Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1906-04-19
Whole City Rent by Shock and
Flames Now Raging.
AT LEAST 500 PERSONS DEAD
Property Loss Already Placed at
5000, 900, 900.
THOUSANDS ARE HOMELESS

The Entire Business Portion Of the
City is In Ruins, and the Flames,
owing to Lack Of Water, Cannot Be
Checked. and Are Sweeping Through
the City, Which is Under Martial
Law Outside Towns Suffered Sc
vereIy-stanford University Badly
Damaged.
San Francisco, April 10. Earth
uuakes and fire have put nearly all
Of San Francisco in ruins. At least
500 persons have been killed, 1000 in
jured and the property loss will ex-
ceed $500, 100000. Thousands are
homeless and destitute and all day
long streams of people have been fee
fnw from tie stricken districts to
places Of safety. 1t was 5.1s inS the
morning when. terrific earthquake
shock shook the whole city and sur
rounding country. One shock appar-
emily lasted two minutes and there
was almost Immediate collapse OF
fiinsy structures all over the city. The
water supply was cut off and when
fires broke out in various sections
there was nothing to do but let the
buildings burn. Telegraph and tele-
nhone communication was shut on for
a time. Electric power was stopped
and street cars did not run. Railroads
and ferry boats also ceased operations.
Fires ragged all day and the fire de-
partment were powerless to do any
thing except dynamite buildings
threatened. All day long explosions
shook the city and added to the terror
Of the people.
Second shcck Not so Severe.
Following the first shock there was
another within five minutes, but not
nearly so severe. Three hours later
there was another slight quake. Re-
ports from districts outside of San
Francisco indicate widespread damage.
san Jose. so miles south, lost many
buildings and from Is to 20 persons
were killed. The annex of the Ven-
dome hotel collapsed and fires broke.
out. Stanford University and Palo
Alto suffered greatly. At Stanford
many of the handsome buildings were
demolished and two persons were kill
ed. One of them was Julius Robert
Hanna, Of Bradford, Pa, and the other
was Otto Curtis. a fireman. The mem
orjaI church, one of the finest of its
kind in the world, is mass of ruins.
Six other students are lying in the
Palo Alto hospital with bruises, cuts
and internal injuries.
The court house at Redwood City and
other buildings collapsed. Menlo Park,
Burlingame and other fashionable
eplace suffered greatly.
The greatest destruction occurred in
that part Of the city which was re-
claimed from San Francisco Bay. Much
Of the devastated district was at one
time low, marshy ground covered by
water at high tide. As the city grew,
it became necessary to I'LL in many
acres Of this low ground in order to
reach deep water. The Merchants Ex-
change building, History steel struc-
ture, was situated on the edge of this
reclaimed ground. It was just COM
pleted, and the executive Offices of the
Southern Pacific company occupied the
greater part of the building.
The damage by the earthquake to the
residence portion Of the CITY, the finest
part Of which Is on Mob Hill and Pa
cific Heights, seems to have been slight.
on Mob Hill are the residences Of many
Of the millionaires who in the early
seventies became wealthy through
mining investments or the construction
of the Central Pacific railway They
include the stanfords, Hnntingtons.