Part 542: Bestor G. Brown and the San Francisco Earthquake, 1906
I discovered an interesting article about Bestor G. Brown and the San Francisco earthquake while researching Freemasonry in Kansas during 1906. It is a fascinating eyewitness account of the natural disaster and subsequent fire. Brown was in town attending a meeting at the San Francisco Masonic Temple. It was while lodging at the Union League Club that Brown experienced the first tremors during the early morning hours on April 18, 1906. The earthquake triggered several fires that burned the city for two days. This article really gives you a sense of Brown’s personality, story-telling ability and charisma, much more so than any published history. The article was first posted in the “Topeka Daily Capital” on April 25, 1906, page 7.
Here is the first half of the article:
“Bestor G. Brown who is in Topeka attending the Scottish Rite Masonic reunion, was in San Francisco at the time of the earthquake, and puts in the time at the Masonic hall, when he is not helping with degree work, in relating his experience. Most of yesterday afternoon he sat in a big armchair in the smoking room and lodge quarters and told the story of the disaster. His audience changed continuously and he would finish the story to one party, some fresh listeners would drop in, and he would have to tell the story over again for their benefit.
He stated that if it had not been for the fire, the damage to San Francisco would have been comparatively slight. Many of the buildings were destroyed by the earthquake, but the largest and finest structures stood through the successive shocks, only to be consumed by the flames which swept over the unfortunate city. He left San Francisco in the afternoon of the day on which the disaster occurred and remained in Oakland until the next days before he started for Kansas. He arrived in San Francisco late Tuesday evening and his baggage was left at Oakland to be brought across the bay the following morning. What personal baggage he had with him at the time of the earthquake he saved so he lost nothing on account of the earthquake except his breakfast and dinner which he did not get.
“‘I can’t describe an earthquake of the feelings one has who experiences one,’ said Mr. Brown. ‘The best description I have heard of the earthquake, I heard from a Los Angeles man. He said that it was like he was a nice red apple in the top of a tree with a crown of husky boys around the tree trying to shake him down.
“All I can say is that I felt frightened and couldn’t tell why. I felt eight shocks. They say that there were forty-eight. I don’t know what became of the other forty. Eight was more than a plenty for me. I suppose that the first shock was the most severe, but it was the later ones that frightened me. I suppose that was because I was not thoroughly awake when the first one was in progress, and did not realize how severe it was until I got downstairs. The real horror about an earthquake shock is the uncertainty of it. You never feel just sure about how it will end or what it will do. A cyclone you can see and can form some idea of what will happen next, but with an earthquake it is all mystery and uncertainty.
“I got into San Francisco late Tuesday night and went to the Union League club. I was sleeping soundly at the time of the most disastrous shock. I got up, dressed and went out with my overcoat and grip. The destruction in that part of town had not been extensive. The fire that came afterward was the horrible feature. [The Union League Club is located at 1000 California Street and along with the Fairmont Hotel across the street, the only structure to survive the 1906 earthquake and fire in the area].
“It was curious to note the different effects the earthquake had on the buildings in different sections. In some sections the buildings were twisted and out of shape or totally destroyed and in others they did not seem greatly affected.
“The terror of each severe shock is something that cannot be forgotten. The longest shock I felt probably continued five seconds, but it seemed much longer. The earth seemed to rise and fall and rock back and forth and then finally the shock ended with a sudden jar. It felt like the rising up of some huge animal in an effort to shake something off its back. That is as near as I can describe it.
“The Grand Chapter of Masons met in the forenoon at the Masonic temple and were holding their meeting when the military came in an said it was time to move as they were going to dynamite the Palace hotel.
I went out to the street and saw the fire creeping up from two sides. I saw it creep up to the back door off the meat market on Market Street and the minute it touched the rear of the building it seemed to sweep through and bulge out into the street in front. About the time I took to the woods, I started for the waterfront and got there in about an hour and a half.
“When I left the Masonic temple I saw the fire creeping into the center of town. I decided that the town was doomed and that I could do no good so I decided to get out. It was not so hard to get out if one used head and feet. It took me about an hour and a half to reach the waterfront, but I got there. I had to take a rather roundabout route, though, I would start down one street until I was stopped by fire. I would cross over the next street and maybe meet the military there being ordered to move on. And so dodging fires and military from street to street I finally reached the dock.
“My route took me down through the poorer part of town and it was almost ludicrous to see people trying to get out with their effects. They seemed to use anything that had casters on it and haul their things on. I saw one man shoving an old carpet lounge with some small articles on it down the streets. I wondered how long the cheap casters and legs of the lounge would last. I saw another man shoving a cheap piano stool ahead of him and all there was on it was a brass birdcage with a canary in it. It was funny, and still it was rather pathetic.
“At the ferry boat landing there was no confusion. I got there in time to catch the 2 o’clock boat to Oakland. The boat was greatly crowded. In fact it was not a larger load that can be frequently seen in the evenings at San Francisco. The crowd on the boat was not excited. The Southern Pacific was very nice about taking people out of San Francisco, but they would not take anybody into it. They ran their boats across the bay on schedule time and carried all who came to the dock without saying a thing about fares or trying to charge. At the Oakland docks the people were allowed to get into the suburban trains for Berkley, Alamdeda or Oakland, according as they chose to go, and they were carried free.
“When I got to Oakland I had not had breakfast or dinner so about the first thing I did was hunt up a restaurant. I ordered two poached eggs on toast. They were very fine. I had just eaten one of the eggs when I saw the chandeliers of the dining room begin to shake and I decided to eat another egg some other time. Everybody else left the dining room at the same time I did and without completing their meals so that I do not feel the least ashamed.
“From Oakland I saw the most magnificent spectacle I ever witnessed in my life. The papers stated that the flames at San Francisco were fanned by a high wind. That is a mistake. The great clouds of smoke and flame floated straight up into the sky. I saw the Palace hotel catch fire and burn. It made a beautiful blaze. Wednesday night I went down to the pier to see about my trunks which had not been sent over to San Francisco the night before and so were never taken over. I loitered about the pier talking to the baggage man as he looked for my trunks. I looked across the bay and the sight was wonderful. The boats were still bringing people from San Francisco and I managed to slip into one of them before it started back to San Francisco. I remained on the boat as it came back across the bay to Oakland it looked like great waves of flames were following the boat an account of the reflection from the fire in the waves which were caused by the boat. The fire lit up the bay so that it looked like it was afire. It looked like a sea of fire.”
To be continued…
