Weave the Web

 

From a very tattered, old local Albany newspaper dated April 18, 1906

 

Albanyans’ Narrow Escape from Death

 

Fled through Fire

Avenues of Flame Barred Their Way to Ferry But reached Water Front Unhurt

 

 

Mr. and Mrs. Walter V.V. Marsh and Mrs. DeWitt Ottman are among the first of the San Francisco fugitives to arrive in this city, returning last evening.  Mr. Marsh, who is the general agent for the National Express in this city, tells an interesting story of his experiences in the stricken city.   Mr. Marsh and his party were guests at the St. Francis hotel in San Francisco, but owing to lack of room in that hostelry, they spent Tuesday night at the Savoy, which is situated close to the newer hotel.

“I left my hotel in this city,” said Mr. Marsh, “in need of rest, and sought it in the West.  I descended the Grand Canyon of the Colorado for 6,000 feet, trusting to Providence and a mule.  I ascended Mt. Lowe, trusting to Providence and a motorman; and my hair stood on end in both cases.

“But I found no real rest until Wednesday morning in San Francisco when the earthquake came.  After spending a few days in Colorado Springs I have returned to Albany to rest here.  I have had the experience, but I have not had the rest.

 

Story of Escape

 

“I attribute my escape from San Francisco to two things.  These are Providence and my own ignorance.  Had we realized the danger that confronted us in making our way to the ferry, we never would have had the courage to make the attempt.  As it came out, however, we got through and are here alive today.

“We were  in bed when the shock came.  We were dazed for the moment by the swaying of the building and were too stunned by the shock to leap to the floor.  The doorway crunched and twisted, and  plaster fell all over the room, and we expected to have the building come down upon us without the slightest question.  When the motion stopped, however, we arose, gathered up our hand baggage and started for the street.  The lower part of the hotel was badly wrenched and twisted and there was much excitement. When we reached the street there was much excitement, but we went over to the St. Francis.  I never shall forget the appearance of that hotel.

 

Floors or Marble Crumbled

 

“The upper part of the structure showed little effect of the shock.  The lower floors, however, owing to the great weight of the structure, showed it all too plainly.  The masonry parted in a thousand places wide enough for a man to insert the finger of his whole hand in the crevices.  The plate glass windows had been smashed and were scattered about the walks and rooms.  The solid marble floor of the lobby of the hotel, and of the entrance corridor, which had been great magnificent flags of the most beautiful stone known to architecture, was crumbled into gravel.  Absolutely crushed and pulverized by the twisting and lurching of the structure.  The structural steel of the building, which was welded in to one solid piece from the ground, away below the street level to the roof, stood together and held up the great mass of masonry.  This is all that saved thousands of hotel and apartment house inmates in San Francisco from death with the first shock.

 

Had Scanty Breakfast

 

“It was 6:30 when we left the Savoy and went to the St. Francis.  I spent the next hour trying to get something to eat, and after some trouble, we found an Italian restaurant, where we secured some prunes, crackers and milk.  This was our breakfast.  At 7 o’clock I made up my mind that it was going to be too dangerous to remain in the city that night, and began to hunt for some way to get out.  The streets were rolling from the effect of the earthquake, and they were littered high with stones and bricks from wrecked buildings.  I could see great columns of smoke and flame rising to the skies in the business section of the city, and realized that there was not water with which to fight the progress of the fire.  I knew, also, that there could be no electric light or gas, and that the night would bring terror undreamed of.  I knew that the citizens would not have the courage to spend that night under a roof, and pictured to myself the confusion, the starvation, the exposure and suffering that was certain to result.  I was an hour finding out how I could get my party started for the ferry.  I knew that I could walk, but it was so far that I did not wish the ladies to undertake such a trip.  I found the head porter of the St. Francis hotel and in a way that solves many a difficult problem, I got him to secure the hotel bus and start it for the ferry landing.

 

Felt Second Shock

 

“We did not go far in the bus, however.  The streets were heaped and piled with debris of every sort, and streaked with gaping crevices   While we were in the bus jogging and crawling along as best we could, the second shock at 8:13 occurred.  We saw the people in the streets begin running wildly around in all directions, but it did not occur to us that there was another shock.  We were being jolted so vigorously that we did not notice the moving of the earth.  It seemed to us that it was moving all the time. We thought a riot of some sort had started near by.

“The police stopped us as soon as we got started down Montgomery Street toward Market, and told us we could not proceed.  They showed us a great brick structure that was tottering, and said it would fall any minute, and that we could not pass it.

 

Had to Walk

 

“I told the porter that we must make the ferry; there was no thought of turning back; and yet all the time we were totally ignorant of the real danger of the situation.  If we had comprehended it, we never would have proceeded.  The porter said he was going to stand by me through it all, and that if I wanted to make the effort to walk to the ferry, he would come along and assist me.  I told him that we would make the effort.   We left the bus and started.  Our course was first down one street and then another. We were endeavoring to get to Market street, but each street we tried, after being followed for a block or two, brought us face to face with the flames, and we had to change our course and make it more and more roundabout.

“Our course was zig-zag in the extreme.  We would go down a block and then over, perhaps finding the second street too much littered to proceed, or encountering a fire, and having to return and hunt out a new course.

 

Fire All Around

 

“Finally, on Broadway,

after trying Powell, Clay

and many more streets,

we succeeded in getting

across Market Street and

to the water front.  There

was fire on the right of us,

in the business section,

and fire on the left of us,

in the poorer district. 

When we reached the

waterfront, at Broadway, we

were still several blocks from the

ferry landing.  To reach the landing we must pass along the waterfront. 

The man does not live who could do justice to the spectacle that confronted us there as we hurried along. Blinded by the glare of the flame, and almost suffocating with the heat, we pushed our way, attempting to see where we were going despite the smoke and cinder-laden air. 

 

Wide Fissures Opened

 

“Did you see that?”  the porter would yell every few minutes.

“We would look at the place where he pointed, and see before us a place about four feet wide, and where the ground had sunk any distance from six inches to two or three feet.  We did not know how much farther it might sink if we stepped upon it, and we walked around.                   

 

 

 

 

 

“The earthquake had ruined the docks that

previously had projected out into the bay,

and most of them had disappeared entirely. 

Some of the buildings on the docks were partially

standing, but most of them were wrecked.  The

avenue or thoroughfare along the ends of the docks

was  about 250 feet wide, perhaps not so wide.  And on

the landward side was lined with great warehouses

and buildings of many kinds.  Nearly all these were

aflame when we reached the waterfront, and as we

passed along, the heat was almost intense enough to

drive us back.                 

 

Streets Lined With Fire

 

“Several of the great fronts of these warehouses plunged outward and threw masses of fire into our pathway, and we had to wait until the first flash and puff were over before proceeding.  We made our way along, however, and after running this gauntlet of fire for blocks, reached the ferry landing in time to catch the 9 o’clock boat for Oakland.

 

 

 

“At this time there was a greater rush of people into San Francisco  than out of the city.  The boats from Oakland were crowded with people who were coming to see the fire.  We did not care to remain, however, and I know from what has happened since, that the tide of the crowd was speedily turned, and that within an hour from the time of our escape the rush was all in the direction of which we were going.  We caught the Overland Limited, and never stopped until we landed in Colorado Springs.  We returned to Albany last evening.  We saved only what we could carry in our grip.