FRISCO DISASTER

Gisborne Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1753, 19 May 1906, Page 3

FRISCO DISASTER

there avjs no strnoiurnl damage bevon fa'len plaster. Wb6n I renobed Uuioi Square it was crowded with people in a) sons of geta-up—men with pyjamas oi and overoonts over them, men with py. jamas aod no overcoats, women witt nightdresses and kimono-, and women in nightdrosses only. Signor Camso, the great tenor, was in the square olad in pyjamas end fur overcoat. People in the square were frightened to death, but there war absolutely no panic. After the shock was over wo tried to get Ihe womtn to go baok to dress, but they would not go, remaining out in lbs open air in their scanty a'tiro for two or three hours. Men went baok and groped round for woman’s olothos, aod then they went to the parks, where sheets were held round them while they dressed. In Ihe morniDg we bought a few baked beans and I a little bread, and that was our breakfast. A waggon oame round and supplied us with water. " Tin town was plunged in darkness by the breakage of the gas inaios, and when day brrks we began to realise the extent of the damage. Buildiogs were down everywhere ; houses thrown into tbe middle of the streets, roads torn and twisted I, and opened into great crevices. People in ( a'l Btage of dress and undress were rushiog about, but there was no crying or Wailing. 1

11 By daylight soldiers frrm the Presidio, I one of tba largest garrisons in Iho United Slates, had arrived in town. They were asked to coote oat by the Mayor, and came in hay waggons, ainbulanoa-, and all sorts of veh'eles, a couple of thousand be* ing in towa iaside two hours. Their prompt arrival alono saved the town from pillage and riot. They were stationed at the binks and other financial institutions, with orders to shoot pillagers, and they oarried out their instruatious. There was no arresting. Any thirf oaught in the act was incontinently shot, but this quickly , overawed any of the roughs b-nt ou theP. . “ A gang of 40 or 50 thieves tried to sack the Mint, then uninjured. They I 1 were mat by a volley from the eo diers. and eight were shot dead. The re-t 1 quickly Bought shelter, and did not ron-'w s their depreciations. Altogether about 14 were sho', and though the treatment was , Draoonian, nothing else would havo served. t Any body seen attempting to get into a building to steal was shot at sight, and in c a very short spaoe of timo complete order 1 prevailed. There was absolutely no rioting from the start. e

*' The fire oommtnced in a building in Union Bquare, and the rapidity with which it spread wss simply amaziDg, It flew from building to building with wonderful rapidity, lioking up everything in its path. Next morning the some in the fire area was Appalling. Words could not desoribo it. Only two buildiDgs were left standing They were the grim and gaunt skeltona of two buildiogs—the Spraokel's skyscrapsr and St. Francis Hotel. Tnese two were gutted from ground to ceiling, but they were fireproof, and they stood, the walls and most of ,h J fl jls being intact, “ St F,anois Hotel Proprietary expect to be ready to reoaive guests agam in 90 days, and in the same space of time Bpreckel's building was to be ready for use. The rest of the fire swept area presented a scene of frightful devastation, and no words could possibly describe the desolation, smouldering ruioa ooveriog the grouad as far as the eye oould see. There was do water supply owing to the twisting and bursting of mains, and the brigade dynamited buildings to stay the progress of this blaze, but it was no use. The fire flaw gaps and oonsumed buildiogs in an inoredibly short spaos of lime. Those that were not ' quaked ’ were burned, and those that were not burned W3ra dynamited, so between the three there was very liltlo left. “ It was wonderful how well Ihe people took disaster, Indeed they did not seem to realise the awful nature of the catastrophe. They seemed stupefhd, and one would see peopls sitting absut brooding over their losses, but saying no word to anybody, and tskiog no intorest in anything. They kaew something awful had happened, and that they oould do nothing.

“ The most remarkable tiling though vras the o;U nature of tilings taken by fleeing people who were leaving for the Other side of the bay, You would see a man going along with a picture strapped to his back not worth more than a couple of dollars. We passed two or three people who had piled sonic qf their household goods on couches, aiid were pulling tlieni along the street on castors. An old woman was trudging along towards the ferry with a parrot in a cage, and another Was pushing a sewing machine along the pavement. The most weird things in the \Vorld were saved.

“ Our party stayed in Union Square until 11 o’clock that night. We believed ilfat the fire would not spread to our part, but at that hour a soldier told us that the lire had crossed Market street, and ordered us to retreat up the hill, We went to the corner of l’ost street and Van Xess Avenue, and camped in a garden, hut a Couple of hours lateft we had to shift further away owing to the rapid approach of the lire. Next morning some of us tried to make our way to the hotel, hue when we got there we could do nothing. Some of our company were seen by the soldiers, and were immediately put to work shift irig stones off the road so that carts could get along, and there was no " please ” about it. Kitlicr it was a ease of do it or strike trouble For an hour and a half they kept at it, and the trouble was all for nothing, for when the party got to the hotel they could save nothing, and all we got except the clothes we stood up in was a small handbag.

