The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-06-23
WRECKED BY QUAKE.

WktGkEU b1 QUAM.
Icontinued from Page onel
ness to open places, where they
camped for the night.
In FL Centre the police Immediately
took charge of the situation. Side
walks were roped off to prevent acct
dents from walls rendered shaky
Mounted armed guards protected
property from looting.
Brick Buildings Leveled.
Several small brick buildings on
Main street were leveIed.
The Masonic Temple and the new
Barbara Worth hotel in Ell Centre
We're damaged: Fire destroyed the
Delta Mercantile company's whole
sale plant. The Ell Centre hotel an
mex collapsed.
Early reports of heavy loss of life
at Ca1exico, Cal, were promptly dis
posed of by a message from the West
ern Union manager today stating that
three buildings were wrecked by the
earthquake, but with no fatalities.
AT Imperial, Cal, one side of the
McHenry theater was bent inward and
the entire structure threatens to col
lapse momentarily.
The Globe mills are reported to
have burned. The Brawley, Cal, high
school was damaged. The earthquake
overturned a lantern in the house of
tween Heber and Ell Centre, and the
resulting fire destroyed the place.
First Shock Most Severe.
The roar of the trembler below the
border was the first warning the peO-
pie of the valley had. That was about
most severe.
Two others followed
After the first shock the stricken
towns were in darkness, except for
= icI,f icI, Cd Ixy hi hr1i1
ings. The greatest confusion reigned
everywhere. Ranchers and city resi-
dents who had homes last night today
found themselves in open fields beside
roadways or irrigation bitches.
AS far as can be learned, the shocks
were Severest down at the border and
below the border, and grew less and
less the farther north they came, so
that Calipatria and INLAND appear to
have been only injured slightly; less
than the towns in the south end of the
valley.
The earthquake extended all the
way to Yuma, AriZ. The duration of
the first shock was about thirty Sec
onds This was followed half an hour
later by a second shock almost as
severe as the first. The third shock
was less severe.
Plate glass windows, flimsy brick
walls and hollow tile structures were
more or less damaged.
None Dead in Imperial Valley.
No one in Imperial valley was kill
ed. The five reported to have lost
their lives in Mexicah were killed
when a wall fell. Fifty deputies took
here and patro1led the town.
The fire truck patrolled the streets
ready to extinguish fires that sprang
up constantly.
Telegraph and telephone service
were Immediately stopped. The tele-
phone company set up a service board
in the vacant lot back of a building
and messages were sent to Yuma, and
there relayed to other points
In the Barbara Worth hotel, a four
story brick structure here, decorative
work of the interior reIl to the lobby,
but not a person was injured. The
elevator kept running until everybody
was out.
On either side of Ell Centre business
streets are ruins. Some buildings are
completely RACED. others opened by
display windows covers the sidewalks.
In the gutter are the bricks and de-
bris fallen from above.
Streets Closed to Motors.
The streets are closed to automo-
biles and pedestrians are warned to
keep in the center of the street.
On the lawns in the residence dis
trict are the cots of residents with
only the sky as the roof. In the in
dustrial district the firemen are still
fighting fire.
In Ell Centre the motion picture the
aters were cmptied in moment, men,
women and children filling the streets
while the earth was still in motion.
Irrigation System Unframed.
The great irrigation system which
transformed the desert into an i'm
mense farming region, was spared.
No reports have been received of dam
age anywhere along the levee system
which protects the lands lying below
sea level from the encroachment of
the Colorado river, which supplied the
water for the canal.
The great fumes also held.
Following a short and sharp trem-
bler-the second one-an ensuing ex-
plosion in the warehouse of the Delta
Mercantile company lighted the en-
| tire country side. A two-story struc-
ture cavod into drug store filled with
people. All raced to the street Ev-
cry building was disgorged similarly
In the residences dishes, cupboards
and all movable furniture was tum-
| bled about.
TrembIers All Night.
| Slight tremblers continued most of
| the night
| Mrs Mary Smith. matron of the