PANIC IN SAN FRANCISCO.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 14, 1 September 1911, Page 3

PANIC IN SAN FRANCISCO.

AN EARTHOI AKF SHOCK

San Francisco was badly frightened on the afternoon of July Ist by an

earthquake which shook the city, hut did little damage, though it caused a panic in the business and residential districts, where people feared that a repetition of the 1906 disaster was impending. The shock was also felt in many places in Central California, Arizona, and Nevada. The maximum intensity was in San Francisco, where the initial vibration lasted a few sec-

onds. This was followed by two sharp twisting; quakes that wrenched the earth in an alarming manner. Skyscrapers shook ominously, and deep cracks were made in walls, and in many structures, including the Hall of Justice, one of the few buildings which survived the 1900 earthquake. A largo part of the granite cornice of the Bank of California crashed to the ground, and pieces of stone, plaster, and cement from other buildings were showered into the streets. Big crowds of women and children were entering the theatres; and departments of stores filled with women customers and clerks, and the restaurants wore just emptying as the earth began to shake. There was an immediate panic. People, screaming wildly, rushed into the streets in huddled and excited groups, when the second double tremor came, which was more intense than the first. Hnnreds of buildings rocked, and the crowd’s excitement increased. The people, horrified, fled for the open spaces. Many women and children were knocked down and trampled on. One man died of fright. Another was badly injured by jumping through a plate-glass window into the street, where, unable to rise, lie almost bled to death because nobody paid any attention to him.

About a score of people were taken to the hospitals suffering from shock and bl’tiises. Two fires broke out 'simultaneously, though quite unconnected, the sight of the fire engines dashing through the streets increasing tiro panic of the crowds. It was half an hour before the normal conditions wore restored, and during tho interval all the police reserves turned out and were placed as guards around the stores, hanks, and other buildings, which wore entirely deserted by employees, and would have been rifled by thieves hut for the prompt precautions taken by tho police. After the panic had subsided people who telephoned to their homes could get no answers, as the girls on the telephone exchanges had deserted their posts, and declined to return. This caused further alarm. Thousands of people declined to continue their shopping or to attend tho theatres, making ihcir way homewards as best they could, and leaving San Francisco’s down-town sections deserted.