The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 15, 1900, Page 1

VOLUME LXXXIX—NO. 15. SAN FRANCISCO, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1900 PRICE FIVE CENTS, RACED ON THE WIND! Sidewalks and Fences Are Torn Away, Roofs Are Blown Off an@asements Flooded. Strange Freaks of the Storm in Its Mad of Terror Career Through the Lightning Strikes a Fillmore-Street Car But | City CITY STORM SWEPT Lightning Strikes a Mammoth . Gasometer, Sets It on Fire and Utterly Destroys It. Flames Shoot Two Hundred Feet Into the Black Clouds as Structure Collapses. Weird Morning Spectacle at Works of the Does No Injury to the Crowd Within. | San Francisco Gas and Electric Company. 1 TOPPLE LIKE CARDS! Building on Bartlett Street Crushed Under the Tremendous Force of a Raging Wind. Inmates Escape Imminent Death in Mass of Crashing Timbers and Flying Furniture, s Hurled From Its. Foundations the Structure Crumbles to the Ground a Wrecked Heap. & — Es- - S i . —-— e + 1 " Lightning, rain and wind took possession of San Francisco yesterday morning and left crushed structures, dismantled build- | { ings and the wreck of walks, fences, poles, signs and windows in | | their train. For the first time in the history of the city lightning | | Sy struck and did damage. One of the} giant gasometers of the San | S — Francisco Gas and Electric Company at Bay and Buchanan streets | | s was struck by lightning and destroyed. The storm continued for less | | s g e than half an hour, but for one minute the wind attained the unpar- | ” i . alleled velocity of sixty miles an hour. Its average was forty- e [r Ph(z_:ilol ;Dol}l'_t:lrSN?(HoW'S eight miles an hour. | 0517 | : % - Kl o | BEFoRE' STRUCK. ‘ (w&fl(_\\ i (R ARSI HUNE WS WS NN { | | | | | | | | | | | | | : | | WRECKED STABLEAT “ 633 GREEN ST. c—a ! | | | “The body of the storm is now imland } | We will have unsettled weather to-mor- | | row and some showers. We had in all six | | flashes of lightning. Storm warnings | | were given at 5 o'clock last night. The | | big storm covered from Point Conception | | to Neah Bay. We got the southern por- | | tion of the storm. There is a great dea of wind all over the coast, and the reports | | from all the stations show that high | | winds are prevailing. Our record of rain- - = ‘ fall in this city shows eighty-eight one- F | | hundreatns.” HE people « n Frarecises | Francisco Gas and Blectric Company, at[and attic. The structure rested upon a | had just been moved to Precita avenue 1! Il pass e morning a d Buchanan streets, was destroyed. | concrete and brick foundation. between Folsom street and Treat avenue ‘ | DAMAGE DONE TO half- of terror which | When the storm was at-its very height,| Almost at the very moment that the|by W. S. Covey, was reduced to splinters. | he never forget. T at 10:20 o'clock, the smallest of the gaso- | storm was playing ~havoc at_ the ' gas | The jacks were still under the structure, l | RAILROAD PROPERTY elements were at War upc meters, a giant structure of steel and | works, the Bartlett street building was | but when the terrific wind struck it there il e iron seventy-nine feet in diameter and | glving way beneath 'the raging wind | was a crash and the building collapsed | i w he rate of | forty feet high, was struck by lightning | which howled through the cut down Army | into a total wreck. No one, fortunately, | ‘Sou(hern Pflfllnfi and Sanlfl Fe e = r ain poured in | and destroyed. This is the only instance | street. The structure wavered, shook | was hurt, and the bullding was not worth L Are Shut Off From the t m Kk the thunder | in the history of the city where damage | and then seemed to slide from its foun- [ more than $1000. } 0 ' 1(1 w ld e 4 nd of cax- | has ever been done by lightning. | dation. toward an adjoining house. With| Angelin! Stagelini, a stableman em- | utside Worlid. P P ¥ from’| The gas works are on the bay shore and | & crash the rear stairs, which ascended to | ployed in the Venetian stable at 633 Green | 5 oy s the city. It was| received the full force of the raging wind. | the second floor, gave way and were pre- | street, was Injured about the head and | | The rafiroads report that thetr tele- s s 8 eadliest storm in | Not fifty feet away from the destroyed ; cipitated into the yard. The boards and | hody by the falling of the entire front of |.