The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-29
PRISONERS BURIED IN CELLS
WHEN EARTHQUAKE WRECKED
HAIL or JUSTICE TOHER.

| 400 Men, Accused Of Serious Offences,
Shifted From Place to Place for Days
without Food or Drlnk-Saw Man
Held fn Fire,s Track shot'BF Brother
Elwin Z, Clark, a p~risonsr in the Hall
OF Justice In San Francisco at the time
Of the earthquake, arrived at Police Head
! quarters last evening and told the story OF
his experiences. Clark was arrested IN
San Francisco on a charge OF grand larceny
and held to await the arrival OF a detective
from New York. He said; .
Il was locked In Il steel cell on the fifth
floor Of the Hall Of Justice with about one
hundred and eighty other prisoners. When
Nthe first shock came. the tower Of the build
ing sank, butying the cells under many
feet Of debris. The first impression OF
the prisoners was that the building had
been dynan!ted by The friends OF a muir
derer whom we knew TO be among OUR num-
Der. Then some Of the old timers yelled
~'earthIHakel' and the prisoners went crazy
with FRIGHT ~.. .~,r-~------.
"r!s was at 5l3 A. NJ, and as all-the al
tendants fled from the building at that
time and didn' return until 9 o'clock the
pri oncrs we're almost ohoked with dust
before we were dug out.
When they got us out Of the building
we were lined up in a little park outside
and kept under o guard OF militia. There
| was wreck and ruin all around US. 1 saw
one man pinned under some timbers. His
iiead and the upper part OF his body were
free and as the fire approached he begged
TO he shot. A cop fired twice, but missed
hntb tip,au orI than fnintnH The Inn
prisoned mans brother picked up the
! ponceInaps revolver and fired one sure
shot, He gave himself up to the police,
but was allowed to go.
while we were standing in the park,
Judge Cavanagh came along and dis
missed all the prisoners who were held
for petty offences. Over a hundred OF us
were left. We were marched through
the streeta to the Broadway county jail,
where we were left until Thursday morning
Then the fire was getting pretty close and
they marched us to Fort Masone, sven miles
away.
Later In the same day we were put on
board a steamer and sent to the San Quen-
tin prison. The warden of the prison
seeing us under guard of the soldiers re-
fused to let us land, saying that we must
be Government prisoners. We steamed
back to San Francisco, but when we got
there the fire was nearing the shore and
the docks were so crowded with people
that the officers dared not land. We
anchored off the, docks and the next day,
Friday, were landed on Aicatraz Island
where we got the first bite to eat and the
first drink Of water since olrr prison supper
the Tuesday night before ,
"The island IS a small affair, and heard
several Of the officers say that it sank three
feet and seven inches during the earth
quake. A great crack ran nearly across
the island, While there | paid $l,5o for
an Oakland paper and gave my last dollar
for a five cent package Of tobacco.
learned that the Hart apartments, at 15o
had been wrecked in the first shock, n
decided that there we're worse places h
prison. ,
Detective Sergeant Snyder Of the Central
Office, who brought Clarke from San Fran
cisco, was in the city at the time OF the
shock and worked with the local police.
1t was his first trip out of town TO get q
prisoner.