AS A description of the stupendous crisis through which we San Franciscans have just passed, I wish to substitute that of one (Mr. Fred Hewitt, in the Examiner) who was awake and in the midst of the very worst when the crash came. He wrote under the inspiration6of the moment, and for that reason has given a touch to it that I have read from no other pen. It is better and fuller than I could possibly write, for I was in bed, and wakened only in the worst of that dreadful scene.
On the left side of the picture is the San Francisco Examiner Building, or what was left of it after the fire. On the right side is the Call Building. The walls stand intact with all woodwork burned by the fire.
His description follows:
I was within a stone's throw of that City Hall when the hand of an avenging God fell upon San Francisco. The ground rose and fell like an ocean at ebb tide. Then came the crash. Tons upon tons upon tons, of that mighty pile slid away from the steel framework and the destructiveness of that effort was terrific.
I had just reached Golden Gate Avenue and Larkin Street, and had tarried a moment to converse with a couple of policemen. With me were two local newspaper men. We had just bid good-by to the officers, who proceeded down Larkin Street to the City Hall station. They had gotten midway in the block when the crash came.
I saw those policemen enveloped in a shower of falling stone. Their lives must have been blotted out in an instant. "Keep the middle of the street, Mac," I shouted to one of my friends.
"That is the only avenue of escape," returned he.
We staggered over the bitumen.
An Eternity.
It is impossible to judge the length of that shock. To me it seemed an eternity. I was thrown prone on my back and the pavement pulsated like a living thing. Around me the huge buildings, looming up more terrible because of the queer dance they were performing, wobbled and veered. Crash followed crash and resounded on all sides. Screeches rent the air as terrified humanity streamed out into the open in an agony of despair. Affrighted horses dashed headlong into ruin as they raced away in their abject fear.
Then there was a lull.
The most terrible was yet to come. The first portion of that shock was just a mild forerunner of what was to follow.
The pause in the action of the earth's surface couldn't have been more than a fraction of a second. It was sufficient, however, to allow me to collect myself. In the center of two streets I arose to my feet. Then came the second and more terrific crash.
The street beds heaved in frightful fashion. The earth rocked, and then came the blow that wrecked San Francisco from bay shore to ocean beach, and from the Golden Gate to the end of the peninsula.
As if in sympathy for its immediate neighbor, the old Supreme Court building danced a frivolous frolic and then tumbled into the street. Beneath that ruin of stone and brick were buried the blue-coated guardians of the city to whom I had been talking a few minutes before. That few minutes, however, seemed to me a century.
Praying to God.
The second upheaval was heart-rending. It made me think of loved ones in different portions of the country. It turned my stomach, gave me a heart-ache that I will never forget, and caused me to sink upon my knees and pray to the Almighty God that me and mine should escape the awful fate I knew was coming to so many thousands.
Down Golden Gate Avenue the houses commenced again their fantastic, ogreish dancing. One long line of frame buildings tottered a moment and then, just as a score or more of terror-stricken, white-shirted humanity tried to reach the open, it laid flat. The cries of those who must have perished reached my ears, and I hope that never again this side of the grave will I hear such signals of agony.
God's Mercy.
I turned about from that point of view to shut out the terrible sight, but what went on on all sides seemed to be just a repetition of what I had already witnessed. Looking up Golden Gate Avenue, I saw tons and tons of brick and stone coping poise for a fraction of a second on beam end and then plunge into the street below. Then it was that the idea flashed through my mind that God is merciful. What would have been the loss of life had the Almighty allowed that earthquake to occur in midday?
Suddenly, as sharply and as abruptly as it had begun, the end of the temblor came. Ruin endeavored, it seemed, to outdo ruin. A world of structural work found resting-place on mother earth. Bent steel girders and huge blocks of decorative stones made their sleeping-place beside all this.
A cloud of deep dust hung tenaciously about the City Hall. I realized that there something dreadful had happened. I peered into the cloud, but I could not see even a mark of that building. And as I waited, the dust began to settle. First showed the steel shaft on which had for so long floated the country's flag. Imbedded in a ton of steel block, the entire mass had shifted many feet, but still maintained its position atop that pile of structural steel. As the wind carried the dust away and uncovered the ruins, there stood a mountain sheared of all its crowning glory. It could be fittingly compared with a mountain that had passed through a forest fire.
The dome appeared like a huge bird-cage against the morning dawn. The upper works of the entire building laid peaceably—if that term can be used—in the street below. I thought of those guardians of law and order whose headquarters are in the basement of the hall on the McAllister and Larkin Streets corner, and wondered if the sergeants and office men on duty had escaped. I thought of those angels of mercy nursing their patients in the Central Emergency Hospital and the physicians there, all of whom I knew from personal contact, and whom I had learned to respect and revere, not so much for their ability and cleverness, but because of their usefulness to me in my capacity as a newsgetter. I wondered if they had escaped death as they stood by to help the injured that might have been brought to them.
