Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1906-05-23

Frank Turner, formerly Of Whining
,on now manager Of the San Francisco
.aees If the du pont Powder Co., has
,rritten an interesting letter, under date
II Nav 9Th, to friends in the local offices,
-;,.;ng vivid account Of his experiences
in me recent earthquake and his efforts
- save the company's effects from the
a. which followed. 81 was awake
a. the time of the earthquake" he writes,
abaving retired quite early the previous
evening. so lost no part OF the shock.
XIV wife and mother slept through a
ncrtion Of the shock which lasted AZ
ssconds. Meanwhile pictures, bric-a-brac
chandeliers. bricks from the chimneys,
rlastering and sundry other articles were
falling All around the room and upon the
bonse We dressed as rapidly as pos
sble and made our way to the street,
where we found plenty Of company in
iii conceivable costumes and dispositions
Al soon as [ was able to satisfy my mother
avid wife that there was no further danger
from repetition Of the earthquake, !
ate light breakfast, being unable to use
stowe on account of the destruction OF
III the chinnneys, and made my way down /
town In the direction OF the Office. None
n the street car lines was running and
the destruction of the business houses on !
Market street from Page to Second was
remarkable. Many who we're unable to
0st downtown and did not see this section
Fl the citv until after it was swept by
ne flames can have no idea Of how com
plete the destruction was to many build
ings and residences.
"On Second street between Market and
Mission. directly opposite the Wells-Eargo
Building. in which our offices were located,
a frame building Of three stories COM
pletev collapsed burying some 20 people
N the ruins Six dead were taken out
II this building before the fire reached
that point and stopped further work OF
rescue. As late as l.30, when | lett our
building for the last time, there was no
one man in the ruins whom they we're
talking to. and / understand that they
did not succeed III getting him out.
SAVING DU PoNT EFFECTS.
con nv arrival at the Office / found
that the building had been very
badly shaken by the earthquake. Every
niece Of marble was dislodged from
The wall and was lying on the tile floors
oi the halls which were broken and badly
loosened in many places. The plaster
ing had fallen in all the rooms and the
desks and furniture we're covered with
Il / found on hand a number Of the lanl-
tors who were buslv engaged IN sweeping
the offices. removing the debris, &c, At
that time the principal fire was only a
feV squares from Second and Mission,
the locality OF our office, and was lar
beyond the control Of the department,
although we did not think at that time
there was any possibility OF its reaching
the Wens-Fargo Building. | consequently
left the building and went to the telegraph
Office. a square and a half away, to send
several messages to my family in the East
and was Just coming out Of the telegraph
office when we had our second shock
about $50 | believe that this really
frightened the people more than the tlrst
one which was over before many realized
what had happened. The second shock
found nearly every one on the street anc
many buildings which had been shaker
in the first one fell from the second shock
"On nv return to the Office building
found that the fire was gaining rapid.
and such buildings as the Palace Hotel
Rialto and Crossley buildings, none o
which is more than two squares iron
Second and Mission, were doomed
gathered around me a number Of TN
employees, who had arrived in the mean
time. opened every safe and vault IN Tn
accounting department, removed all on
current books and started to carry then
down stairs to the basement, where
hoped to obtain a wagon to remove then
to a place of safety. About $50 ou
drayman and magazine keeper, Jane
Madden. arrived with a single team an
| can assure YOU that | was more tina
glad TO see him, as we had been unable 7
obtain a wagon Of any kind, ] havln
offered as high as 500 for wagon an
single horse. We succeeded IN gettin
Madden's wagon into the rotunda oi IN
Wells-Fargo Building, where we loade
i tup with the books and valuable paper
from the accounting department, altholug
he was unable to take many articl'
which we had carried down stairs, Whlo
! found impossible to get on the loa'
Madden and myself got on the wagon an
started out Of the building to place
s safety We found that in our excitemei
Of removing the things from the sai'
We had neglected to watch the fre, whl'
& had almost surrounded the bul'
ing and our only way lay directly throue
the tire for two squares. ms was p
trolled by policemen and soldiers az
It looked like hopeless task to save u
records, which we had worked 50 hal
to remove. While Madden drove
walked along side and talked with u
soldiers and explained that we were
the way to the magazine and would 7
turn with a wagonload Of pow der VIM
they we're badly in need OIL with u
explanation they not only passed us, b
helped us through the lines and
arriving at Second and Folsom we turn
the team over to Mr.. Madden's assista
and made onr way back TO the buildll