RUINS AND HAVOC IN COAST CITIES.
=San Jose, the Prettiest Place in the State, Wrecked
by Quake--State Insane Asylum Collapsed and Buried Many
Patients Beneath the Crumbled Walls--Enormous Damage
at Santa Rosa.=
Outside of San Francisco the earthquake did immense damage for fifty
miles north and south of the Golden Gate City. San Jose, the prettiest
city in California, sustained the severest shock, which killed a score
of people and left the business section a pile of ruins. The loss in
this one city alone amounted to $5,000,000.
The State Insane Asylum at Agnews near San Jose collapsed and buried
upwards of 100 patients beneath its walls.
Among the buildings wrecked in San Jose are St. Patrick's church, the
First Presbyterian church, the Centella Methodist Episcopal church,
the Central Christian and South Methodist churches.
Every building on the west side of First street from St. James park to
San Fernando street either went down, toppling or was badly cracked.
The Auzerias building, Elks club, Unique theater and many other
buildings on Santa Clara street went down to the ground.
On Second street the six-story Dougherty building and several
adjoining blocks were destroyed by fire. A new high school in Normal
Park was a complete wreck.
The Nevada & Porter building on Second street, the Rucker building on
Third and Santa Clara streets were also ruined.
The annex to the Vendome Hotel was completely wrecked, and one man was
killed therein.
Sheriff William White, of Los Angeles, who was in San Jose at the
time attending a convention, thus describes the scenes following the
quake:
"San Jose, which was the prettiest city in California, is the
worst-looking wreck I ever saw. When I left there nineteen dead bodies
had been recovered and there was a possibility that others would be
found. I reached Agnews Asylum a few hours later in an automobile and
was one of the first on the spot. There I helped to carry out sixty
corpses. At noon, when I arrived at San Jose, it was believed that
fully 100 bodies were still in the ruins.
"The shock came to San Jose exactly at 5:12:45, according to the clock
in the St. James Hotel, which was stopped. Supreme Court Clerk Jordan,
my young nephew; Walter Jordan and myself occupied apartments on the
fourth floor of the St. James Hotel. The shock awoke the three of us,
but only seemed to disturb my nephew, who commenced calling out.
"There was not a brick or stone building of two stories or over in San
Jose that was not leveled to the ground or so badly damaged it will
have to be torn down. Some fires started after the quake, but the fire
department soon had them under control.
"I secured an automobile at 7 o'clock and left for Agnew, where the
insane asylum was located, with two or three of the visiting sheriffs.
The sight there was awful. The walls were standing, but the floors had
all fallen in.
"Scores of insane persons were running about in the grounds, unwatched
and uncared for. I helped to take out the body of Dr. Kelly, the
assistant superintendent of the asylum, who had been instantly killed.
A nurse who was also taken out of the ruins by me died a little later.
"After getting away from San Jose I saw evidences of the earthquake at
Niles and even as far as Livermore in the shape of fallen chimneys and
broken glass."
The main building of the State Hospital collapsed, pinning many of the
patients under fallen walls and debris. The padded cells had to be
broken open and more dangerous patients were tied to trees out on the
lawn in lieu of a safer place. The doctors and nurses stuck heroically
to their posts and 100 students from Santa Clara College went over in
a body and assisted in succoring the wounded.
State Senator Cornelius Pendleton, who escaped the earthquake shock at
San Jose, thus narrated his experiences:
"We were all at the Vendome Hotel. The shock of the earthquake was so
severe the floors and walls of the building collapsed at once and
those of us who escaped made our way as best we could out of the
ruins. On the side of the hotel where my room was there was a large
tree. The side wall of my room fell against this tree, which also
sustained that portion of the roof, preventing it from falling in on
us.
"My room was on the second floor, but when I picked myself up I was in
the basement of the building. I crawled up and out over the debris and
escaped through a window on a level with the ground. After getting out
I found this was one of the third story windows. Those of us who were
uninjured at once set about assisting the less fortunate. I saw one
dead woman in the hotel. We carried her out. The remainder of the dead
were in various parts of the town. The residence district was not
badly damaged. Martial law had been declared in the city when we left.
"Among the large buildings that were totally demolished were the Hall
of Justice, the First Presbyterian Church, the Catholic Cathedral, the
Hale Block, and the Vendome Hotel. Fire broke out following the
earthquake in several quarters, but fortunately the water mains were
uninjured and the spread of the flames was checked."
At Salinas the immense plant of the Spreckels Sugar refinery was
completely destroyed, and the loss of property aggregated $2,000,000.
