The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-03-21
Sullivan Tells
 Story Of Quake
Former EmplOye of the Waterbury Democrat Listening
 to Radio When Twister Hit Long Beach

Jerry Sullivan of Long Beach Cal, former employe of the Water
 bury Democrat and Waterville's leading athletic promoter of few years ago, has recovered sufficient ly from the recent earthquake fl which to write a story of his ex periences. From all indications tho quake was just another little incl dent in Jerry's life. His car wal stolen and his favorite bank wal closed as an overture" for the bii shock. But Jerry is still trying t smile and stage comeback. big water tank, which crashed through three floors of the Press Telegram, where Jerry was em ployed, prevented the publication of that paper in Long Beach for z few days. Emergency copies were printed in Pasadena and distribut. ed in Long Beach.
 In his letter to Gus Heyer, fore. man. of the Democrats composing room, Jerry relates a few of his experiences as follows:
 Friday evening, March 10th about 5:55 o'clock we were sitting listening to the radio when with out warning of any kind there came @ terrible rumble and the house began to shake as if it wal about to turn over. I grabbed hold of my wife's hand as the three windows in the room fell in with a crash and the chandeliers fell and broke into pieces on the dining room table. It was almost impos- sible to keep your feet with the floor swaying, but we went through the door so fast that I guess 1t was 8 new record. Just as we reached the sidewalk I looked down the street and saw buildings swaying A brick garage on the corner only a few yards from us tumbled over into the street. One of the mech anics was killed by falling bricks The streets soon became. crowded with excited, crying. shouting peo- pie. Many of the women carried babies in their arms. It wasn't any too warm either.
 Fire began to break out. The Polytechnical school, just @ block from our home burst into flames When the fire reached the chem. teal building, what a fire-up there was. A few minutes later another blaze started in Signal Hill oil field one of the biggest lay-outs, in the country. It is about dozen blocks from our home. Every few minutes it seemed fires broke out in homes and business places. All you could hear was the screech of the sirens of fire autos and ambulances. tell you, yDu just felt that the end of the world had come and there was no way out. It kept up during the night and it was enough to drive one cuckoo. I think a large majority of the people were more than that during the long wait for daylight. No one risked going back into their homes, unless to dash in, grab hold of some warm clothes, some valuables or some thing to eat and dash out again.
 About g o'clock that nigEt took a walk down through the business section. What I saw was enough to sicken me. The streets were a mass of bricks and debris. Build ings were actually torn apart. The front of apartment blocks. hotels and business structures just fell into the street, leaving a clear view of the interior.
 Just as people were recovering from the shock of the first quake, another severe one followed, rock ing the entire area and throwing everyone into another panic. It made everyone determined to sleep out in the open. The city's parks became crowde.. Camps were made and fires started. People used their automobiles for beds, but how they managed to sleep is a mystery to me with the sirens screeching all night. Early in the morning some people crept back into their homes. those that were made of concrete, and tried to obtain rest. They slept within few feet of the door and when they felt a tremor. would make dash into the. street. My wife and daughter slept in a car. My son-in-law and took turns sleeping in a cot, which we parked on the curb.
 z Fate itself prevented an enorm- ous loss of lives for had the quake came few hours earlier with thousands of children in the schools it is impossible to imagine what would have happened, for every school building in the city was badly damaged.
 My wife and daughter and had