A TERRIBLE DISASTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2719, 25 April 1906, Page 27

A TERRIBLE DISASTER.

EABTHQUAKE FOLLOWED BY FIRE. SAN FRANCISCO ALMOST DEMOLISHED. THOUSANDS KILLED AND WOUNDED. A HOMELESS PEOPLE. SOME ALARMIST REPORTS. DAMAGE IN OTHER PARTS OF THE STATE.

NEW YORK, April 18. , An earthquake occurred at San Francisco. It is reported that 1000 deaths resulted. The city is half in ruins. The shock began at 16 minutes past 5 o'clock in the- morning, and lasted several minutes, "with recurrence. A wide area is affected. Most of the •wires are down, and many fires have broken out. LONDON, April 19. Information concerning the disaster at San Francisco is fragmentary, oTving to the burning of the telegraph and newspaper offices. I It is estimated ti&t 1600 people jperished^ [

•while 1000 were injuied in San Francisco alone. The entire business r-oition of the city ie in ruins. The latest information states that the flames" are unchecked, and that they are sweeping the city. Thousands of people are homeless, and are huddled in the parks and public squares. Troops are on guard at the banks, and cavalry and infantry patrol the streets, and have been instructed to shoot thieves, who are already engaged in plundering. The moment of the .greatest disturbance w&b 18 minutes past 5 o'clock yester-

day morning. The tremor was sufficient to cause the seismograph pendulum to swing for nine minutes across the whole width of the photographic roll. It is believed that the originating centre of the disturbance was out at sea.

The tremor traversed the entire continent, and was recorded at Washington, Ottawa, Vienna^ and the Isle of Wight. Three severe shocks were felt in the morning at intervals of some hours, and slighter shocks were experienced in the afternoon and early in the evening. Most of the residents were asleep at the time of the disaster, and they rushed from their beds into the streets in their ni K ht attire. At this time buildings were tottering and crashing, while there were showers of falling chimneys, cornices, and walls, crushing and mangling many people. The terror and excitement are indescribable. Modern tall, steel -frame structures stood better than brick or wooden tenements. Some of the docks and freight sheds slid back, and deep fissures opened near tliti shore

The businees district, between Market and Howard streets, from the bay, as far west as the City Hall, were especially wrecked.

Two roofs on. small towers of the City Hali, which cost 7,000,000d01, collapsed. The Post Office was shattered, and the Valencia Hotel and Kingeley's lodginghouse collapsed, each killing 80 people. A great department store fell, burying the caretaker.

Owing to the breaking of the gas arxl water mains many fires broke out, and as they were fanned by a brisk easterly wind they soon endangered the whole manufacturing and wholesale quarter of the city. The firemen freely used dynamite to blast out pathways in its city blocks.