| graph poles were bowled over like ten- San Francisco. For gasometer, which had a capacity of 240,000 | beams, which supported the main house | the stable ‘during the heavy storm. The | WRECKED BUILDING AT ARMY AND pins by the storm. “It did more injury xistence lightning added | cuhje feet of gas, is anothergwhich tow- | ten feet above the ground, érumpled as if | fro,¢ wall of the structure dropped on the e SBARTLETY STS. - to our wires than many storms of much g 1St n to the wrecking | erg to a height of 104 feet and has a capac- ; they were pasteboard and the house with | gije-yvalk with a terrific nolse and people longer duration,” sald Manager Richard- 3 | ity of 2.000.000 cubic feet of gas. The storm | thundering sound toppled to the ground, | came running from all quarters to see the | go———————————————— +f | son, of the Southerr Pacific, yesterday af- = at it height, while | 1.4 been raging for twenty minutes when | girders breaking, chimneys toppling, | yreck. Stagelini was fortunate to escape £ & B S ) = A a? ternoon. “We have practi o means ® - wiing fences were fall- | oui of the southwestern sky there came | doors smashing and windows | being |, easily. As soon as he heard the nolse THE SEVEREST STORM IN T"i*‘\f’f\f‘f":ffl;i s"‘[;;,rli;*l\_‘r" ;{21’:“::‘: of communieation with the outside world, e gs were roilapsing and « biinding flash of lightning. It struck | Wrenched from their places. | 'of rending, timbers he rushed into the THE CITY YESTERDAY MORNING. WHEN LIGHTNING. BATR #X° || 2na 1t 1s afcult to tell just how much the air, there | the top of the r. burst the iron| Within the house pandemonium reigned. | (ireec and managed to clear the wall by a WING CREATED A REIGN OF TERROR, { @amage has been done to our lines. sing. With | yheels and supports and wrenched open | The only inmates were Mrs. McBride on | harrow. margin. ‘Had he been a second | < = - “Every pole from Oakland pier to West . struck one of the mam- D« gas | the top floor and Mrs. Plerce and her | g ” p Oakland is down, also between Sheil K on n n- | the top of the gasometer, | » ; NeT | 1ate e would have been crushed to death, | = .o o L0 ang northeast| When the storm was at Its height one of | yeota's s atwelt b e il he San Francises | in an instant a small blue flame quiv- | mother, Mrs. Ramsey, a feeble woman |, the wall welghed many tons. That no{27¢ "¢ B0 * Y Bk wratclads win | otud sna Wiat Reshlay sofiamany: oy p e T okl o] aral T round the circumterence of | feventy years of age, on the lower floor. | = i Abethe’ Mine n.acmirace. | OO OF: Sixteenth and Folsom streets. | the historic objects of San Francisco Was | ,jong the bay shore above Sixteenth street - ered its way around the cumference of | &¢ h one was passing 5w v The basement of the Levit Strauss|destroyed. It was the great white cross| p,ve peen wrecked. We h Dot 3 instant & 1y | ype top of the holder. There was a deaf- | The scene In the house as they describe It | 1, jnjured man was removed next door x have been wrecked. ave been able to x : 8 peire i b ity : o X o * | puilding, at 7 and O Battery street was | which towered from the crest of Lome | roceive only meager weath d the rmou ' 3 2 was terrifying. They felt first a rocking, § g recelve only meager weather reports from ening crash and a great volume of flame | Y s | to the office of Dr. A. Rossl, where his s ot sk wiBteuctine | Moutain. | This 4 A secead thike. thet . ron. A column of ) feet into the sky. The enormous | then a terrible swaying. The Stoves on | urjeq were dressed. He suffered more flooded as a result of s . SRE B8 i en = the varfous divisions. A roo? was blown B . T to the black sky ; | structure wavered, the great sup- both floors were torn from their supports | g the shogk than.from contact with In addition to the houses that were | the cress has »h'vcen d»Ttro)?d- ~ wind | off o shed at Alameda mole and the de- a " nk sank with a terrific posting ;«)'umv\c (“‘:od (;mw”d and with | @nd flung across the room. Crashing | . falling timbers. The structure is used blown down. through the Mission district, | broke it from i‘s foundations ar;d mp!aled‘ bris was strewn over our tracks, delaying g collapse, its giant steel |\ ioinie crash the whole fabric col- | §1ass, breaking chandellers, shattered | 5y giable and is owned by A. Matront advertising . fences were destroyed all | it over the side of the hill. When night bthe trains for some time. A tree was frames s ts sides burst by the! . . i bad g a mantles, broken furniture, articles of 2 Pl ' e along the street lines. Valencia fram|came a crowd of boys ascended the hill | alco blown over the tracks at Alameda, emendous force of biazing gas. It was | .o e flames had spread to two | U % 0. 