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Newspaper
Boston Post
Location
Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
Date
Apr 19, 1906
Page
12
A party of 20 Boston tourists en route to New Mexico reached San Francisco safely. Most travelers live in Philadelphia. I A Whitcomb of Raymond Whitcomb said the group reported they were not near the earthquake scene.
From Eastern inquiries it appears the quake devastation in San Francisco did not affect Los Angeles or southern California. Shocks causing damage were not felt south of Santa Barbara.
Governor Guild and Mayor Fitzgerald led a Boston meeting that authorized a 25000 dollar loan to California in aid for quake victims. A duplicate telegram sent to Governor Pardee and Mayor Schmitz requested rapid access to funds via Hong Kong Shanghai Bank and Kidder Peabody & Co.
Governor Curtis Guild Jr of Massachusetts sent telegraphs to Governor Pardee and Mayor Schmitz expressing deepest sympathy over the San Francisco earthquake and asking how Massachusetts could best aid the stricken districts. He accepted Mayor Fitzgerald’s invitation to a City Hall meeting to coordinate relief efforts.
The Massachusetts State Board of Trade met to draft resolutions praising San Francisco businessmen and people and offering assistance. The committee on national legislation supported modifying Chinese exclusion laws. Delegates were voted to attend the international peace conference in Milan Italy in September.
Mayor Casey in Lowell telexed San Francisco Mayor Schmitz offering profound sympathy for the disaster and pledging aid. The message conveys a formal expression of support from Lowell to the stricken city.
Reported incident says the Conned Metropolitan Opera House Company lost its entire consignment of valuable scenery at the Grand Opera House during a two week engagement, with artists suffering losses of personal baggage.
News from San Francisco shows telegraph operators and Postal Telegraph Company staff remaining at risk to relay messages. Operators moved to Oakland as explosions and gas threatened the city, with seven Oakland wires and AP boat service maintaining news flow. B. H. Harriman plans travel to San Francisco.
Harvard professors study geology in Cambridge while others travel to Virginia Italy and elsewhere. An old seismoscope on Huron Avenue failed due to traffic and Harvard reports no seismic records and no San Francisco shock in the Boston area.
Secretary Taft wires General Funston at San Francisco requesting a report on actions taken, authority under which acting, number of people needing assistance and supplies, and pastes for Associated Press and other press reps. The message, signed TART, urges prompt dispatch.
A Sacramento to Vallejo route is planned to reach San Francisco by boat from Vallejo due to a sunk three mile section of tracks between Suisun and Benec on the direct Sacramento to San Francisco line. The Western Union reports the railroad will attempt this modified passage to the Bay City.
A wire message from Oakland Cal reports repeated shocks prompting the New York telegraph office to attribute the disturbances to the San Francisco quake. The Western Union instrument in New York clicked continually as the seismic waves arrived.
The Salinas region endured two major shakes, the first lasting 5 3 and 42 seconds with $2 5 million in damage and no local deaths. Buildings including Ford Stanbury, Masonic hall, Armory, City Hall, and Spreckels factory were wrecked, with many chimneys collapsing and towns cut off from San Francisco.
The Navy Department attempted to send wireless despatches about the San Francisco disaster from its Goat Island station in San Francisco Bay the Farallone Islands and Point Arguella near Port Harford but could not establish a connection with transcontinental lines. Continuous attempts yielded no news.
President Roosevelt expressed profound concern over the San Francisco earthquake. He telegraphed Governor Pardee and Mayor Schmitz offering federal assistance and shared sympathy for California and its citizens. He later reaffirmed readiness to act and help, urging contact for needed federal support.
San Francisco reports a series of shocks in January 1900 with severe shaking of the St. Nicholas Hotel. Walls collapsed in parts of the hotel as patrons were thrown from beds and furniture was destroyed. A later 1904 Los Angeles quake caused wide but non fatal damage.
