The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-05-06
271 Lisbon Street,
San Francisco, Cal,
April 25th. 1906.

fourteen minutes after five o'clock
zhs city of San Francisco and the
s4zrrounding country was subjected to
az earthquake shock of vigor and
44zration unprecedented in the history
ri California Shocks. diminished IN
-aoree. bit beyond the average, have
as<sntInued since the first severe tenn
Alor, this morning at six O'Clock, one
geek after the initial fatality, the
ssity having been visited by a sharp
quake. which aside from the continued
alarm and nervousness produced by
these reeurrent quiverings of the earth,
zas not without its usefulness in
bringing down the dangerous standing
gals of the burned district.
The effect of the first shock on We'd
uesstiav morning was tremendous. Tall
Business blocks swayed, and where not
asat of steel, twisted and split, por-
z5ans of them falling to the ground.
The City Hall, built at the cost OF
.zassHv millions, was wrecked The
dome stood intact on a skeleton frame
Eork. while the main buildings were
shattered and buried beneath debris.
Stat buildings were cracked from their
Tuuu5a tions. The morasses on which
nany portions of the city We're built
hefpeti to wreck the buildings over
1kern. Stately Van Ness avenue was
twisted, crevasses opened, and on Va
Hxeia street an hotel slipped into a
-Tawning void, carrying with it its occu-
pants TO instant and horrible death
Many smaller buildings collapsed, in
some cases the front was taken off
Asusss exposing the rooms within like
sn opened doll IS house. The churches
Esre not spared. roofs crashed in and
zteeples fell. Hardly chimney in
town remained. The power houses were
demolished water mains distorted and
escaping gas caused many subterranean
explosions. Car tracks were torn up
ard twisted. In Oakland and Berkeley
71e shock was less severe. Alcatraz
4sland alone felt no tremor. At Stan
ford many of the fine buildings were
eompletely ruined. San jose was Sc
rareIy damaged, also Santa Rosa. The
shock ran east and west with circu
lar motion that created most of the de-
xastation Northward Sacramento was
AsharIRed. Southern cities knew moth
ing of the first quake and felt in but
minor fashion a tremblor twelve hours
Iater In my own fiat on Hyde street,
overlooking the Golden Gate and four
stories up the shaking was terrific, the
effect, to use homely simile, resem-
bIsd nothing SO much as the feeling a
zat must have on being shaken by a
terrier Destruction seemed imminent,
and the duration of the shock, some
faty-fve seconds, seemed at least FIVE
minutes Pictures crashed from the
walls, crystal from shelves, chimneys
7efE through ceilings, heavy furniture
@esved across rooms. Our house was
cracked from top DO bottom. Alright
zEed people rushed into the street in
scaaty zaiment. refusing to return, their
gexrur accumulated by continued shocks.
Some clothed themselves in newspapers,
sgfhers shivered in the early morning
al some more courageous returned to
elothe themselves and bring raiment |
for the timid. Dressing was completed |
IA tina streets. Gradually calm returned /,
AID people started to seek for friends |
w view the damage done TO the bust |
zess quarter. From the roof of our |
Dat, the ruined dome of City Hall |
showed the possible extent of the dis |
zsfeF while columns of smoke from /
Earlous quarters limited at terrors yet !
10 come. AS yet, however, there seemed |
go danger of a confagration. The day
was calm and fine and the facts that |
there was 70 water to fight the flames
md that Fire Chief Sullivan had been
rushed by a falling wall had not be-
sofae generally known.
N0t long. however, did this apparent
security from a general holocaust last.
By nine o'clock the aspect was serious.
/ side from the isolated eases where
szlllylg lamps or carly stoves had caused
le dameS To start, the densely popu-
atcd district south of Market street
gere soon in a general blaze. Crossed i
leetrfc wires and escaping gas were
accountable for the origin ,
I much of the fire. and the infammable
z3rsTIal of stores, and above all, the ,
aek of water. showed that the trembIor ,
nj its effects were but a 1.-THE of the f
iSaSterS 70 come. The business blocks :
aSt of SansOme, occupied by the whole +
Sic merchants, speedily became grave I +
leraee. and the force of fremen. splen- /
ely r;tNving despite the loss of their p
aief, was soon found inadequate in the Q
Zee Of the fires starting in every direc- !
on. Minor contia gratfuns. indeed, had +
! be left 10 what amateur methods 4
21ld accomplish Early in the fore :
son the artillery from the Preside =
lIne m. deserving their big guns. many
which lie still dismantled from the "
.gsk- Cavalry, artillery caissons load h
with dynamite. infantry. militia. all 8,
rmed 20 the rescue. Automobiles did G
'bie work in conveying injured to re- a
# stations. Wagons loaded with .,
5ods, and frightened draught horses o
me pouring out of the burning quar- a,
T. Reports of shocks to Chicago and :,
= Louis. of possible disaster North a,
ID South. among them rumor If I1i
onoiuiu slipping into the sea. with II
current shocks of earthquake, spread r.
rror wideeasr. And vet from start %
end the behavior of the populacc was u,
lie. cool and hopeful, ready to accept II
e worst and commence afresh. gener- HI
: with AID to each other and amen n,
lie to order. Unfortunate occurrences f.
ere have been, but they are few in n