These recollections were written in June, 1906, but the first editionbeing exhausted and a new one being required, I have included someevents that occurred later, without changing the original date.
As the earthquake and the great fire in San Francisco in the year 1906were events of such unusual interest, and realizing how faulty is man'smemory after time passes, I have here jotted down a few incidents whichI personally observed, and shall lay them away, so that if in the futureI should desire I can refer to these notes, made while the events werenew and fresh in my mind, with some assurance of their accuracy.
On the morning of April 18, 1906, at 5:13, in my residence, 1801 VanNess Avenue, I was awakened by a very severe shock of earthquake. Theshaking was so violent that it nearly threw me out of bed. It threw downa large bookcase in my chamber, broke the glass front, and smashed twochairs; another bookcase fell across the floor; the chandelier was soviolently shaken that I thought it would be broken into pieces. Thebric-a-brac was thrown from the mantel and tables, and strewed the floorwith broken china and glass. It is said to have lasted fifty-eightseconds, but as nearly as I can estimate the violent part was only abouttwelve seconds.
As soon as it was over I got up and went to the window, and saw the airin the street filled with a white dust, which was caused by the fallingof masonry from St. Luke's Church on the diagonal corner from my room. Iwaited for the dust to settle, and I then saw the damage which had beendone to Claus Spreckels's house and the church. The chimneys of theSpreckels mansion were gone, the stone balustrade and carved workwrecked. The roof and the points of the gables and ornamental stone workof the church had fallen, covering the sidewalk and lying piled upagainst the sides of the building to the depth of eight or ten feet.
About this time Rachel and Nora were knocking, at my door and inquiringif I were alive. I opened the door and they came in, Rachel badlyfrightened and Nora sprinkling holy water over the room.
I hurriedly dressed and went up, to my daughter's (Mrs. Winslow's)house, 1945 Pacific Avenue, and found her and the children with theirneighbors in the street and very much frightened. Their house wascracked considerably, and she had been imprisoned in her room by thebinding of the door, which had to be broken open to enable her toescape. The chimneys of her house were thrown down and much valuableglass and chinaware broken. I returned to my house and found that thetops of all my chimneys had been thrown down, and one was lying in thefront yard sixteen feet from the building. There were some cracksvisible in the library, but none in my room, and only very few in theparlor and dining-room. In the kitchen, however, the plastering was verybadly cracked and the tiles around the sink thrown out. In the parlorthe marble statue of the "Diving Girl" was thrown from its pedestal andbroken into fragments. The glass case containing the table glassware inthe dining-room and its contents were uninjured; very little china andglassware were broken in the pantry; the clocks were not stopped. Awater-pipe b