Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1906-05-18
HOW SAN JOSE FARED
IN THE EARTHQUAKE
Former Resident OF Ora nts Pass
Describes Scenes Dur
ing the Shock.

some of the damage done by the earth
quake on the 18th Of April. I was
asleep when the first heavy shock
came and woke me. / jumped out
Of bed, had not any more than touched
the floor until / was hurled with
violence into the bed; was rooming
on the first floor of two-story fiat.
II seemed as though the house would
crash at any time and yet, realized
there was no use trying to get out as
there were large two-story buildings
on either side which were Just as
liable to fall as the one 1 was in, so
staid where / was until all was over
then got out and went down town to
view the wreck and watch the fire
which had broken out 10 large
grocery store on South Second street,
which destroyed about thrce-fourths
of the block before the firemen could
get control over 1t, The financial
loss in San Jose has been estimated
at %, 600, ,0C0; loss Of life, 20, seven OF
whom were in one building, room
ing house on Locust street. Nearly,
il not all, the public buildings were
damaged city hall, walls are cracked
aud bricks have fallen out in different
parts of structure on outside; do not
know what damage is on inside as l
have not been in it since the quake,
but they are using some, if not all,
portions of the building now. Post
Office was injured it is claimed to the
extent of $35, 900; court house, hall of
records, hall of justice, public
library, normal school were all dam
aged, the normal school having been
condemned high school was so badly
wrecked that it will have to come
down. Horace Mann school on Santa
Clara st rect h as b g con-
demned; Notre Dame college and st.
Mary's school damaged; Saint Joseph s
church, across the street north of the
postoffice damaged, while st. Patrick 8
church on Santa Clara street fell fat
to the ground. First street. the finest
street in San Jose, lined on either side
with large and substantial buildings,
il trembling wreck from one end to
the other through business part do
not believe there is n single structure
in all that Ion & line of buildings that
has not been damaged by the shake.
Walls are cracked in many instances
ON the second and third Stories view
ed from the street and judging from
the bricks, plastering, etc, that is be-
ing run down into the streets, in
ohutes made for that purpose, they
surely must have been damaged a
great deal inside. believe every
street you walk ON in the business
part Of the town you will see struo-
lures pped with heavy
props to keep them from falling while
men are working ON them. Every.
where you go there are broken
stones, heaps of brick and tangled
wires. Three-fourths of the fues and
chimneys are down in the town, some
Of which went through the roof and
some of the chimneys went down into
the basements, some of the dwelling
houses fell fiat. covering the inmates
with debris, others were thrown off
the foundation and sit fiat on the
ground while many are twisted and
thrown out Of shape so will have to
come down. Three of the largest
mems and boys clothing stores in the
town fell fat. saw them take the
body of one man out who was killed
in u falling building on First street,
two more people, ladies. were injured
in same building. It is reported that
some Of the large brick buildings will
be taken down piece by piece while
others will be blown down by dyna-
mite. The annex to the vendome
Hotel is mass Of ruins, one man kill
ed there while two or three were
taken out from ruins alive. l was
there when they took one injured
man out He called and told them
about where to find him. One fruit
packing house near depot collapsed
Depot building was damaged; the
State Asylum at Agnews collapsed.
something more than 100 lives lost
there, doctors, nurses and patients
| was out there about p, m. and saw
IL bodies lying ON the ground with
blankets thrown over them. waiting
for the undertaken to take them away
and prepare them for burial helped
them 10 take one man out of the
ruins, who had fallen from third story
of building and had been covered up
under the ruins from about $40 =. m.
until about $3.50 p. m He was still
alive and although covered with lime,
did not seem 20 be seriously injured. Z
We carried him to the operating table
and after he had been washed and /
given hasty examination. he sat up
and looked around. San Jose did not 7