After I had drawn myself together I found my way to my home, where, thank God, the wreck had not been as complete as many others I had witnessed. Then it was that I realized the condition of an excitement-crazed populace. Herds of huddled creatures, attired in next to nothing, occupied the center of the streets, not knowing what would happen next or which way they would turn for safety. Each and every person I saw was
Temporarily Insane.
Laughing idiots commented on the fun they were having. Terror marked their faces, and yet their voices indicated a certain enjoyment that maniacs have when they kill and gloat over their prey. Women, hysterical to an extreme point, cried and raved for those they loved when they were standing at their elbow. Mothers searched madly for their children who had strayed, while little ones wailed for their protectors. It was bedlam.
Strong men bellowed like babies in their furor. All humanity within eyesight was suffering from palsy. No one knew which way to turn, when on all sides of them destruction stared them in the very eye. A number of slight tremors followed the first seven series of shocks. As each came in turn fearful agony spread over the countenances of the afflicted ones. Terror stamped its mark on every brow.
Then an unnatural light dimmed the rising sun and the word went forth from every throat:
"The city is ablaze. We will all be burned. This must be
"The End of This Wicked World."
From down south of Market Street the glare grew and grew. The flames shot heavenward and licked the sky. It looked as if the end of the world was surely at hand.
For an hour or more after that terrible shock which shook the buildings of all San Francisco to the very foundations, people wandered about in an inane fashion. There was no attempt at concerted action to hold the sufferers. People were stupefied. And meanwhile the fire burned and burned.
Read the following from the Book of books:
"The city of confusion is broken down; every house is shut up, that no man may come in." "In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction."
"Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare; for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake."
"The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again."
These are the words of the Almighty concerning "the end of this wicked world." The people of San Francisco were wrong when they thought the final stroke of God's justice had fallen on this wicked world. They were right in that they were impressed with the proximity of its approach.
But the twenty-fourth of Isaiah, from which the above is quoted, is not confined to the ungodly and their impenitence. We are also told how those who trust in Him will pass through these calamities:
"When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done. They [the remnant thus symbolized] shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord, they shall cry aloud from the sea. Wherefore, glorify ye the Lord in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea. From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous." Verses 13-16.
O man of this world, O woman of earth, flee from the wrath to come. Seek the mercy of your God while probation's moments linger.
E. J. HIBBARD.
What Do These Things Mean?
By J. O. Corliss
To be an infallible guide, the Bible must be able to instruct in all things pertaining to life and godliness. Such instruction, to be competent, must reveal the eternal purpose of God concerning this earth and its inhabitants. This purpose being a fixed one, God's omniscience must foresee and make note of those events which are to affect the destiny of His people. To believe otherwise would belittle the Creator, and make Him unworthy of confidence in time of dire need.
Taking this view of the Bible, we are compelled to believe that the terrible calamity just visited upon the Pacific Slope is significant, as indicating something for which the people ought to be prepared. The havoc wrought in San Francisco, San Jose, and other cities of California, was not wholly accomplished by the shaking of the earth. In San Francisco particularly, fire of the most persistent character followed, devouring the most formidable structures the art of men could devise. This is remarkable in one way, because these two elements are represented in God's Word as accompanying agencies for the destruction of those whose sins have become so flagrant as to provoke the indignation of Heaven. Isa. 29:6.
By the combination of these two elements the destruction of the world will be accomplished in due time. Speaking on this point the prophet says: "And the seventh angel poured out his vial [of wrath] into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell; and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found." Rev. 16:17–20.
Those who passed through the recent earthquake will corroborate the statement that the scenes which followed it beggar description. Rich men lost their all, and were reduced from affluence to poverty. Poorer people were reduced to beggary, and cried like children. So much confusion prevailed that martial law was proclaimed. But calamitous as was this recent occasion, the event predicted in the foregoing scripture will bring infinitely greater distress, so much so that "the mighty man will cry there bitterly," for that day will be "a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness." That day will be "the day of the Lord's wrath," in which "He shall make a speedy riddance of all them which dwell in the land." Zeph. 1:14–18.
At this time the ethereal arch of heaven will pass away as a scroll being rolled together, and every mountain and island will remove. Then all men—kings, rich men, chief captains, and earth's mighty men, with the bond and free—will hide together among the rocks of the hills, and in one mighty chorus of lamentation, cry to the rocks and mountains to fall on them, and to hide them from the face of Him whose wrath they have provoked by their glaring enormities in sin. Rev. 6:14–16. But rocks and mountains can not then bury them away from impending destruction; for as in previous foretastes of that day, fire springs up in all directions, and consumes them from off the earth.