The estimated loss of life and damage in California cities outside of
San Francisco is as follows:
Oakland, $500,000, 5 lives; Alameda, $400,000; San Jose, $5,000,000,
19 lives; Agnew (state hospital for insane), $400,000, 170 lives; Palo
Alto (Stanford University), $3,000,000, 2 lives; Napa, $250,000;
Salinas, $2,000,000; Hollister, $100,000, 1 life; Vallejo, $40,000;
Sacramento, $25,000; Redwood City, $30,000; Suisun, $50,000; Santa
Rosa, $800,000, 40 lives; Watsonville, $70,000; Monterey, $25,000, 8
lives; Loma Prieta, 10 lives; Stockton, $40,000; Brawley, $100,000;
Santa Cruz, $200,000; Gilroy, $500,000; Healdsburg, $25,000;
Cloverdale, $15,000; Geyserville, $12,000; Hopland, $10,000; Ukiah,
$50,000; Alviso, $20,000; Niles, $10,000; Hinckley Creek, $10,000, 9
lives; Deer Creek Mill, $10,000, 2 lives; Santa Clara, $500,000;
Pacific Grove, $50,000; Wrights, $75,000; Delmonte, $25,000, 2 lives.
The beautiful city of Santa Rosa was a terrible sufferer from the
quake, both in loss of life and property:
The entire business section was left in ruins and practically every
residence in the town was more or less damaged, fifteen or twenty
being badly wrecked. The damage to residences was caused principally
by the sinking of the foundations, which let many structures down on
to the ground.
The brick and stone business blocks, together with the public
buildings, were all thrown flat. The courthouse, Hall of Records, the
Occidental and Santa Rosa hotels, the Athenaeum theater, the new
Masonic Temple, Odd Fellows' block, all the banks--everything--went,
and in all the city not one brick or stone building was left standing
except the California Northwestern depot.
It was almost impossible for an outsider to realize the situation as
it actually existed there. No such complete destruction of a city's
business interests ever before resulted from an earthquake in America.
The very completeness of the devastation was really the redeeming
feature, though, for it put all upon exactly the same basis,
commercially speaking. Bankers and millionaires went about with only
the few dollars they happened to have in their pockets when the crash
came, and were little better off than the laborers who were digging
through the debris. Money had practically no value, for there was no
place to spend it, and this phase of the situation presented its own
remedy. Almost every one slept out of doors, being afraid to enter
their homes except for a short while at a time until repairs were
made.
There were plenty of provisions. Some were supplied by other towns and
much was brought in from the surrounding country. Two entire blocks of
buildings escaped being swept by the flames, which immediately broke
out in a dozen places at once as soon as the shock was over and from
the tangled ruins of those buildings complete stocks of groceries and
clothing were dug out and added to the common store. Then before the
fire gained headway several grocery stores were emptied of their
contents in anticipation of what might follow.
The city was put under martial law, company C of Petaluma having been
called to assist the local company in preserving order. Many deputy
sheriffs and special police were also sworn in, but no trouble of any
kind occurred.
The relief committee was active and well managed and all in need of
assistance received it promptly. The work that required the principal
attention of the authorities was removal of the wreckage in order to
search for the bodies of those missing and known to have perished.
Forty marines under command of Captain Holcombe arrived from Mare
Island and did splendid work in assisting in the search. Forty-two
bodies were buried in one day and the total dead and missing numbered
upward of 100.
Santa Rosa, in proportion to its size, suffered worse than San
Francisco. Mr. Griggs, who was in the employ of a large firm at Santa
Rosa, tells a story which sufficiently proves the earthquake's fury,
so great as to practically reduce the town to ruin. In addition to
the death roll a large number of persons were missing and a still
greater number were wounded.
As in the case of San Francisco, an admirable organization had the
situation well in hand. Forty sailors from Mare Island, fully equipped
with apparatus, were at work, while volunteer aid was unstinted.
Santa Rosa suffered the greatest disaster in her history, but the
indomitable spirit of her people was shown all along the line. Even so
early as Friday an announcement was made that the public schools and
the college would open as usual on Monday morning, the buildings
having been inspected and found to be safe.
At Agnews the cupola over the administration department went down and
all the wards in that part of the building collapsed. Twelve
attendants were killed and Dr. Kelly, second assistant physician, was
crushed to death. There were 1,100 patients in the hospital. C. L.
Seardee, secretary of the state commission in lunacy, who was in
Agnews and attending to official business, declared that it was a
marvel that many more were not killed. Dr. T. W. Hatch, superintendent
of the state hospitals for insane, was in charge of the work of
relief.
Friday morning 100 patients were transferred to the Stockton asylum.
Forty or fifty patients escaped.
Dr. Clark, superintendent of the San Francisco County Hospital, was
one of the first to give relief to the injured at Agnews. He went
there in an automobile, taking four nurses with him, and materially
assisted the remaining members of the staff to organize relief
measures.
Tents were set up in the grounds of the institution, and the injured
as well as the uninjured cared for. A temporary building was erected
to house the patients.
