THE FRISCO DISASTER.

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 May 1906, Page 3

THE FRISCO DISASTER.

THE EARTHQUAKE AND ITS ATTENDANT HORRORS. MILES OF FIRE. FIGHTING THE FIRES—HUGE DESTRUCTION. (BT ■LBCfTKIO TKI.EOEAPH.) [PEB PBESS ASSOCIATION]. AUCKLAND, This Day. Mr Atack, manager of the New Zealand Press Association, who was in Santa Cruz at the time of the earthquake, contributes an interesting account of tho disaster. IN THE COUNTRY. At Santa Cruz the shock was severe, but only one building was thrown down. San Jose, through which ho had to pass in a desperate attempt to reach Frisco by road (the railways being interrupted), was, however, suffering badly. Tho buildings were down in every direction.

Tho disaster would have been a replica of that at San Francisco, only that tho water mains were found intact.

Sixty miles away, while passing over the mountains, the detonations of dynamite used in attempting to check the fire, could be plainly heard.

Mr Atack reached Oakland in the afternoon after tho commencement of (hi! disaster.

Tho story from this point is best told in Mr A tack’s own words:—A GRAPHIC STORY.

! The great ferry building opposite is still standing; its lofty tower denuded of some of its wall, but visibly it is not much hurt by the earthquake. Tho left: of the building, on I lie south side, tho ground is mainly flat and mostly occupied by a humble section of the population. On the right it swells into low, but very often steep, bills covered with fine residences, while on both sides is Market Street. In the iniemdiately adjoining streets, especially to the North, have been erected large and costly buildings, each representing millions of dollars. NO WATER.

It was hoped on 'Wednesday evening when tlie tiro had gathered' strength and assumed huge proportions, that the conflagration would not cross (his grand avenue. Doubtless it could have been stopped bad there been water enough, but stones rolling from tho hillside crushed the principal main where it enters (he city and (here were ton many fires to rope with at once without abundance of water. As I stopped out of the ferry building, the smoke was blinding. Ashes were falling fast, being driven before the wind. Though reported that the tire was under control and practically extinguished. it was still 60 hours after the earthquake raging fiercely in one corner. It was not actually checked till three in the morning, bv whirl) time if had crept round the hill and spread until it:

WIPED OUT EVERY BUILDING on it. The tire lodged itself in the big lumber yards and factories on (In' water’s edge. Aided by firemen and soldiers, the sailors fought desperately to prevent it fastening on (lie wharves. These had suffered badly bv the earthquake. Many of the sheds had collapsed, and the piles were canted, but (ho tiro had not touched them, and if they were now licked up. the RUIN OF THE PORT would indeed bo complete. More than once the contest was almost given up. but human endurance proved stronger than the fire, which was stooped some distance from (he ferry buildings, but not before a portion of the wharves had been destroyed. So great was the heat that from this direction you could not get within p mile of the scene. AH attempts at looting were sternly repressed. A MOB LYNCHED THREE PLUNDERS themselves before the military came in and quite a number were shot afterwards. but there can he little doubt that some men lost (heir heads and used the bullet mid bayonet most inhumanely. It is reported (lint one poor old woman was deliberately bayonotted by a patrol for merely remonstrating, and that another of these guardians slabbed a policeman who interfered in some with him. Although there were many such instances, yet without the soldiers the frenzied mobs could not have been handle'! when the streets had to be cleared fur DYNAMITING. This dynamiting did not prove tin ellicient check to the fire. Hundreds of tons were exploded (except towards the end) without the slightest effect. The lire immediately swept over the gap, or, worse still, fresh tires wenstarted by it. The hist grim stand was made at Vanners’ Avenue, which is wider than Market Street, and running at tin angle from it, in a northerly direction. It was full of costly abodes great tenement houses, hotels and 'churches. If that were crossed the small remaining portion of the city must have gone. The lire was sweeping on, and it was certain that, despite the width of the thoroughfare, it would do little to act as a barrier. Sixteen blocks were dynamited. Imagine the HORRIBLE DESTRUCTION Explosives were laid and row after row of stately edifices, rising storey upon storey, sprang into the air and crumbled into dust. The owners, at the sound of bugles, silently withdrew and watched (hem vanish into nothing. The remedies in this instance bore fruit, for though the lire ate it in places, mostly on one side, it saved the other. This was the only instance in which the dynamite proved effective.

