Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-01-22
STORIES az SURVIVORS.
(continued from Page one.)
unfortunate woman crushed TO death
shortly before the flames con,n,e,sd

Luez, OF New York, whom Mrs. Craig
was chaperoning. Mrs. Craig in mar
rating their experiences gave some
thriiiine details. She said she was in
her room in the Myrtle hotel and had
Just awakened from an afternoon nap.
| shortly after $50 o'clock her room
| started to sway and at the suggestion
| OF her husband, who is an invalid, she
| crawied under the bed to escape the
nying furniture. Somehow, later she
and her husband found themselves in
the street. They had hurried down
| a stairway and were thrown the rest
| OF the distance in the midst of show
er OF debris until dazed and bruised
| they stumbled along the highway,
blindly heading for the sea. Mrs.
Craig's feet were bleeding, and as she
had no shoes or stockings on, she suf-
fered considerably as she moved along
over the mass Of broken wood and
brick. On the way to the sea many
dead and hundreds of wounded were
sighted, many Of them pinioned under
demolished buildings and others vainly
seeking to escape from their prison,
while flames which had started threat
ened to destroy them. There was,
however, no time to succor the injured,
as the earth was trembling, almost
constantly. it seemed and they believ-
cd their only safety was in reaching
the water. Mr.. Craig wore pair OF
slippers, but the journey had exhaust
ed him.
II shall never forget" said Mrs.
Craig, the self sacrifice at this time,
of a little negro from the hotel. He
himself had been terribly injured IN
the collapse Of the hotel, and we found
him beside the water front, his feet
mangled and bleeding. He insisted that
Mr.. Craig should take his shoes and
my husband put them on, giving me
his slippers. Then we staggered on
again, planning to reach the asylum
grounds, where l knew there was
great open space. On arriving there,
we saw that the sea which had been
heaving back and forth, had now in
creased in tumult, and we feared that
a tidal wave might reach us even ar
| the asylum. We walked up the hill
| to the home of a friend, but when we
entered the garden, we found that our
friend had been killed and the members
of the family badly injured. That
night we spent on the lawn outside, al
though we did not sleep. The next day
we stumbled back to the water front.
hoping to reach a steamer.
| ION the way we encountered MISC
Luez, who had had a miraculous es-
cape from the ruins of the hotel and
had been wandering about the stricken
city until she met her friend"
| Mr.. and Mrs. Craig brought back
with them from Jamaica a Jamaica
girl, and Sam Taylor. a negro. both of
whom had worked for them at the
hotel, and both Of whom lost all their
worldly possessions and are absolutely
homeless. Taylor distinguished him.
self after the first earthquake, by as
sisting many people from the demolish-
ed Myrtle Bank hotel. and served the
Craigs by recovering a great part of
their baggage and all of Mrs. Craig's
jewelry. When told of the action of
Governor Swettenham in his reported
action in requesting Rear Admiral Da-
Wis to withdraw the American forces,
Mr.. Craig said:
II am not surprised in the least.
knew Governor Swettenham very well
both socially and in a business way.
He was a delightful, cultured man to
meet, socially, but in his business
methods he was at times somewhat pc
Culiar. l believe assistance was need
ed at that time. Everything was con-
fusion. and the local authorities
though doing splendidly. were only HUI
man ard disciplined help OF any kind
was needed badly"
One young man from Pittsfield, H
/ bn Ill
he had on. He said:
| II was in street car when the big
shake came. The car began to rock vio-
lently and houses back in the city went
down, and then smoke began to arise.
didn't notice any great panic. The ma
tives were mostly squatting down on the
ground praying The Americans and Eu-
rOpeans pitched in where help was need
cd and I saw some pretty brave work
done. But you could not persuade any
of the negroes to go inside a house.
when / reached my hotel 1 found it
in ruins. When left the hotel my room
was on the top floor. but after diligent
search I found what was left Of it down
in the basement. 1 walked about the city
and got SO accustomed to bodies lying
about I did not think of them. I guess
there must have been more than 1905
without stretching the facts any. In ono
short walk I encountered 400 dead. The
native troops were all right. did not SEE
much looting and then 1 heard there was
some shooting. I did not see or hear
any myself"
8. Gutman, a shoe merchant of this
city, said he was on the upper floor of a
| large large shoe store when the shock
came and of all in the building at that
time he alone escaped by sliding down
the banister of a spiral staircase.
Some idea of the earthquake a whole
was given by w. E. Ball and w. D. JUS
tus, both Of Asheville, n. c., who es-
capped after thrilling experience.
Lorenzo B. Baker. the president Of the
Cape Cod Co., of this city. with Mrs. Ba-
ker was in the Myrtle Bank hotel at tho
time of the disaster but escaped unhurt
They were in their lodging house near
the harbor when the first shock occurred
The bed collapsed under Them Then the
building cracked and opened directly in
front Of them. They dashed through the
al fnS1