•• Our manager cabled for a thousand dollars, and divided it amongst the company, and we've been buying clothes ever since, at Seattle, Vancouver, Honolulu, at Suva.

•• We were all talking about the great things we were going to do in Australia, and the first thing handed to us was an earthquake and thou lire, Those filings generally come in threes, you know, and we have been expecting to he shipwrecked, east away on some desert island, ur eaten by cannibals, hut we are all right so far, though rather reduced in wardrobe. “ We went bc.'Oss to 0 ik a id on Thursday, aad eight of us spent the night in two rooms. We found very little damage doneJ in Oakland. Few bnildicgs wtre damaged. Nearly all tho obimnoys were Bbakon down and ohurcbes spires were cn the roadway, but little beside. The peop'e were not allowed to light fires owing to the absence of ohitnneys, and almost everybody dined at restaurants. We Hr od up the road, and as soon as one cpotiogeni repastod, another filed io, the eatiDg bouses Being hard at it all day long. N It day we got away by train to Portland, and here we afe, The previous we skirted the fjro and reached the water front, to find that the Stnoma was not going to sail for 17 days.” The most exciting earthquako story was fold by Mr Stewart, number of Mr (Jollier's Tbeattioal Company. 11 Have

SOME DETAILS BY MAIL. THRILLING EXPERIENCES. k i Per Press Ass •ciamu; 1 Au 'klaud, lust night. Mr W. McCutoheon. stage manager cf the William Oollior Company, had an , interesting story to toll. "Wo arrived in ’Frisco oil Monday uight,” he said, " and I most of us put up at St Francis' anil I Pa ill Cl Hotels. I got upoi tba seventh I floor of tbo S'. Francis’, ns high as 1 could I got. Who i it eanio it throw mo nut i f I bad—that was all t) did to tin. They said i I was most awfully frightened. I don't know. I hadn’t timl got back tj bed again, find 1 didu’t put my head under the blankets e thor, I put a pillow over my I hoad instead to save my ftoo from falling i plaster. It o.amo dowu in sheets, and the i cbandelior aloog with is. Tbo room shook I like a rat in tbo jaws of a terrier. Tbo p papers said it lasted for 00 secs. It I second to me mote like 50 years. When d it stopped I lay there waking for tto Whole building to coWapso ou top of me, r< but it didn’t, and I got up nod put my in olotbes on. I didn’t then realise the re awful nature of the shock and whnt had in happened to the town. Asseou as I had at dressed I went downstairs. That hotel fu was in a terrible state. Piaster lay in pr heaps all over Iho finer, and chandeliers an were piled on top. The furuituro wa> ws thrown everywhere, and the p'nco looked ch; n regular wreck ; but as a matter of fact I v

(you over been in a haunted room yon sometimes got *■' no exhibition V ’ That iv,l3 whus it felt lik.'. Tlia while plaoo shoik with strong firm pull» from side to aide, blit I kept my prusonoa of mind, and called to myshtos, " don't bo frightened Vs only an i ar'iujuake ; go to -lot p again." T.ion the oeii ng began to fall in bi a, and ■ha walla to bond and oraok. In -IS seconds, as I learned afterwards, it was over. Luckily thoro was a tiro-oaoapo in | my room, so l ailowod myself to dross in comfort, except that no water war to bo had, aud packed up. Although through ills open window I bad aeon buildings r. eking bk-i treos in a ga ! e, I did nol ro.iiss tho ix out of tbo disaster till I got outsido aid saw the crowds of startled women in ib ir night irrasoa. A drug | store in onr block was blnziug, but wo d

oided, another member of iho company ami myself, that wo hud time to got tbo poopl-j’a luggage downstairs, when we finally p tssod out into the street. Things were confused of course, but tbero was hardly auy panic, nud the splendid behavior of tbo women was beyond all praise. Nsvor a whimper through it all. It is only as I talk that hundreds of inci-

dents oomo orowding in upon mo. 11 Air Stewart was also enthusiastic with rogard to the Oakland pooplo, and be told in this oonnootiou a delightful story. A ruiued waiter from San Franeiaoo oarno iu'o a restaurant, said bo wis starving,

and asked for a job, addiug that ho had four children dependent on him. Tbo proprietor sai l ho had hundreds alioady and could do nothing for him. Auottor waiter wn3 standing by. 'flow many children 1 he asked. 1 Four.’ 1 Well, I ve only two,' and bo took off his apron and gave it to tbo refugee.