The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1906-05-05
BY e. sCHNACK.


Among the passengers on the Ala
media were Mr.. and Mrs. F. Shipman
en- route to Australia. who were at the
! ST. Francis hotel at the time Of the
earthquake and the great fire, and who
had some most interesting experiences
Mr.. Shipman was the manager for Jes-
sic Maclachlan, the Scottish singer who
appeared i'm Honolulu a year ago. He
arrived at San Francisco the night be-
fore the earthquake and had apart
ments on the eleventh floor Of the ho-
tel.
II was awakened by the earthquake
at 5:13," he saird, land as soon as the
hotel became stationery went to the
window from which 1 could see the
hotel stairs crowded with guests-men,
women and Enthusiastically rush
ing down to the street in their night
clothes. 1t was the nearest thing to
J stampede that 1 have ever seen. After
getting dressed Mrs. Shipman and
went down stairs. On the steps we
; met man in pajamas, pale and breath
! less, who informed us that the city
was in flames in at least twenty diff
ferent places that the water-mains had
been broken by the earthquake and
, that the city was doomed to destruc-
! ton. When we reached the street at
: about Z o'clock we found Union Square,
opposite the hotel, crowded with peo-
J pie who were seated on trunks, boxes
: bedding, sewing machines, and other
household goods-all from homes which
had either collapsed or been burnt 1t
was not until then that I realized the
? seriousness of the situation. In the
. square lay the corpse of the pro-
/ prietress of the Geary hotel who had
. been killed in bed by having the roof
of the adjoining building fall through
e upon her. A hundred yards farther
? down on Geary street there was a
r three-story building whose front had
fallen down, exposing the sitting and
T living-rooms with all furnishings in
tact.
@ standing on Market street and look
o ing down Third we could see the
I flames rapidly eating their way to Mar
!, ket. At about $3.50 the militia marched
down Market, and stationing soldiers
y at intervals, placed the city under mar
! tial law. The crowds moved morbidly
up and down Market street, silent and
dazed, not fully realizing what was
happening, and merely watching the
, spread and approach of the devastating
flames. None seemed to want to speak.
> At one place we entered into a con-
, versation with three men, each one of
whom had lost all he. possessed, but
not person voluntarily made COM
plant or statement unless asked.
THE rear of Eilers music store was
the first building on Market street that
took fire, and from there it travelled
both ways. That was at about o'clock.
In another half an hour the Call build
. ing had caught fire. 1t was one of
the sadest sights of the day to see the
flames issuing from the sixth floor of
this building. Before the Call build
ing had ceased burning the Examiner
building broke out in flames. The
alace hotel, hich had water power of
Z it's own, was doing heroic work with
its small hose and seemed to have saw
ed the building, for the fire passed it
by. 1t was not until nearly o'clock
that the hotel caught fire in an unex-
} pected quarter and, in spite of all eff
forts was destroyed.
THE st. Francis hotel served an i'm
promptu breakfast of coffee and rolls
J and also served lunch-the last meal
served-which was well patronized as
it was the only hotel i'm the city where
meals might still be had. During
1 breakfast time while the tables were
filled there was another earthquake
and it took no more than three sec
onds to nearly empty the room. Ev-
# erybody was on the qui vive and il
d took very little to startle the people
l. Looking from the roof of the St
# Francis the streets presented an odd
% aspect: husbands and wives were car
Y rying bundles suspended from poles
$ on their shoulders, and all kinds of
= conveyances such as wheel-barrows
!. horseless vehicles, and in fact every
n thing that could be propelled by hui
e man motor power, were pressed into
: service. Upon these were piled house
|. hold effects of all kinds from trunks
. down to green parrots, and all travel
n led i'm the same direction-away from
y the flames by all the thoroughfares.
"At about o'clock the flames COW
!, cred apparently one-half the entire
:, city in a crescent shape. At 6 the Mis-
:, sion street end of the crescent seemed
d to have burned itself out while the
n wind carried the fire to the wholesale
d district and waterfront north of Mar
. ket. At 9 o'clock the fire was COM
e ing near the st. Francis hotel from
: both ends of the crescent, the north
!. end gaining more rapidly, as the wind
T was now coming from there. At 10 il
y seemed to me that it would be impos-
sible to save the st. Francis so 1 had
our five trunks and valises placed
G near the exit of the hotel to await
e emergencies. The bell-boys, more dead
B, than alive from the great demand upon
IS their services, for the elevators had
t been put out of commission by the
s earthquake, could hardly be prevailed
lunon IN hrinp nv two trunks from the