IN CHINATOWN it. is believed that many Chinamen were blown up with their buildings. They wanted to pray to their josses, and could not be got out. In one place, so a gentleman told me, he saw three men and a number of animals till killed in duo blast. A GRIM LIST OP CASUALTIES. Thu United Stales Government estimate the destruction wrought by the Frisco disaster as; Injured 200 persons. Killed 300 persons. Homeless . . 200,000 persons. Damage . 100,000,000 dollars. The Coroner estimates the fatalities at over one thousand. MR McCLUTCHEON’S ACCOUNT. Air W. McClutcheon, stage manager of the William Collier Company, had an interesting story to tell of the disaster at Stitt Francisco. “We arrived at Frisco on Monday night," ho said, “and most of us put up at St. Frances and Palace Hotels. 1 got upon the seventh floor of the St. Frances as high its I could get. When the earthquake came it threw me out of bed. That was all it did to me. The swaying was most awful. FRIGHTENED ? I don’t know ; I hadn’t time. I gut back to bed again, and didn’t put ray head under the blankets either. I put a pillow over my head instead, to save my face from the falling plaster, which camo down in sheets, the chandlier with it. The room shook like a rat in the jaws of a terrier. The papers say it lasted for fifty seconds, but it seemed to mo more liko fifty years. When it stopped I lay there waiting for the whole building to collapse on top of me; but it didn’t and I got up and put my clothes on. I didn’t then realise the awful nature of the shocks and what had happened to the town. As soon ns I had dressed I went down stairs and found that the hotel was in a terrible statq: Plaster lay in heaps all over the floors and chandliers were piled on top. Furniture was thrown everywhere and the place looked A REGULAR WRECK.

But as a matter of fact there was no structural damage beyond the falling plaster. When I reached Union Square it was crowded' with people in all sorts of ‘gets up’—men with pyjamas and no overcoats; women with* nightdresses and karnonas, and women in nightdresses only. Signor Caruso, the great tenor singer, was in the Square clad in pyjamas and fur overcoat. IN NIGHTDRESS IN THE PARK. Some of the people in the Square were frightened to death, but there was no panic. After the shock was over we tried to get the women to go back to dress, but they Would not go, and remained out in the Open air in their scanty attire for two or three, hours, The men, however, went back and groped found for the olother oj the women folk' The women felk then

wont to the Parks where sheets were held round them while they dressed. In the morning we bought a few baked beans and a little, bread, and that, was our breakfast. A waggon came round and supplied us with water. The TOWN WAS PLUNGED IN DARKNESS

by the breakage of: the gas mains, and when the day broke we began,to realise the. extent of the damage. Buildings were down everywhere. Houses were thrown into the middle of the street. Roads were torn and twisted and opened into great crevices. People in all stages- of dress and undress were rushing about, but there was no crying or wailing. THE SOLDIERS' AID

By daylight soldiers from the Presi-

clio, one of tlie largest garrisons in the

United States, had arrived in town. They were asked to comb out by the Mayor, and come in waggons, ambu-

lances and all kinds of vehicles, a couple of thousand being in town inside two hours. Their prompt arrival alone saved the town from pillage and riot. They wore stationed at the banks and other financial institutions with orders to shoot pillagers, and they carried out their instructions. There was no arresting, any thief caught in the act being incontinently shot, and this quickly overawed any of the rogues bent on theft. A GANG OF FORTY OR FIFTY THIEVES

tried to sack the mint, which was then uninjured. They were met with a volley from the soldiers and eight were shot dead. The rest quickly sought shelter and didn’t renew their depredations. Altogether about fourteen were shot, and though the treatment I was Arazonian, nothing else would j have served. Anybody seen attempting to get into the building to steal was shot at sight, and in a very short space of time complete order prevailed. There was absolutely no rioting from the start. The fire COMMENCED IX A BUILDING IN UNION SQUARE and the rapidity with which it spread was simply amazing. It Hew from building to building with wonderful rapidity, licking up everything in its path. Next morning the scene in the fire area was appalling, and words could not describe it. Only two build ings were left standing. These wore the grim and gajjnt skeletons of the Spreckles sky-scraper and the St. Frances Hotel. These two were gulled from the ground to the ceiling, but they were fire proof and they stood, the walls and most of (lie floors being intact.

The Si. Frances Hotel proprietary expect to he ready to receive guests again in ninety days, and in the same space of time Spreekhs’ building was to be ready for use. The rest of the tire-swept area presented a scene of frightful devastation, and words could not possibly describe the desolation of the smouldering ruin covering the ground as far as the eye could see. There was no supply of water owing to the twisting and bursting of the mains. The brigade dynamited buildings to stay the progress of the blaze, but it was no use, as the tire burst through the gaps and consumed the buildings. In an incredibly short spare of time those that were not "earthmtakod" were burnt, and those that were not burnt were dynamited, so that between the three there was wrv little left. PEOPLE WELL. It was wonderful how well I lie people took the disaster. Indeed they did not seem to realise the. awful nature of the catastrophe. They seemed stupefied ami Olio would see people .sitting about brooding over their losses, hut saying not a word to auyhodv. and taking no Interest in anything. They knew something awful had happened, and that they could do nothing, The most remarkable tiling, though, was the odd nature of things taken by fleeing people, who were leaving (heir homes for the other side of (In- hay, Vai would see men going along with a phture strapped to their hark, not worth more than a couple of dollars. We passed two or three people who had |dled some of their household -mods on coaches, and were pulling them along tho street. One old woman was trudging along towards the ferry with a parrot in a cage, and another was pushing a :-owing machine along (he pavement. The most weird tilings in the world wore saved. THE EXTENSION OF THE FIRE.

