read few lines writ
ten hy oue. Who a. he writes. eau see the
flames Of burning San Francisco. At
j.l3 o'clock. "Wednesday, April 18th.
hrncrforth To IT, red letter day Ia
California, from which subsequent
events will hr rrckonrl, an earthquake
occurred which ia its disastrous effects |
must I've considered rs one al the great
rSt calamitirs that ever visited any part |
of this continent. 1t was a violent |
shock. Great al Il massive buildings |
fell like toy houses. In s"me places the |
earth Was rent asunder, while in other
places it sank several feet. The rails of
ouslv twisted aud broken. Most people
were still mt bed when the trembler
came, but they We're soon on the streets
and under the circumstanc retained
their comp0sure in a remarkable degree.
4 glance around revealed the terrible
fact that nearly all the principal bust
ness houses had been badly wrecked,
and many of them destroyed, beautiful
aud costly homes had been seriously
damaged, aud the churches aud public
buildings had been demolished. Soon
great crowds thronged the streets, gaz-
mg az the havoc and exchanging exp-r-
fences. Then the people began 10 be
oppressed by the uncertainty of the ex-
tent of the disaster to other localities.
All wires were down, the power house of
e the United Street Railroads was wrecked
aud no ears were runni Q. The rail-
roads We're far from being in a service
q able condition The rails had not only
been twisted and in many places broken,
but trains had been derailed at the time
Of the first and most violent shock
= Soon great clouds ot smoke and ciniers
II began streaming down from San Fran
/ cisco and the truth was apprehended
= that that great aud beautiful city wa.
g burning Then messengers began arriv,
{ ing from the south and it was learned
> D,i, A Ral, al
- Jose were equal sufferers and worse
y No word could he received from or sen
to the East or West From this tim,
a. on the widest rmors were circulated
II " ireless from the East said the couti
s. nent was destroyed. A like messag
II from Lick Observatory warned Tia
E people to look out for another shock
Only a few am glad to say, gave ere
dence to these Improbable stories. Tn
y real truth finally filtered through TIN
l. mass of exaggeration and even thi
nc caused the Worst to be dreaded.
H. The business section of San Jose ha,
is been thoroughly shaken, many of tn
t. business blocks collapsed and the cit
e. was burning. The loss of life was re
ld ported as being large Redwood Git
~ had suffered great damage to propert
as a result of the earthquake, but II
y, fires of any consequence had started
W. Few persons had persisted, but sewers
< had been injured in falling building
in At Palo Alto the greatest destructio
" was visited upon Stanford Universit,
e. 1t is conservatiyely estimated that Stal
rd ford alone was damaged to the extel
ne of over two million dollars. The loss
u life was miraculously small, only tw
persons losing their lives. San Mate
:, suffered much damage to property bl
-, no one was killed. This may be attri
" uted TO the fact that this is city
nd residences, all of which are substanti
A wooden or steel structures. All of thes
OF however, suffered slight damage, such
u. broken windows and fallen chimney
iie One can count OH the fingers of OF
: - hand all the chimneys in San Mate
= But the business section of the city is
ia thorough wreck and streets are file
ns with debris. The Episcopal churc
or which was very beautiful buldin,
to was shaken to the ground. The maj
ld building of this school is so badly dan
"a aged that it is deemed unsafe for occ
OF pancy. The other buildings athoug
- somewhat dlapidated, are pressed I'M
W service.
!, San Francisco is doomed city, TT
NJ business districts are now heaps of ruin
Ie All the magnificent structures whit
Ter made the CITY famous were either burnt
he effort to stay the destructive flame
lie Not hotel, theatre, bank or publ
Nv building has been spared. The loss
- even now estimated at over three hui
bred million dollars and the loss of lii
,a will never be fully known. 1t was II
nd the earthquake that destroyed San Fra
is cisco, but the fire which was the dire
ed result of the phenomenon. The loss
rs, life might have been less than one tho
RS sand and that of property comparative
IL small Int for the fra That Immediate