The Hawaiian gazette., 1906-05-08

STANFORD UNIVERSITY, April "a.
Tuesday evening, April II, came
warm and peaceful. Now as / look
back on II. it was earthquake wealth
er," silent, still, with the air close and
calculated to make one feel uneasy or
restless. But there was no thought Of
disaster.
Hardly had daylight OF Wednesday
broken when there was a crash. an un-
earthly din, rumbling and creaking
and a subterranean roar. Thrown from
my bed I rose dazed and wondering.
My room mate. an Fastener, was tug
ging frantically at the door and
screaming for help. The door was stuck
hut we threw ourselves against II and
fell headlong into the hall. Down
stairs we raced and sprang through
smashed window. In an instant, where
silence had reigned the minute before,
pandemonium was let loose and the
campus was peopled. Our fraternity
house had Jared the worst as we found
when people came running to our as
sstance thinking some of us had been
killed. The house had been thrown
ten feet from its foundations, all the
chimneys were down and the windows
broken. Inside the place was COM
pletely wrecked.
After the excitement we returned to
the house found enough clothes to get
dressed and then hurried to the Quad.
Not until then did we realize what we
had passed through, not until then did
we realize that we had been in one
of the worlds great earthquakes. There
lay the Memorial church, million ana
half dollar edifice, the most beautl-
full church i'm America, in ruins. me
huge steeple, the clock tower ana
chimes lay in the middle of the Quad.
The smokestack of the engineering
building lay i'm the court near the
church, and the smaller buildings near
by We're crashed into shapeless mass
At one place men We're frantically dig
ging into a heap searching for the body
of the night engineer. He could have
saved himself. but he returned to his
post to shut off the steam and elec-
tricity and save the buildings from
burning.
All along the Quadrangle could be
seen evidences of the damage wrought
by the tembor Buildings were crack
ed and i'm some places the arcade has
fallen in. But from the front of the
University the view was one never to
be forgotten. one end of the magniii-
cent Memorial Arch had been torn
away. the other end was cracked near
" TO the base. To the right lay the
ruins of the half completed library, the
steel dome only raising its head above
the wreckage. Further along lay an
almost unrecognizable mass of twisted
steel and stone. This was the remains
of the nearly completed gymnasium, "a
500. 900 structure and the pride of the
University The broad marble steps
were intact, but wreckage was plled
high on top. At the entrance to the
building formerly stood two marble
statues representing the boxer ana
the wrestler. The latter was lying
prone upon the steps face downwards'
his arm in front of his face as though
shielding his eyes from the aWful slSht'
Across the arboretum and driveway
stood the museum and chemistry build
ings. Two wings of the former had cav
ed i'm. destroying the Egyptian exhibit
and many valuable paintings In the
other wing were destroyed or badly
damaged. All the chimneys, about
thirty, had been knocked from the
chemistry building and the upper story
had been torn open revealing mass OF
apparatus and wreckage. Continuing
to the west end of the quad one no.
ticed peculiar action of the earthJ
quake. on the second story of the
science and philosophy building once
stood a marble figure of Agassiz. This
had been thrown from its pedestal and
had plunged head first through the
pavedent burying the head about four
feet in the soil leaving the feet eX-
tending into the air.
Falling chimneys damaged Roble
Hall the girls dormitory, to some eX-
tent, but not seriously. one chimney
crashed through to the lower floor car
rying down Miss Ruth Blodgett OF
Bakersfield and Miss II. Gilbert, 'OS,
and Miss +. NJ. Davis '0S. Almost
miraculously they escaped with scarce
ly a scratch.
1t was in Encina Hal that condi-
tions were the worst. There were over
three hundred boys sleeping in the
four-story dormitory and at the first
crash there was mad rush to safety,
AT one place chimney had fallen
through to the basement, going through
four floors. There was no doubt but
what students were beneath the wreck
age and rescue party was organized
and relays of thirty men began tear
ing away the debris. Hundreds stood
by hoping against hope that no one
was killed. Finally cries and groan'
were heard far down seemingly in Tho
bowels of the earth. At last the FIRST
man was reached ana carefully lifteo
out and hurried 10 the hospital. A. w
Frolli, 'o9 was generally injured: NJ $
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