One party stayed in Union Square 1111 Id eleven o’clock that night. We believed that the fire would not spread lo our hotel, but at that hour the soldiers told us that the fire had crossed .Market street, and ordered us to retreat up the hill. We went lo the corner of Post Street and Van Ness Avenue, and camped in a garden. but a couple of hours later we had to shift further away owing m the rapid approach of tho (ire. Next morning tome of us tried to make our wav to the hotel, hut when we got there we could do nothing. .Some of our parly were seen by the soldiers, and were immediately pul to work shifting stones off the roadway, so that carls could get along, and there was no ‘‘please” about it either. It was a ease of do it or strike trouble. For an hour and a hall they kept at it.

and tin' trouble was all fur milbing. fur wlu'u they got to the hotel they could save nothing, ami all we got, cm rut iii<• clothes we stood iqi in. was a small hand bag. Our manager cabled fur ]obo dollars ami o'vidcd it- amongst the company, ami we have been buying clothes ever since. AT OAKLAND. Wc went across to Oakland ni I bins dav. ami eight of ns spent a nmlil in tun rooms. \\ * 1 lonml very little damage done in Oakland.-,. A few buildings were damaged, and nearly all the biinm",.. were shaken down, church spires being mi Urn roadway, but very little beside that. NO FIRES ALLOWED. The people wore not allowed to light tires owing to the absence of cbiinmws. ami almost every body dined at restan rants. We lived" in the road, and as soon as one contingent departed, another filed in, the eating houses being hard at it all day long. Neat day we got away to Portland ami here we are. The previous day we skirted tlm lire and reached the water front, to find that the Sonoma was not going to sail fur seventeen days. MR STEWART’S ACCOUNT. The most exciting earthquake story was told by Mr Stewart, a member of Mr Collier’s theatrical company. Have you ever been in the haunted robin of an exhibition? That was what it felt like, 'the whole place shook with strong, firm pulls from side to side, hut 1 kept my presence of mind and called to my sister, “Don the frightened, it’s only an earthquake. Co to sleep again." ’lhen the ceiling began to fall ill bits and the walls to bend ami crack, and in 48 seconds it was over, as 1 afterwards learned. Luckily there was a fire escape in my room, so 1 allowed myself to dress in comfort, except, that no water was to be bad, and packed, although through the open window 1 bad seen buildings rocking like trees in a gale. 1 did not realise the extent of (be disaster till 1 got outside, and saw crowds of startled women in their night dresses. ■V dnm store in our block was blazing, but we decided (another member of the company and myself) that wc bad tnim.o r«cl the people’s luggage downstairs. When wc finally passed out into the street things were confused, of course, hut there was hardly any panic, and the splendid behaviour‘of the women was beyond all praise. There was never a whimpei through it all. It is only as I talk that hundreds of incidents come crowding in on me. 1 saw a man crawling m Ins undershirt down the water pipe of a wrecked bouse, in which everyone else had been killed. Despite their own sufferings the crowd was unselfish enough to cheer the poor

refugee. • , n Many of the women were sea side all day long through a series of minor earthquakes, and the number of lesser alllictions was endless.

SHOT FOR LOOTING. I saw two men shot for looting the first for cutting a ring off a (lead woman s finder, and the second a man who was offered four or five/ dollars to carry some baggage. He demanded twenty dollars, saving” “I am out for shill.” “Oh, are you?” said a soldier, who was standing by and shot him dead. . ‘I never saw such a sight as that in Sacramento Square. The people livinj near brought out their beds, but others, like ourselves, had to put up with the bare ground. From there 1 counted L fires, each a block wide sweeping irre pressibly over the city, and was wonder ing when they would get to us. A wonderfully pathetic sight was the hauling of endless boxes up the terrific hills which*’ are so common about Frisco. For nights afterwards my sister has been haunted at night by the sound of dragging trunks.' Large numbers of these people were Japanese and Chinese and Italians.” KINDLY AID. , Mr Stewart was also enthusiastic, with regard to the Oakland people, and he told L in this connection a delightful story ot a. ruined waiter from ’Frisco, who came into a restaurant and said he was starving, and asked for a job, adding that he had four children dependant upon him. the proprietor said he had hundreds of applications already, and could do nothing for him. Another. Walter who .was standing by, imldj "Well, l’v« only two children.

and took off his apron and . handed it to tho refugee. Then along the railway to Vancouver the people stood on the platform giving away coffee and paper bags of provisions. One more instance) said Sir Stewart, Oakland shops with every opportunity to charge famine prices, actually put this notice up, J'Prices materially lowered on account of the general distress.”