That this is not a fancy sketch, we have only to refer again to scripture. Speaking of the attitude of those who will make light of the evidences of Christ's near coming, the apostle Peter says such are willingly ignorant of the fact that by the word of God the world was once destroyed by water. He then adds: "The heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 2 Peter 3:4–7.
Such a sure and terrible ending of all things sinful must be reserved for a definite time in the purpose of God, who could not be true to His declared merciful character should He fail to give warning of its direct approach. When the Saviour was asked what signs would herald His second advent and the end of the world, among other things He said: "Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and great earthquakes shall be in divers places." Matt. 24:1–8; Luke 21:10, 11.
The first really great earthquake to be noted in history since that prediction was made, is that of 1755 in Portugal, when Lisbon was overthrown. Since then they have occurred in ever-increasing rapidity, until quite recently they have followed almost upon the heels of each other. Within ten years Stromboli erupted, following an earthquake. Mount Pelée soon followed, carrying great destruction in its wake. Within three months Vesuvius has vomited forth fire, ashes, and lava, destroying at least two towns and threatening others. These, to say nothing of an earlier disturbance affecting Charleston on the Atlantic Coast, with others in South America, Central America, and in other countries, are a sure indication that we are approaching the end of the world, according to the prediction of the Lord Jesus Himself.
But, as if to make this doubly sure to us,7there now comes unheralded the sad catastrophe in California, breaking down and destroying important centers of industry. This also must be accepted as a premonition of the great and terrible earthquake before which all the cities of the nations will soon surely fall, and the accompanying fires of the last day which will complete the destruction of all sinful things.
He who pays heed to this warning and lets the Lord direct his ways, will certainly escape the general ruin, because he will have found shelter under the protecting wing of the Almighty. A thousand shall fall at his side, and ten thousand at his right hand, but it—the destruction—will not come nigh him, because he has made the Lord his refuge, even the Most High his habitation. The angel of the Lord shall keep him in all his ways. Ps. 91:5–11.
In that day, every earthly thing will be removed by the terrible shaking it will receive. One thing alone will remain, the word of God, because it can not be shaken, hence must stand forever. Fixed on this, one will be safe, even tho the earth be removed out of its place. Heb. 12:26–28.
Shall we not, then, learn the lesson God would have us study in what is occurring about us, and so yield our hearts to be controlled by Him that our lives may be moulded after the fashion of His own, and we be prepared to meet those things that are so rapidly coming upon the earth? God grant that we may.
J. O. CORLISS.
The burned district of San Francisco is shown within the heavy black lines, the general boundaries being the water front from Brannan Street on the east to Jones Street on the north, thence along Jones to Chestnut, to Hyde, to Polk, to Filbert, to Van Ness Avenue, to Clay, to Franklin, to Sutter, to Van Ness Avenue, to Golden Gate Avenue, to Octavia, to Page, to Gough, to Market, to Dolores, to Twentieth, to Mission, to Eighteenth, to Howard, to Fifteenth, to Folsom, to Eleventh, to Townsend, to the water-front. Within the district which escaped the flames are shown the Red Cross hospitals, camps, and supply-stations at Fort Mason, the Presidio, Golden Gate Park, Duboce Park, Seventeenth and Castro, Twenty-fourth and Noe, Mission Park, Mission Dolores, Haight and Market, Jefferson Square, Cemetery Camp, Alta Plaza, and Lobos Square. This is approximate. The Post-office, Mint, and Appraisers' Building escaped.
SOME DIRECT CAUSES OF EARTHQUAKES.
By Ellen G. White
A T this time [the time of the Deluge] immense forests were buried. These have since been changed to coal, forming the extensive coal beds that now exist, and also yielding large quantities of oil. The coal and oil frequently ignite and burn beneath the surface of the earth. Thus rocks are heated, limestone is burned, and iron ore melted. The action of the water upon lime adds fury to the intense heat. As the fire and water come in contact with ledges of rock and ore, there are loud explosions, and volcanic eruptions follow. These often fail to give sufficient vent to the heated elements, and the earth itself is convulsed, the ground opens, and villages, cities, and burning mountains are swallowed up.
The depths of the earth are the Lord's arsenal, whence were drawn weapons to be employed in the destruction of the old world. Waters gushing from the earth united with the waters from heaven to accomplish the work of desolation. Since the Flood, fire as well as water has been God's agent to destroy very wicked cities. These judgments are sent that those who lightly regard God's law and trample upon His authority may be led to tremble before His power, and to confess His just sovereignty. As men have beheld burning mountains pouring forth fire and flames and torrents of melted ore, drying up rivers, overwhelming populous cities, and everywhere spreading ruin and desolation, the stoutest heart has been filled with terror, and infidels and blasphemers have been constrained to acknowledge the infinite power of God.
