Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1906-04-24

but the third and last boat tha'
was allowed by the authorities to
leave for Oakland was loaded tt
the rails. When the extent Of
the catastrophe was realized, peo-
pie by the hundreds tried to get
out of the city, but their escape
was shut off.
"Before I left the city I believe
that I could have counted more
than a score of fires, which seem
ed to break out in every direction.
A small blaze, not larger than a
hat, would appear in the lower
floor oe a frame building, and in
an instant the structure would
be mass of fire. Everything
appeared to burn like tinder
and l am not surprised to learn
that 6re devastated the entire city.
Fred A. Kribs, the well known
lumberman, was in San Francisco
the night befo,e the earthquake,
but went up to Sacramento, and
was there when the series of
shocks occurred that wrought
such havoc. He caught the
northbound train at Davisville,
and reached here last night.
~ was at the Capital Hotel
in Sacramento" said Mr.. Kribs,
in describing the matter after his
arrival, ''and was aroused from
my slumbers by the awful din
and confusion incident to the
shocks. Of course it was no
comparison to what they ex-
perienced in San Francisco, but
it was certainly bad enough.
"The Federal building, at
Seventh and K streets. in which
are located the post-ofhce, land
Office and internal revenue
Office, was badly damaged, and
other structures throughout the
city were more or less injured.
The dome of the Catholic Cathe-
dral, which looms up above
that of the State Capital building,
swayed and shook like a reed,
and everybody expected it to
fall at-aay moment. 4..s
THE reports from San Fran
cisco aroused intense excitement
in Sacramento, the two places
being closely identified by COM
mercial and social ties. When
1 left in the afternoon of We'd
nesday they were already discus
sing the feasibility of circulating
a regular petition, and I know
they will come through all right
in that respect. I feel proud
of Portland for what she has
done in this direction, and you
can count on me for a good SUBJ
scription.
ION the train coming up 1
met several persons who were in
the midst of the earthquake in
San Francisco, all of whom gave
graphic accounts of their exper-
fences. A travelling man named
| Wilkinson told me that looking
up Market street from the ferry
building it seemed as if the car
tracks had beer twisted by some
gigantic human process, and
practically every building on
each side OF thoroughfare as far
as the eye could reach was out Of
plumb in some way.
"Along Kearney street, he
said the ground appeared sunken
in spots, indicating that it must
have settled badly, although far
removed from the flled-in dis
trict."
~ am sure the building rock
ed several feet" said John
Bentley, who with his wife and
two children were staying in the
Winchester Hotel, on Third near
Market street. "We were almost
thrown out of our beds, and then
there came a shower of plaster
and window glass. We rushed
out after having dressed hurriedly
and found things in terrible
condition. Debris everywhere.
Dead horses here and corpses of
men there. The police called
every passing vehicle into service
and we saw wagon loads of dead
being hauled away. One auto
mobile had bodies piled up like
cordwood.