Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1906-04-24
THE GREAT HORROR.
Eye-WitneSSeS Tell Their Stories
in the Oregonian.

as later oD.
With no water on hand it soon
become apparent that the fremen
were incapable of checking the
fire and they resorted to dyna-
mite while we were waiting for
the departure of the ferry boat
The situation looked very
gloomy, and 1 began to realize
that San Francisco's great COM
mercial district was doomed"
H. K. Dent. a travelling man
from Seattle, formerly of Port
land, one fortunate enough to
get out of San Francisco, occu-
pied a room in the now DESTROYED
Palace Hotel. He said last night :
II was awakened from a sound
sleep by the most terrific shock
that could be imagined. Plaster
from the ceiling fell like rain and
it seemed as if the entire building
would collapse. Oh, the entire
scene beggars description" he
continued.
'.People rushed to the great
corridor below, some scantily at
tired, some in pajamas, and even
others 1t that we'll clothed. In
the lobby everything was confu-
sion. Women and children, who
carried wearing apparel in their
arms, commenced to clothe them
selves, but hardly any attention
was paid to any of them. 1t look
ed like everyone for himself.
Alter the first few minutes every
oue was apparently aware of
what had happened and the wild
est confusion fol owed. :.
"Among the hundreds that
were quartered in the Palace
Hotel were members. of The Con-
reid Opera Company, all of whom
seemed more panic-stricken than
others. I could not understand
exactly what was said, as they
spoke in French, but if gesticu-
lations could speak 1 could come
pretty near guessing every word
that passed between them. The
men and women of the company
were rushing about the lobby in
their night lothing, gesticulat-
ing wildly, rushing up to first
one and the other, apparently
mot knowing which way to turn
or what to do.
when 1 had got few per-
soual possessions together and
reached the streets the sight was
horrible. Several of the dead
were stretched out on the streets.
the sidewalks were torn up in
places, the streets seemed to be
barricaded with huge piles of de-
bris, and live electric wires were
hanging down everywhere.
GA regular panic seemed to
have taken hold of every one,
and men and women were
wandering around, disregarding
the falling stones, in a dazed
manner. The greatest amount
of damage at that time appeared
to be in the downtown districts
and along the water front. 1
believe that hundreds of people
lost their lives, especially those
who lived in the tenement district.
These buildings collapsed like
eggshells. I noticed one woman
apparently more than SO years
old, crawling along the sidewalk
with blood streaming from her
head and her clothing almost
torn from her body. This is
only one of the numerous scenes
that I observed while on my
way to the ferry.
policemen, however. worked
like beavers. Automobiles could
be seen on every hand, convey
ing injured persons to the hos
pitals. Every sort of vehicle
was pressed into service to carry
the dead and injured away. At
many places I had to pick my
way over heaps of rubbish, over
uprooted poles and around live
wires, in order to get to the ferry.
l reached the ferry when the
third and last load of passengers
was crossing to Oakland.
learned that the FIRST boat crossed