The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-05-06
NO ONE FROM THE
J ISLANDS IS DEAD
Many in the Track of the Disaster, but All Are
Spared by The Awful
Destroyer.
CBy 7. c. Cohen.)

The large clock on the ferry tower
stopped at SIS .. m. All the large
clocks in front OF jewelry stores and
in towers of buildings stopped at about
the same time, so it can be definitely
stated that at 5:16 a. M of wednes-
day. April IS, 1906, the terrible earth
quake and greatest fire the world has
known in modern times began at San
Francisco.
The trenblor lasted forty-seven sec
onds and never before was so much
damage done in so short a time.
The feelings of the people SO rudely
awakened from their slumbers can
never be described. The noise was
like the roar of heavy guns The sway
ing of buildings, the crash of glass
and falling timbers. the tumbling Of
brick walls and the shrieks of terrified
people made a pandemonium that can
) perienced il.
Immediately after the shock the
streets We're full of scantily attired peo-
pie who seemed to spring from every
where and what a sight met their
eyes!
All around them was wreckage.
Starting from the ST. Francis and
walking towards Market street the
first thing to catch the eye was mass
of brick in the middle of the street. 1t
was the entire front of the Columbia
theatre building, which had toppled
3 over, the roof of the building had also
fallen in leaving the interior a wreck.
Grand structures like the new Flood
building had large blocks of stone and
ornamental work knocked off from the
steel structure and a whole pane of
glass could not be found.
The interiors OF stores, especially
liquor and drug stores, We're a sight to
behold. In the Baldwin Pharmacy
every bottle of drugs from the
shelves and even the show cases from
the counters were dashed upon the
floor leaving nothing but a mixture of
broken glass and running liquids.
On O'Farrel street the Orpheum
theater, known to every one, was
wreck, while directly opposite stood
the Delmonico restaurant with its front
demolished and lying in the street,
leaving exposed to view a cross sec
ton of the rooms with their furnish
Jngs.
This was true of many hotels and
rooning houses all over the city. Ev-
cry building was damaged more or less
and many entirely ruined. The large /.
steel framed structures stood the shock |
well and proved that modern architec- |!
ture can defy the earthquake, but the !
brick buildings that depended for sup
port on walls OF like material We're as !
egg shells under the force of the |
shock.
The massive brick warehouses and t
factories We're all badly damaged and /
no
The City hall, that cost millions in
money and years to build, was total
wreck It's faulty construction exposed
to view, a sad monument of graft.
The force of the earthquake was
shown by the condition of the streets.
IT really changed the entire grade OF
the city. On lower Market street and
near the ferry the road in places drop
ped four feet.
That magnificent street, Van Ness
avenue, was fearfully torn, deep ifs
sures ran in all directions. twisting the
roadbed in bad shape. In one place
would be a large hole like an excava-
ton, while in another a big mound
would be thrown up. :
Streets were torn uD so badly that ,
traffic was dangerous and in some !
places impossible. The worst place was :
on Valencia street, between Eighteenth
and Nineteenth streets. Here the road i,
was raised ten feet in the air. ripping +
out large holes and tearing I'D street i
ear tracks and twisting them in all ,
shapes. 1t was here that the Valencia {
hotel dropped eighteen feet into a hole,
sma shing the building like an egg shell r
and killing over one hundred people. q
on Mission street directly in front O
IF the post office. the ground was bad Y
v torn and the foundation of the post
sffice just completed was damaged so Il
BADLY that it will require. according to Z
Victor Metcalfs report. over 100000 h
o repair. fl
Street car tracks everywhere We're Fl
orn up and water mains and pipes eX- "
,osed to view. Down on the water "
ront the roofs of nearly all the wharf
heds had collapsed. the Oceanic. the F
Iawaiian-American and possibly one s
II two others escaofng- 8
What the earthquakes damage to fl
IAN Francisco was will never be a
,nown for hardly had the shock sub a
ided before fire broke out in a dozen :,
ifferent places. II
The fire department responded but f,
he horrible condition of no water con- a
ronted them. The earthquake had +,
roken the mains and now the city was ii
t the mercy of the flames IL
'ERRIBLE CONFEDERATION ST
DESTROYS THE CITY. II
The fire started south OF Market II
treet among the shackS already lever ~
a to the ground and soon the entire
istrict bounded by Mission and Bry- 81
mt and from Second to Sixth was III
urning. In the wholesale district the
rst fire started at Pine and Battery :"
treets and spread rapidly. ~
The first bank to go was the private vi
of Daniel Meyer. Iheh
>nowed the Anglo California. Inc as
ind shifting back and forth carried ne
1e flames in all directions and pullo- IL
g after building, and block after Sc
lock gave way to the rapacious ma"