Complete Story of the San Francisco HorrorWhite, Trumbull
History
Complete Story of the San Francisco Horror
White, Trumbull
Disasters; Earthquakes; San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, Calif., 1906; Vesuvius (Italy) -- Eruption, 1906; Volcanoes
The tough stared for a moment and then the shade of fear crept over
his face, and with an "All right, boss," he started in upon the labor
of recovering the art treasures from the institute.
"This is martial law," said the determined lieutenant. "I don't like
it, you may not like it, but it goes. I think that is understood."
* * * * *
John H. Ryan and wife of Chicago after spending their honeymoon in
Honolulu and Jamaica reached San Francisco just before the earthquake.
They were stopping at the St. Francis Hotel, which was destroyed
partially by the earthquake and totally by the fire following the
shock. They lost many of their personal effects, but are thankful that
they escaped with their lives.
"When the first shock came," said Mr. Ryan, "I was out of bed in an
instant. I immediately was thrown to the floor. Arising, I held on by
a chair and by the door knob until I could get around the room to the
window to see if I could find out what was the matter. I saw people
running and heard them in the corridors of the hotel. I also heard
women screaming. I hastily called one of my friends and he and myself
threw on our overcoats, stuck our feet into our shoes and ran
downstairs. I ran back to tell my wife, when I found her coming down
the stairs.
"The first shock lasted, according to a professor in the university,
sixty seconds. I thought it lasted about as many days.
"At the second shock all the guests piled into the streets. We stood
in the bitter cold street for fully a quarter of an hour with nothing
about us but our spring overcoats. I said 'bitter cold.' So it was.
People there said it was the coldest spell that has struck Frisco in
years.
"After standing in the streets for a while my friend and myself, with
my wife, started back into the hotel to get our clothes. The guard was
at the foot of the stairs and he told us that we would not be allowed
to go to our rooms. I told him we merely wanted to get some clothes on
so we would not freeze to death and he told us to go up, but to come
right down as soon as possible, for there was no telling what would
happen. We rushed into our rooms and hurriedly threw on our clothes,
and started out to reconnoiter. We stopped near a small building. Just
then a policeman on guard came up and ordered everybody to assist in
rescuing the persons within. We did not hesitate, but rushed into the
building heedless of the impending falling of the walls. We found
there a man lying unconscious on the floor. He revived sufficiently to
make us understand that his wife and child were in the building and
that he thought they were dead. We looked and finally found them,
dead.
"We saw ambulances and undertakers' wagons by the score racing down
Market street. They were filled with the bodies of the injured and in
many cases with dead. The injured were piled into the wagons
indiscriminately without respect for any consequences in the future of
the patients."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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