The Destruction of 'Frisco.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8192, 19 May 1906, Page 7

The Destruction of 'Frisco.

Details ot the Disaster.

(Per Press Association.)

AUCKLAND, May 18. W. McCutcheon, stage manager of the William Collier Company, who landed in Auckland by the 'Frisco boat, had an intere-ting story to tell of the recent earthquake. " W« arrived in 'Frisco on Monday night," he said, " and most of us put at the St. Francis and Palace Hotels. I got upon the seventh floor of the St. Francis, as high as I could get, and the earthquake had a chance to deal with me when it came. It threw me out of bed. The swaying was most awful. Frightened ? I don't know; I hadn't time. The plaster came down in sheets, and a chandelier along with it. It lasted for 50 seconds, but it seemed to be more like 50 years. As soon as I had dressed I went downstairs. The hotel was in a terrible slate Plaster lay in heaps upon the floor, and chandaliers were piled on top of furniture which was thrown everywhere. When I reached Union Square it was crowded with people in all sorts of get-ups— men with pyjamas on and coats over them, women with nightdresses and kiminos, and women in nightdresses only. Signor Caruso, the great tenor, was m the Square, clad m pyjamas and a fur overcoat.

"The people in the Square were frightened to death, but there was absolutely no panic. After the shock was over we tried to get the women to 'go back to dress, but they wouldn't go, remaining out in the open air in their scanty attire. For two or three hours the men went back and groped round for the women folks' clothes ; and then they went 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 gas mains, and when day broke we began to realise the extent of the damage. Buildings were down everywhere and houses %vere thrown into the middle of the streets, and 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.

" By daylight, soldiers from Presidio, one of the largest garrisons of the United States, had arrived in town. They were asked to come out by the Mayor. They came in hay waggons, ambulances, and all sorts of vehicles, a couple of thousand being in the town inside of two hours. Their prompt arrival alone saved the town from pillage and riot. They were stationed at the banks and other financial institutions with rrders to shoot pillagers, and they carried out their instructions. There was no arresting ; any thief caught in the act was incontinently shot, and this quickly overawed any of the roughs who were bent on theft. A gang of 40 or 50 thieves tried to sack the Mint, then uninjured, but they were met by a volley from the soldiers and eight were shot dead. The rest quickly sought shelter and didn't renew their depredations. Altogether about 14 were shot and though the treatment was drastic nothing else would have served. Anybody seen attempting to get into a 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 in buildings in Union Square, and the rapidity with which it spread was simply amazing. It flew from building to building with wonderful rapidity, licking up everything in its path. Next morning the scene in the fire area was simply appalling. Words could not describe it. Only two buildings were left standing, and they were grim and gaunt skeletons of the Spreckels skyscraper and St. Francis Hotel. The two were gutted from ground to ceiling, but they were fireproof, and they stood, the walls and most of the floors being intact. The St. Francis Hotel Proprietary expect to be ready to receive guests again in 90 days, and in the same space of time Spreckels' building was to be ready. The fire bridged gaps and consumed buildings in an incredibly short space of time. Those that were not " earthquaked " were burnt, and those that were not burnt were dynamited, so between the three there was very little left. It was wonderful how well the people took the disaster. Indeed, they did not seem to realise the awful nature of the catastrophe; they seemed stupified, and one would see people sitting about brooding over their losses but saying no word to anybody, and taking no interest in anything. They knew something awful had happened and that they could do nothing. " The most remarkable thing though was the odd nature of the things taken by the fleeing people, who were leaving their homes for the other side of the bay. You would see a irun going along with a picture strapped to his back and not worth more than a couple of dollars. We passed two or three people who had piled some of their household goods on couches, and were pulling them along the street on castors. One old woman was trudging along towards the fei'ry with a Iparrot in a cage, and another was pushing a sewing machine along the pavement. The most weird things in the world were saved. " Our party stayed in Union Square untii 11 o'clock that night. We believed that the fire would not yfpread to our hotel. But at that hour soldiers told U3 that the fire had crossed Market.street, and ordered us to retreat up the hill. We went to the Corner of Post-street and the Avenue and camped in a igarden, but a couple of hours later we had to shift further away owing to the rapid approach of the fire. Next morning some of us tried to make our way to the hotel, but when we goB there we could do nothing. Some of our company were seen by soldiers, and were immediately put to work shifting stones off the roadway, so that carts could get along, and there was no " please " kbout it either. It was a case 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 c'othes ever cince at Seattle, Vancouver, Honolulu, and Suva. We went across to Oakland on the Thursday and eight of us spent the night in two rooms. We found very little damage done in Oakland. Nearly all the chimneys were shaken down and the church spires on the roadway, but

little beside that. People were not allowed to light fires owing to absence of chimneys and almost everybody dined at restaurants. We lined in the road and as soon as one contingent reported another filed in, the eating houses being hard at it all day long. Next day we got away by train to Portland. The most exciting earthquake story was told by Mr Stewart, a member of Mr Collier's Theatrical Company. " Have you ever been in a haunted room you eometimes get in an exhibition?'asked he. "That was what it felt like. The whole place shook with strong firm pulls from side to side, but I kept my presence of mind, and called out to my sister, ' Don't be frightened, it's only an earthquake ; go to sleep again.' Then the ceiling began to fall in bits, and the walls to bend and crack. In 48 seconds, as I learned afterwards, it was over. Luckily there was a fire escape in my room, so I allowed myself to dress in comfort, except that no water was to be had, and packed up. " Although through an open M'indow I had seen buildings rocking like trees in a gale, I did not realise the extent of the disaster till I got outside and saw crowds of startled women in their nightdresses. A drug store in our block was blazing, but we decided (another member of the company and myself) that we had time to get the people's luggage downstairs. When we finally passed out into the street things were confused, of course, but there was hardly any panic, and the splendid behaviour of the women was beyond all praise; never a whimper through it all. It is only as I talk that hundreds of incidents come crowding in upon me. I saw a man in his undershirt cravrl down a waterpipe of a wrecked house in which everyone else had been killed. "Despite their own sufferings, the crowd were unselfish enough to cheer the poor refugees. Many of the women were scasick all day long, through a series of minor earthquakes, and the number of lesser afflictions was endless. I saw two men shot for looting—the first for cutting the ring off a dead woman's finger, and the second was a man who was offered four or five dollars to carry some baggage. He demanded twenty, saying ' I am out for stuff.' " 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. People living near brought out tbeir beds, but others, like ourselves, had to put up with the bare ground, and from these I counted 19 fires, each a block wide, sweeping irrepressibly over the city, wondering when it would get 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 thai sound of dragging trunks. Large numbers of these people were Japanese, Chinese, and Italians." Mr Stewart was also enthusiastic with regard to the Oakland people, and he told in this connection a delightful story. A rained waiter from San Francisco came ioto the restaurant, and said he was starving and asked for a job, adding that he had four children dependent on him. The proprietor said he had had hundreds already, and could do nothing for him.' Another waiter was standing by and asked, "How many children?" "Four." "Well, I've only two," and he took off his apron and gave it to the refugee. Then all along the railway to Vancouver people stood on a platform giving away coffee and paper bags of provisions. One more instance, said Mr Stewart. The Oakland shops with every opportunity to charge famine prices, actually put up these notices, " Prices materially lowered on account of the general distress."