Said the prophet of old, referring to scenes like these and the more terrible manifestations to be witnessed at the second advent of Christ: "O that Thou wouldst rend the heavens, that Thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might flow down at Thy presence, as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make Thy name known to Thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Thy presence! When Thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, Thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at Thy presence."
"The mountains quake at Him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at His presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before His indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of His anger?" "Bow Thy heavens, O Lord, and come down; touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. Cast forth lightning, and scatter them; shoot out Thine arrows, and destroy them."
"And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great." "And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent."
As lightnings from heaven unite with the fire in the earth, the mountains will burn like a furnace, and will pour forth terrible streams of lava, overwhelming gardens and fields, villages and cities. Seething molten masses thrown into the rivers will cause the waters to boil, sending forth massive rocks with indescribable violence, and scattering their broken fragments upon the land. Rivers will be dried up. The earth will be convulsed; everywhere there will be dreadful earthquakes and eruptions.
Thus God will destroy the wicked from off the earth. But the righteous will be preserved in the midst of these commotions, as Noah was preserved in the ark. God will be their refuge, and under His wings shall they trust. Says the psalmist: "Because thou hast made the Lord, which is My refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation, there shall no evil befall thee." "In the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me." God's promise is, "Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he hath known My name."—From "Patriarchs and Prophets."
How San Jose Fared
THE city of San Jose, like so many of its sister cities in California, has made forced obeisance to the perverted powers of nature.
San Jose is known throughout the country as the Garden City of California—beautifully situated, practically every residence a flower garden, well supplied with buildings good to look at, artistically constructed, and seemingly strong to resist any ordinary manifestation of nature's forces. Some of these buildings were years in process of construction; millions of dollars were put into them. So far as outward appearances went, these buildings were as good and as strong as men could make them.
In twenty-eight seconds the best that men could do was leveled with the ground or stood tottering like a reeling inebriate. All that men had put dependence in of that nature was swiftly proved a broken reed.
First Street, the finest street of San Jose, lined on both sides with substantial and wealthy business enterprises, is a trembling wreck from end to end. No single structure in all that stretch of brick and steel and stone buildings is without its mark of devastation. Some that appear to have weathered the upheaval in a fair degree are found on closer inspection to be unable to withstand a common forceful breeze; and have been condemned. Some of them will be torn down piece by piece; others, too dangerous even to be torn down, are to be blown down with dynamite. Massive stone-pillared fronts are shattered and seamed, their very seeming massiveness only accentuating their treacherous weakness, and making man's strength and man's ingenuity appear frailer and less dependable by comparison with the elements that are pitted against him.
Added to the great expense of building is the other great expense of unbuilding what nature seemed content to leave standing. Practically the whole of First Street comes down, or requires outlays of means which are nearly, if not quite, equivalent to the original cost of the structures.
But First Street did not suffer alone. The writer drove over a considerable part of the city, and found everywhere the striking evidences of the fearful temblor. It is stated that there is not a whole chimney in that city.
There is an effort on the part of many in this city to minify, rather than magnify, the results of the earthquake. It is firmly believed that there were many more lives lost than have been reported. Nineteen are admitted to have perished in this city. Some declare the number to be double that. For instance, the management of the Hotel Vendome state that "one man was killed and several injured" there; but he who can look upon the picture of the wrecked building and conceive how one hundred and twenty-eight of the one hundred and twenty-nine inmates of the Annex escaped with their lives certainly has very strong faith in human resistance. We saw buildings whose whole tops were crushed in by bricks and stones from the tops of other buildings. The sidewalks are broken, dented, or shattered in front of many
Hotel Vendome Annex. Out of this mass of wreckage 128 of the 129 occupants are said to have escaped alive. It seems an impossibility.
St. Patrick's Church, San Jose. Very fine structure before the earthquake, now a complete wreck.
buildings by the great stones that were thrown down from the higher structures, in a veritable bombardment. Look where you will, it is but broken stones, shivered timbers, plaster, heaps of brick, twisted iron frames, and tangled wires. Persons not generally considered timid are camping in their dooryards or in the parks, and companies of militia and special police are guarding the city.
In walking the length of First Street one is surprised at the number of buildings it has been found necessary to prop at top and bottom to prevent their pitching into the street. In various parts of town, residences are set off from their foundations. Some of them crushed or driven back upon their haunches, with porches torn off or tilted at dangerous angles, the buildings propped and braced to prevent serious accidents while they are being torn down.
Imagine a hale, strong man, smitten in death while still standing, and propped up that he might present an appearance of life. Such is but a weak representation of how San Jose impresses the one who has looked upon what it was and now sees it as it is.
The financial loss is now placed at $3,000,000. It is impossible to conceive how it could be rebuilt as it was for any smaller amount.