The St. Rose and Grand hotels at Santa Rosa collapsed and buried all
the occupants. Thirty-eight bodies were taken from the ruins. There
were 10,000 homeless men, women and children huddled together about
Santa Rosa. As the last great seismic tremor spent its force in the
earth, the whole business portion tumbled into ruins. The main street
was piled many feet deep with the fallen buildings.
The destruction included all of the county buildings. The four story
courthouse, with its dome, is a pile of broken masonry. What was not
destroyed by the earthquake was swept by fire. The citizens deserted
their homes. Not even their household goods were taken. They made for
the fields and hills to watch the destruction of one of the most
beautiful cities of the west.
C. A. Duffy of Owensboro, Ky., who was in Santa Rosa, was the only one
out of several score to escape from the floor in which he was
quartered in the St. Rose hotel at Santa Rosa. He went to Oakland on
his motor cycle after he was released and told a thrilling story of
his rescue and the condition of affairs in general at Santa Rosa.
Mr. Duffy said when the shock came he rushed for the stairway, but the
building was swaying and shaking so that he could make no headway, and
he turned back. He threw himself in front of the dresser in his room,
trusting to that object to protect him from the falling timbers. This
move saved his life. The dresser held up the beams which tumbled over
him, and these in turn protected him from the falling mass of debris.
"I was imprisoned five hours," said Mr. Duffy, "before being rescued.
Three times I tried to call and the rescuers heard me, but could not
locate my position from the sound of my voice, and I could hear them
going away after getting close to me.
"Finally I got hold of a lath from the ruins around me, poked it
through a hole left by the falling of a steam pipe, and by using it
and yelling at the same time finally managed to show the people where
I was.
"There were about 300 people killed in the destruction of the three
hotels.
"The business section of the place collapsed to the ground almost
inside of five minutes. Then the fire started and burned Fourth street
from one end to the other, starting at each end and meeting in the
middle, thus sweeping over the ruins and burning the imprisoned
people.
"I saw two arms protruding from one part of the debris and waving
frantically. There was so much noise, however, that the screams could
not be heard. Just then, as I looked, the flames swept over them and
cruelly finished the work begun by the earthquake. The sight sickened
me and I turned away."
Fort Bragg, one of the principal lumbering towns of Mendocino county,
was almost totally destroyed as a result of a fire following the
earthquake of April 18.
The bank and other brick buildings were leveled as a result of the
tremors and within a few hours fire completed the work of devastation.
But one person of the 5,000 inhabitants was killed, although scores
were injured.
Eureka, another large town in the same county, fifty miles from Fort
Bragg, was practically undamaged, although the quake was distinctly
felt there.
Relief expeditions were sent to Fort Bragg from surrounding towns and
villages and the people of the ruined area were well cared for.
The town of Tomales was converted into a pile of ruins. All of the
large stores were thrown flat. The Catholic church, a new stone
structure, was also ruined. Many ranch houses and barns went down. Two
children, Anita and Peter Couzza, were killed in a falling house about
a mile from town.
The towns of Healdsburg, Geyserville, Cloverdale, Hopland, and Ukiah
were almost totally destroyed. The section in which they were located
is the country as far north as Mendocino and Lake counties and as far
west as the Pacific ocean. These are frontier counties, and have not
as large towns as farther south. In every case the loss of life and
property was shocking.
At Los Banos heavy damage was done. Several brick buildings were
wrecked. The loss was $75,000.
Brawley, a small town on the Southern Pacific, 120 miles south of Los
Angeles, was practically wiped out by the earthquake. This was the
only town in southern California known to have suffered from the
shock.
Buildings were damaged at Vallejo, Sacramento, and Suisun. At the
latter place a mile and a half of railroad track is sunk from three to
six feet. A loaded passenger train was almost engulfed.
R. H. Tucker, in charge of the Lick observatory, near San Jose, said:
"No damage was done to the instruments or the buildings of the
observatory by the earthquake."
At Santa Cruz the courthouse and twelve buildings were destroyed.
Contrary to reports, there must have been a tidal wave of some size,
for three buildings were carried away on Santa Cruz beach.
The Moreland academy, a Catholic institution at Watsonville, was badly
damaged, but no lives lost.
In a Delmonte hotel a bridal couple from Benson, Ari.--Mr. and Mrs.
Rouser--were killed in bed by chimneys falling.
At 12:33 o'clock on the afternoon following the San Francisco quake
Los Angeles experienced a distinct earthquake shock of short duration.
Absolutely no damage was done, but thousands of people were badly
frightened.
Men and women occupants of office buildings, especially the tall
structures, ran out into the streets, some of them hatless. Many
stores were deserted in like manner by customers and clerks. The
shock, however, passed off in a few minutes, and most of those who had
fled streetwards returned presently.
The San Francisco horror has strung the populace here to a high
tension, and a spell of sultry weather serves to increase the general
nervousness.