SERGEANT FRANK A. SPRINGER of Worcester Light Infantry was stopping in the heart of the destroyed portion of San Francisco. No word has been received of his safety.
Eight Worcester residents were reported in San Francisco this morning causing alarm at home. Among them are Mr and Mrs F A Lincoln and daughter, Mrs Joseph Truda, Mr and Mrs Samuel S Van Etten, city ticket agent of the Boston and Albany railroad, and Mr and Mrs Frank A Springer. The Springer family moved to the Pacific coast two weeks ago and reside at 738 Mission Street in the destroyed area. Springer is noted for military ties, having served 18 years in the Worcester Light Infantry with a recent first sergeant rank. No word has reached their families yet.
Professor Willis Moore of the weather bureau reports that Vesuvius eruption was recorded on Mt Weather instruments near Washington as a transmitter signal rather than an earthquake. Seismographs in this city captured a violent 12:45 p.m. shock while a second at 8:15 a.m. was felt in San Francisco signaling continental impact.
In Washington on April 18 the House cast a mournful mood over the San Francisco calamity. Members from San Francisco and Oakland sought word on displaced families while an emergency measure providing $4000 to recover bodies from the Kearsarge explosion passed without debate. A request to supply tents and rations to shelter and aid homeless San Francisco Berkeley Oakland and other damaged cities followed.
An earthquake disrupts western division schedules between Sacramento and Oakland. A long section near Suisun sank three to six feet over three and a half miles, with 1000 feet of track out. Trains were rerouted via Lathrop. Reports of Santa Rosa courthouse collapse and fatalities remained unconfirmed. A Collinsville hotel was wrecked with no injuries reported.
Historical geology notes three strong earthquakes in New England with dates 1685 1727 and 1755. The 1725 event near Newburyport Massachusetts caused rumbling. The 1755 quake was strongest near Boston toppling chimneys and unseating people. The article also notes the 1886 Charleston South Carolina disaster as among the US’s most destructive quakes.
A fresh quake felt on the Oakland side of the bay lasted about five seconds and caused brief alarm at 6:54 p m on April 18.
In San Francisco on April 18, darkness spread fear as fires lit the sky and residents fled to parks and squares. A sequence of strong earthquakes at about 7 o clock drove more people from homes not in immediate danger.
A Western Union despatch says quake shocks reached Hazen Nevada. Southern Pacific delivered a ton of dynamite to San Francisco to blow buildings if needed to halt spreading flames.
A historical survey traces San Francisco from its 1776 Spanish mission origins to a booming cosmopolitan metropolis. It notes 1849 fires and riots, 1851 convict attacks, 1856 mob threats, violent upheavals, seismic limits on building height, and the city’s role as gateway to Asian trade with a large Chinese community.
The severest quake in years struck Sacramento at 5 18 am. Buildings rocked like cradles and many clocks stopped. No serious damage in city. minor cracks appeared in the stone post office. Slight damage to brick structures. chimneys and water tanks toppled at Suisun in Solano and at Tricy in San Joaquin county.
April 18 report states Assistant Secretary of War Oliver, in Secretary Taft's absence, telegraphed Major General Greely at San Francisco to cooperate with local authorities and marshal all resources to aid in the relief effort.
The Western Union Telegraph Company reports a new office in San Francisco’s Ferry Building at Market Street foot with active wires running into the building. A message from the site states we are surrounded by flames but the fire cannot touch this building.
The seismograph in the geological hall logged strong agitation at 8 26 this morning and continued for about an hour. The tremor traced from west to east with no observer reporting the shock.
Andrew Solmosy of 242 Harvard Street Cambridge was arrested by Cambridge police Inspectors Deehan and Neilan on perjury charges. He testified at a Superior Court Cambridge trial that a Oct 10 1905 collision on a Boston Elevated Railway car left him severely injured and with epileptic fits, though he had previously claimed a separate Chicago fall and settled a related claim for 5000 dollars. He also claimed to be a diamond dealer who lost stones due to the Cambridge accident.
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