- The explosions were deafening, addiac tn the terrors.. Soon the section of the city south o r Market street and of Third and Nir 1 streets "was a mass of flames. No ferries are running, and all — . to the burning city has been stopped. The latest telegrams 6fcat© that after . destroying the business -district- the fire is spreading to the -residential section of the city.- ■•' Many buildings which withstood tha earthquake shocks succumbed to the fire 6. Up till 8 o'clock last night the fires had extended a distance of eight square miles, involving the destruction of several hundred city blocks v The damage amounts to at least i 1G0,000,000d01. The district surrounded by Vallego, Howard East, and Sansome streets, and embracing almost the entire wholesale dis-. trict, has been clean swept by fire, and the district bounded by Market, Eighth, and Folson streets has also been devastated. The latter includes' the majority of the finest and most substantial buildings in the city. __ , * Crevices six feet wide have opened in-\ several streets, and entire sidewalks have been torn up, while tram tracks have been strangely twisted. - s ' The Palace Hotel was burned, and two ships anchored in the bay sank" ' A ..continuation . of the shocks in the afternoon caused^a' flight of people from the city. Thousands of buildings have been "destroyed, s ~ ~ The greatest loss of life occurred ill the cheap tenements near the water front. The gas and water supplies have been wrecked. The firemen are powerless, and the flames are leaping all barriers, block after block in " Lower Market street, the main thoroughfare, being destroyed.- -.^j^..- ->-" Huge buildings in Eddy, street colJapseC.-.-one lodging-house killing 200 people. The chief of the fire- brigade was killed beneath the ruins: ■ ' The offices of the San Francisco Call, the Examiner 1 , and the Chronicle have been destroyed, also the Western Union Postaland Telegraphic Offices, the Grand Opera House, the Pacific State Telephone Exchange, tlie Rialto Store, and the Mutual Life Office, the Anglo-California Bank, and the Fish Market. Many of the principal buildings in Oakland {across the bay) were injured. The- sea overflowed between Suisun; and Benecia, and a - mile and a-h'alf of * the r track of the Southern- Pacific railway -dis^ appeared undec the. water. ", A cro-wded passenger train bairely escaped. : - . .. The St. Ignace Cathedral is, ablaze, and the Stanford University has bfeen .^practi- , cally demolished^ ' ', ', / ':*" z There have been much loss 'of life and-; damage at Santa Eosa,* and Salinas. lhas-J suffered considerably. ■ The earthquake was severely felt at Nevada and Fresno. • ,The telegraph companies were forced to open at Oakland. ' - Half an inch of movement on the earth's surface was recorded on the Washington ' instruments. The shocks were not felt southward of Santa Barbara* , Late New York telegrams state that allowing for hysterical reports, it is apparent that the situation in San Francisco is becoming desperate. The fire is burning ' furiously in all quarters. Two regiments of regulars guard £1,000,000 worth of property, which has been placed in the streets to avoid the flames. The Mayor has appointed a Committee' of Safety, and has ordered the bakeries' and milk stations to supply the homeless • people. Eighty insurance companies have resolved not to -discriminate between the losses/, caused by the fire and those caused bythe earthquake. The Conricd Opera Company lost all its* scenery and personal baggage. - - Many of the inmates of the asylum aj> J San Jose were buried in the ruins. General Funston has 'practically estab-J' lished martial law in San Francisco. %. The Federal authority in Chicago has^ ■ been advised that the killed number thou-" ; sands, and another account says that the/ number of deaths is 25C0. It is reported that Berkeley (a suburb of San Francisco) has been destroyed. It contained the University of California and other State institutions. Eye witnesses state that the streets bulged and waved as if about to crack. The people were dumbfounded and in-, coherent, and threatened to shoot if pes-* tered by interviewers. An apparently baseless report states that the American Pacific squadron sank while at anchor in the bay. Communication was for a long time limited to one «iv«. It is feared that many journalists were killed through the collapse of the Examiner and Call offices both of which were 10' storey buildings. NEWS BY THE PACIFIC CABLE. WELLINGTON, April 19. Mr ' Reynolds, manager of ths PacifW cable, handed the following cable to th* Premier at 1 p-m. yesterday: — Seattle (Washington) advis-es : Unable to obtain airy information re earthquake.- Commercial, Pacific, and all harbour cables aro I gone, but the Commercial trenched several ! miles from the beach to the city. Last report at 12.30 states local magnitude of the disaster grows. Fires are raging in aUr- | directions. The water mains have burafc.

ffhe authorities tare using dynamite to localise the fireplugs. The Palace" Hotel and ISpreckels and Co/s shipping premises are destroyed. Th*e-;city. is .under" martial law, *nd all the troops have been called out. , There is no communication at present. Mr Reynolds -handed the Premier the , following further cable, received at Wel'.lington at 1.10- p.m.: \ A- short bulletin' just through from San *j..tFrancisco saySf,that u t:he whole of the water "'.frojit^js in flames', ."and there are no means >"of "arresting ,the> cqiiSagration. The Post -Office and ,Grand Opera'*House, as well as ■ iflie - Palace -lljofel _and Spreckels Buildings, are destroyed.* o'^0 '^ '■ -' Gasworks were blown up, starting 'father fires. It is'nmpossible to estimate the loss of life, but it "is'heaviest in the tene"inent district. CABLES OF SYMPATHY. SYDNEY, April 19. • Details of the San Francisco disaster created a sensation here, and a large numbsr t>f cables have been sent, making inquiries >;bout the safety of relatives. Mr "Darruthers (Premier of New -South Wales) _nd Mr Beat (Premier of Victoria) sent a Joint telegram of sympathy. MR SEDDON'S CABLES. WELLINGTON, April 19. The Hon. Mr Seddon has sent messages pf condolence on behalf of the Government >.nd people of New Zealand to the President' of the United States, and to the Mayor of San Francisco, and Mr StephenBon Smith (the New Zealand Government agent).