Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1918-04-23
Iuwo Towns Are Wrecked
And Wide Area Is Shaken
\ By Earth Tremors; Los
|; !; Angeles Buildings At
1 fected. IL.
IONLY ONE DEATH
:. .,s., RESULT OF SHOCK


+ Helmet and San Jaclnto today at
o:o7 q. m. and o:14 .. m. The
earth movement seemed moro pro-
nounesd At Hsmst than here. Lose
bricks totterino walls and wreck
! AGE hanging preeAriousiy, we're
loosened by the new shocks and
| fell, adding to the general ruin In
! the business districts.
Los Angeles. Cal, April 22.-More
than one-third of the business district
Of San Jacinto and q smaller proper
ton Of the town Of Hemet, both In
Riverside county, about seventy-fve
ailes east Of here. wero In ruins today
and scores Of residences In the two
little towns were wrecked by q series
tof earthquake shocks which caused all
yesterday afternoon.
j Only one life was known to have
iboeu lost a. the result OF the earth
quake, that Of Frank q Darnell, q re-
tired manufacturer Of this city, who
lWns drowned when he fell off . pier at
santa Monica, beach resort near
here. Hundreds of pleasure seekers
"a the pier made Wild dash for solid
lRround when the shock came at 3:33
5. IA. and Darnell was swept from his
I1oeE. There were near panics In scores
,,oe theators and motion picture houses
la this vicinity and many persons sus-
tained slight injuries IN thAir rush TO
,lkA Gx7SS. = -, ~ W y
los ANoELEs 10 sHAKEN
The property damage II estimated at
srom 100000 TO $4,000 in the two
places.
Half dozen other towns and cities.
ilncluding Los Angeles, suffered minor
damage, confined mainly to plate glass
windows and shattered cornices.
Hemet and San Jacinto have popula-
lla0ns Of less than 1000 each.
Nrs. Mary Spears Of Chicago. pa
dent at the Iona Linda sanitarium
ibouth Of Redlands. San Bernardino
county, was injured whom two chin
'neys fell through roof.
MINERS IMPRISONED
IN q manganese mine near Hemet
and at one In the vicinity Of Winches-
ter. workers were imprisoned BY
slides. Air shafts wefe forced to them
through the debris. Several injured
miners were taken to hospital in Riv-
erside.
4 Scores OF plate glass windows were
broken at San Bernardino, cracks de-
'veloped in several brick walls and 100
feet Of brick wall from one low build
ing foil into the street. One man was
hurt In panic 1t the San Bernardino
baseball park, where game was In
progress. Another rushing out of q
itheater into the street was run down
~ IN automobile and seriously. in
3ured.
CONCRETE ROADS DAMAGED
/ Tho front Of the I. O. O. F. building
1t Banning fell out. Large ONCE build
linss 1t Long Beach were severely
shaken and numerous windows broken.
Concrete roads and highways lead
9ng from Perris to Hemet and to San
JAcinto were broken and buckled by
Tie quake. The earthquake was felt
over wide area It's most northern
extremity apparently was at Fresno.
Tfsmors also were felt at Phoenix and
Seligman, Ariz., and ut Milford. Utah.
MILITARY TAKES CONTROL
When night fell over the partly
ruined towns Of Hemet and San Jacin.
10 order had been completely restored
and organisations of home guards
patrolled the streets. Four blocks of
San Jacinto's business district and one
block at Hemet were wrecked.
Three distinct shocks were felt at
San Jacinto. The first tremor threw
10 the ground . number of persons and
horses. At the second shock all the
buildings on the south side OF the Main
street began 10 collapse and the third
bhook down those on the north side.
WATER SUPPLY SHUT OFF ii
Electricity failed Immediately and
within ten minutes the breaking Of the
gas main made It necessary to shut on
the water supply. The water mains
were damaged but little.
One Of the freaks of the earthquake
WAS the sudden how In welh. Many
artesian wells. several dry for years,
showed sudden free supply Of water.
The San Jacinto river, dry before the
earthquake, showed flow OF twelve
inches in depth and forty feet in width.
The earthquake Of yesterday was al
most . repetition Of that Of Christmas
day, 1899, when the two towns suffered
shocks Of like severity.
Fear was expressed In Los Angeles
that several large once buildings had
been thrown out of plumb. The Wash
ington building. . large business struc-
ture on Spring street, was perceptibly
separated from tho Currier building,
Amediately adjoining.