FULL DETAILS BY THE MAIL.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12506, 19 May 1906, Page 10

FULL DETAILS BY THE MAIL.

A PANIC-STRICKEN CITY.

THE MAIL AGENT'S ACCOUNT

SENSATIONS OF THE SHOCK,

(special to "the i'ress.")

AUCKLAND, May IS

Tho Moana's mai's bring full details of tho San Francisco disaster.

Mr David K. Lindsay, of Wellington,

for eomo years past tno principal mail agent for the New Zealand Government on the Sonoma, who returned in charge of the mails by the Moana, was right in the thick oi tho catastrophe. Hi« rooms were on tho sixth floor of tho California Hotel, which was destroyed. In a sviitomeiit of hie experiences, he cays:— "Shortly before o a.m., I was awakened by tho h'ret shock, which was comparatively light, but nevertheless shook small pieces of plaster trora the coiling of my room. I instinctively •pulled tho bnd-clothes over my head, and almost immediately a 6econd shook came. It -wae very severe, and the building 6wnyed to and fro, threatening to collapse. Indeed, I expected nothing etas and waid to myself: 'This i« the end of it.' Tho shrieks of the hotel hoarders were mingled with the crash of falling furniture and masonry, and a pnnic-Ktrickon crowd coon filled the corridors, ull making for tho stairwaye and elevators. "So violent had been the second shock, however, that the elevator had crashed down to tho bottom of the shaft, and woe altogether out of business. BR. STANTONB RAD DEATH. "Dr. Stanson, a personal friend of mine, occupied a room on the top floor. Aβ he made no response to calls and tho door would not open, an entrance was forced, when tho room was found to be a of ruins. The small tower which had surmounted this corner of the building had collapsed, and crashed through the roof, covering the unfortunate man with several feet of debris. Ho w«e quite dead when taken ont. Ho was a very clever eurgeon, end only two evenings before, at the British Consulate, had epoken hopefully of tho work ho expected soon to accomplish in London. "After tho first excitement had subsided, I went into tho streets, which were littered with masses of fallen bricks, twisted trolley wire**, and broken polos. In somo plnces great rifts appeared, and quantities of broken glaes covered the sidewalks everywhere. THE OUTBREAK OF FIRE. The first fire broke out in Sprecke'e' Lower Market street offices, and would not have been eerious but for the fact that there wns' no water. All the mains -wero broken, and the hydrants wore therefore useless. The Fire Department then started dynamiting tho bnildingM in a vain endeavour to provent the spread of the flames. The ,fire soon becarao general, end things began to look serioite. "Even at this early threatening of destruction, a large part of the people in tho city south of Market street remained fairly cool, and eeomed more curious to know what would happen *nejtt than frightened.

''I walked up Market etreet as far as Seventh street to the Poet Office, to ■ eeo about the mails. No cars were running, and the streets being densely crowded with people, progress was necessarily slow.

THE SCENE AT THE POST OFFICE

At tho Post Office I found a few clerks, end tho same dcc-olation of fanen bricks and plaster littered around. Onecorner of this building, eaid to bo one of tho handsomest structures in tho United States, and erected at a cost of several million doliare, had sunk several feet, and threatened to come down at any time. 1 spoke to most of tho clerks, but heard nothing of any casualties in the building, either then or on tho following morning, when I was through the lower portion of it, so I am inclined to think the reports concerning several deaths in this building are untrue. ALONG THE WATER FiIONT. "I then continued my way to tho ■water front to find tho Sonoma. Nearly all the freight sheds on tho wharves had Collapsed like houses of cards^ falling lengtlnviso in a manner whidjpf«*t any other time would have had effect. Finding the Sonoma gone out into the etream. I started on tho return to my hotel, and found the fires had epread threateningly. All along California street. Battery street, and San6om« street there was a mast? of flames. The lower pa it of .Market street was in ruins. The "Call" building and I'alaoo and Grand Hotels were on fire, also the» "'Chronicle ,, and "Examiner"

newspaper offices,

"Seeing fhat tho city was doomed to destruction, 1 began to think about trying to save the personal effects of myH?lt and my assistant, and after some trouble induced a carter to take our trunks from th-e hotel to tho Oceanic Dock, which, fortunately, had escaped destruction. But I had" to assist personally in porterage, and pay an extortionate charge. However, it was a Btroke of luck to save both our lives and clothes.

"We spent the- night on the steamer, which line] returned to the wharf. All through the hour* of darkness the doetruction of the city continued. The frequent hooininc of dynamite told us ■that constant efforts were being made to chock the sweep of the flames. THE jSCENE AT DAYLIGHT.

"When daylight came, it was appalling to witness the awful &c;>ne of desolation. Where but twenty-four hours previously had etood t!ho queen, city of

VIVID STORIES BY EYE-WITNESSES

STERNNESS OF MARTIAL LAW.

the Weet, from tho water fr-.:i

out to Van X«*6 Avenuo, a <jf abouc throe mil:n, tho firo had practically swept everything away, and during tho day it travell d inwards North Beach and round Telegraph Hill.

"A continuous throng ot people, of all clas=.e?i carrying bags and bundles, ktrearmd aiong the water front towards tho ferries, and vehicles of every description were piled with household goeds. All wero desirous of escaping from the doomed city, and struggled on to th.- forry boats, which were crowded each trip across tho bay.

"Wo started with tho Now Zca'and mails for Vancouver by that night'fi trnin. Being a Now Zealander, I had toit many earthquakes, bub never again want to go through such an ordo>al afi tho horrors of the ijan Francisco catastrophe."