Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1906-04-27
AN AWFUL EXPERIENCE
MRS. O. B. cRowELL GRAPHIC.
ALLY DESCRIBES EARTHQUAKE
As It Was Felt in Benicia, Cal, Where
She and Her Son Are Visiting
Earth Quakcd as If 1t Were Living
Creature in Terrible Agony.

Creature in Terrible Agony.
Among the Brattleboro people to
whom the San Francisco calamity was
brought home forcibly was G. Is.
Crowell. whose wife and young son are
in Benicia, small town about 30 miles
from the ruined city, and Mrs. Gro
wells former home. As soon as he
heard of the earthquake last week
Wednesday, Mr.. Crowell telegraphed to
ascertain if his family were safe, but
he received no answer until Tuesday
of this week when a letter from Mrs.
Crowell, written few hours after the
disaster, arrived. The letter gives a
graphic description of the earthquake
as it was felt in Benicia, and portions
of it are printed herewith:
/ have laid aside my work for a while to
tell you about our awful experience this
morning Sitting out here in the still gar
den with the sun shining on the roses and
orange blossoms, II is hard to realize what
an awful experience we went through in the
early morning hours. In brief, the earth
quake has come once more. / will try to tell
YOU OF it as plainly as possible, and / am
my telling.
All SIS a. m. was awakened suddenly by
n strange fear. In a second slow, sicken'
ing. swaying OF the bed began, growing
stronger and harder quickly The house
ouiyered. rocked, then heaved and heaved-
literally the earth quaked as IL it were liy'
ing creature in terrible agony, now shaking
the house until the walls could be seen
swaying against the sky line; now, stili tor
A minute in long. quivering shakes. Win u
all went the terrible earthquake noise Ihere
is none like it, The sound of nails, I'm.
bers. and bricks straining together, ana
then something else, too, which cahhos
describe with words, swishng that was a
combination Of horrors A glass sitting far
hoek on nv table was flung into the air and
| crushed TO bits on the floor. ! had to cling
with all my strength to the bed 10 keep
from being thrown out. For two minutes
This continued, and il seemed IKE years.
then. with eonvulsion that made the TOO,
| fairly Shrek 1t stopped. Since them smaii
ouakes have been felt every few minutes
was in the big chicken.house few minutes
ago and Il rocked like leaf. Fearful daih'
age has been done even in town mere man!
waterfront houses are down. some Dig
damage has been done the dam; we know not
IA
from San Francisco. Great damage is
broken. so that we cannot get any message
fram San Francisco. Great damage is
fo,rod there. II is early yet, o. m, so
,b.t we hardly know what has been DONE
The hills are ringed with smoke from hres'
Martinez is said to be afre; certainly there
lis big blaze over there. We nave
inst discovered that our chimneys are all
| smashed We can light no fres.
Uater on. l2.S0) Just had another
earthquake at 11.S0 but ] was outside and
did mot feel il. Not so bad as the one TINS
| morning We have just returned Trom
viewing the waterfront. The town is
wreck Chimneys are gone everywhere
bouses cracked from end to end; some
royad many feet from their original posi-
tions. Buildings are tottering ready to fall
Mt any minute. II is safe to walk only IN
tho roads. In some places the lower stories
were simply wiped away and the upper
stories fell to the ground. In other places
the lower stories stand, and the upper ones
are gone entirely. Other buildings are one
indistinguishabe mass OF doors, windows
and roofs and there is not enough OF some
of them left to pay for the burning, ana
Benicia faired lightest OF all, nearly
The railroad track and whole marsh be
]
| and the bay has come in over it all. The
powder works exploded and the smoke from
| them is rising now. All the bay towns are
wrecked more or less No trains are run
ming. TT,
Phil has just returned from Stanford. lie
soys the Stanford geological board have de-
cided that Stanford was the center OF the
shock. The recording needle that registers
the vibrations up to six inches, jumped
clear off the board. 1t is the worst earth
| make ever felt here. just one little thing 70
show the force of 1t: A mammoth statue
stood in trent of Encina hall, and by 1t
broad. new very thick concrete walk Tne
statue was thrown head downward up "a
tbo waist right through the walk into the
eartb and stands there now upside dowr'
seemingly unbroken. Stanford has sunk nve
feet and in all that great university ohi!
two were killed, Does it not seem as II
miracle had happenedl If you could near
what wonderful escapes there were, no"
b,ocks Of stone feet through fell through
rooms; how a few seconds after the ov'
students from Encina hall had fed down the
main stairway, the main chimney fell the
same way. how the floor Of Roble, girls
hall fell and the girls went safely down
with it. how the roof fell on eight boys and
Phil helped dig them out, and they were
alive.
The town here is full of strangers; peo
n,e without food or clothing, terror strick
en-. Everyone is feeding everyone else, ano
lending money. Food prices are very high
Yesterday Mr.. Crowell received
from his wife second letter, written
April 10, from which the following ex
tract is taken:
Thursday evening. A day of fearful sus
pense. Four small shocks were felt durins
tbe night but none since a. m. we stayet
outdoors as late as we dared but at mia
night the dew became so heavy we wer,
forced to go indoors because of the baby
was utterly exhausted, and slept for hours
though it was with sensation of the mos
intense fear / have ever felt in my life
Across the blackness of the night above tn
Port Costa hills stretched blaze OF bloo'
red clouds, constantly rising and falling, tn
smoke from burning San Francisco; and con
stantly came the boom of the dynamite a
thew blew up block after block OF the city
That was last night, and tonight, after
long day. when the smoke is hanging heavie
, and heavier over the hills and the booming
has been almost continuous, tonight ther
is hardly any city left--either to burn
blow up.
The Vermont Methodist conference in ses
} sion at Morrisville Saturday voted to rails
S12. 600 as contribution to the fund
, SIS. 600 that must be raised in order to sc
cure a gift of $50,00o from D. K. Pearson
J for the Methodist seminary at Montpelier.
Iohn ALEXANDER Dowie has refused the al