Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-04-20
City Of the Golden Gate Shaken Down
By Earthquake
fire COMPLETES The DEVASTATION

in the history of the United states.
The catastrophe occurred al about D
o'clock Wednesday morning before the
people had gotten out OF their peds.
| One terrific shock was succeeded In
rapid succession by others and great
buildings in all parts of the city went
tumbling down on the occupants, KILL
ing and wounding thousands; how
many cannot be definitely known Tor
days. Immediately following the earth
quake shocks came innumerable nres'
and they are still raging. The subur-
ban towns Immediately about the city
were also badly damaged ana the city
of Los Angeles, also near the coast
several hundred miles south, was also
pra ctically ruined. The property loss
to San Francisco alone is thought to be
at least $200,000,000, and the loss to
other cities and towns Is hardly less.
The first shock came without warm
ing. There was the usual slight trem-
or steadily increasing in violence un-
| I'll tall buildings began to sink In plies
of ruins, and smaller structures began
to fall to pieces as If put together with
out mortar. In the case or many OF tne
great steel ribbed buildings the brick
Veneering fell off and out, leaving only
| the huge skeletons, and in many cases
with numbers of dead underneath
The street car tracks through the
crooked, narrow. hilly streets were torn
and twisted and buried under demol-
ished buildings and detached coping,
etc The people thus shaken from thelr
lLeds rushed into the streets and con-
fronted with the destruction on all
sides were thrown into panic and
despair from which they have not yet
recovered.
San Francisco had one of the best
L T., 16n nrl1
being something like 100,00,OOO gal
Ions a day; but the irresistible force
by which the earth was rent and up
heayed broke the mains and water was
soon pouring out in hundreds of places.
| The gas mains were also broken In the
streets and in the demolished houses,
and within a short time, fires began to
blaze up in. every direction. Fire
Chief Sullivan was killed in the early
morning by the falling cupola or the
California hotel in which he was Sleep
| ing. and his assistant rang in gen
eral alarm; but II was of no avail. The
firemen responded in various places;
but there being no water available
nothing could be done. Later the fire
men had recourse to dynamite and en-
deavored to blow still intact buildings
out the way to keep them from 1ur-
nishing food for the onrushing fiames f:
but with little success, for not only ala
| the ruin thus wrought frequently catch
| fire, but flames came up from other
directions and completed the destruc-
| ton that the dynamite was INTENDED
to prevent. Artillery was used for the
same purpose with the same result.
Whole blocks were shot down but In
most cases fire got among the ruins
all the same.
| Within a short time after the deVel-
opment of the disaster, the mayor real
lied that the civil authorities would be
unable to maiNtain order, and he ask
ed the help of tha military. General
| Funston in command of the troops
posted at the Pre- Sidio. came over and
established martial law as far as pos
sible. Hundreds of thieves were en-
gagged In looting the exposed stores
shops and banks, etc, and General
Funston gave orders that all looters
caught II the act were to be shot down
on the spot. During Wednesday four
looters were thus summarily executed
and several have been killed since
The troops helped the police In remov-
ing the dead and wounded and caring
for the people as well as possible.
All the railroads running into San
| Francisco were put out OF business
with the first shocks. In the case OF
some of them their road beds sunk
down four or five feet for a distance OF
several miles. The panic stricken peo-
ple realizing that they were homeless
and that provisions would necessarily
run short made first for the railroads
and then for the bay; but being un-
able to get conveyance at either place
thousands Of them began leaving town
on foot and other thousands sought the
parks, and higher ground. The mill
tary furnished all the tents and sup
plies that were then available and have
other supplies on the way.
San Francisco is spread out along
the water front. slOpng from the low
lands Immediately on the bay, back to
higher lands in the rear, the space In
between being very rough and hilly
Most of the provision stores and tene-
ment houses of which latter there are
thousands are on the low lands and
made grounds next to the water
These probably suffered more severely
and there were more deaths here than
elsewhere, also more complete ruin by
fire. There were quite a number of
magnificent public buildings in the
seven or eight million dollars. The
city hall was one of the finest and 1t
was ruined. The Equitable building,
costing over a million went down. The
great newspaper offices We're demOlish-
ed. and i'm fact most all of the public
buildings of consequence, except the
mint were destroyed. The palaces of
la number of millionaire families
Fairs. Floods. Stanfords, Huntingtons
and others on Mob Hill. escaped for the
time being with but little damage,
News yesterday was to the effect that
thev had commenced to burn.
1t Is estimated that not less than
100000 people are homeless in San
| Francisco alone and the ruin is pro-
portionately great I'm all the coast
country to the south as far as and
beyond Los Angeles. The estimates
of San FranciSco's deaths. vary from
1000 to 5000: but this only a mat
ter of guess. Immediately upon con-
vening Wednesday morning. congress
passed resolution apprOpriating the
sum of $1.000.000 to be- expended un-
der the direction Of the secretary of
war for the benefit of the sufferers
Meetings are being held in various
cities of the United States and Eu-
rope for the purpose of raising relief
funds. New York has already raised
$500, 900 for the benefit of the suffer
ers and the fund is still growing
One firm gave $4,000. another $780,
600 and third $4,000.
Facts About San Francisco.
In 1900 San Francisco was city
Of some $4,000 souls. 1t Is not the
capital of California, but it is the
chief city of the state and Of the Pa
cific coast. In 1900 it ranked ninth
among the one hundred largest cit
les of the United States.
:. The city is located on q hilly. SAN
dy. rocky and treclcSS peninsula
which is thirty miles in length and
six miles across at the city. and
which cuts off san Francisco bay
from the Pacific ocean. The greater
portion of the peninsula is wholly
unfit for. cultivation. and it was evil
IDENTITY not intended by nature that
it should be used for residential pur-
poses. Millions of dollars were spent
i'm grading and other improvements
San Francisco bay Is about sever
miles in width opposite the city and
about twelve miles i'm width at the
widest point The bold and rugged
shores of the Golden Gate rise on the
north as high as 1000 feet in places
while on the south they ar" from 300
to 400 feet in height. Many of them
are covered with shifting white sand