0y description were hurled | ThS toP Story on & thres-story, new | uuiiet to Twenty-sixth was swept ciéan | and set fire'to the fallen cross. The blaze | and it was necessary to send s wrecking ing spectacle. Agair o the from ack clouds k an electric car as It ore street toward Bush stru dumb and nerveless by terror. The shock passed through them, but inflicted no in- 2nd in a moment the panic-stricken in the street in ths cupants were out blinding storm. The wind was raging with tremendous jolence. A two-story basement and tic house at 522 and 524 Bartlett street was from its foundations of concrete and brick and thrown eight feet. Not an un- ken board was left in It. Furniture was thrown about with deafening crash, et out of the wreck and ruin the three occupants escaped without a scratch. On Precit avenue another two-story build- ng was crushed into kindling wood. On oe street the top story of a bullding waz away and in other parts of the city & of buildings were blown away. part of the city escaped damage. nces were blown down, signs were sent nirling through the air, sidewalks were p. missiles became messengers of n the streets. Telegraph and elec- at- tric aluable windows gave way beneath the nd. erribie force of the w. —_— LIGHTNING STRIKES A GIANT GASOMETER Sheet of Flame Sent Two Hun- dred Feet Into the Alr and Structure Destroped. Ope of the weirdest and most extraor- Ginary disasters of the storm was that in which cne of the gasometers ol the San f deadly | was filled with children struck | poles were smasned into splinters. | towering tanks near by, and the mam- | moth adjoining gasometer seemed in im- minent danger. But the workmen were paralyzed wth fear. In a few minutes, however, they recov- | ered their senses, the flames were extin- gulshed and all danger of further disaster was over. Presdent Crockett, who took charge of affairs, estimates the damage av a sum between $5000 and $7000. No incon- venience was caused to gas consumers, | and the gasometer will be rebulit at once. If in its mad freak the lightning had struck® the larzer gasometer, containing { 2,000,000 cublie l{eet of gas, it is impossible to estimate what the damage would have been. Eye-witnesses of the explosion yes- terday say that the flame which ascended into the sky scemed to be four blocks square. As if by a miracle, not'a person in or around the works was injured. Tons of iron and steel collapsed into twisted, giant masses, but no man was struck. i ament g s BUILDING CRUSHED . UNDER RAGING WIND |Inmates Escape Miraculously From the Menace of Instant Death in the Ruins. Becond in serfous Interest in the story of the storm’s devastation was the destruc- tion of the bullding known as 522 and 524 Bartlett street, near Army street. This structure is a comparatively new one owned by the Comerford estate. The upper flat was occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Alex- ander McBride and the lower by H. J. Pierce and family, The bullding was two stories in height with a high basement about the place. Doors were sent flying from their ,hinges, the floors bulged open into gaping holes, the plaster of the walls and ceilinge made blinding dust heaps and through openings in the attic floor came down the bricks of the chimneys. It was a scene of terrdr. And yet no one in the building was hurt. The two younger women es- caped quickly and gave the alarm. En- gine No. 13 responded to a still alarm and through the daring efforts of Captain Newell of the company the eider lady, { Mrs. Ramsey, was saved. She had become bewildered and could not force open the door of the flat. Cap- tain Newell wrenched it from its supports and carried the old lady out quite unin- | jured. “She is suffering, however, from the consequences of her fright. The build- ing will be torn down at once. Guards have been placed around it to prevent cu- rious people from entering it and bring- ing injury upon themselves. The damage is estimated at $4000. It is the opinion of experts that the superstructure of the"| building was too heavy for the foundation and the wind sweeping with full force upon the basement caught a vitally weak place. CRUMBLED LIKE HOUSES OF CARDS Mad Freaks of the Wind in Its Wild Course Over the Streets of the Citp. The collapse of the Bartlett-strest house was not the only serious damage done to city buildings. An unoccupled two-story house owned by John Keneally, and which building on Noe street, between Henry and Fourteenth, collapsed when hit by a sudden gust which stole around the south- ern end of the Twin Peaks. The bullding was belng erected by James Kennedy who lives at 30 Ivy gvenue. Kennedy's loss is of a trifilng character, as the lum- ber which toppled over is as good as new. Among th many pranks of the storm was ome which it played upon the gro- cery of Henry Sturcke, on the south- east corner of Fourteenth and Mission streets. Two plate glass windows of the store were lifted out of their frames and carried across the streei into a lot. Styrcke had just ornamented his show ndow with a choica lot of Christmas goods which were swept to the four winds of heaven. The loss thus sustained amounts to severil hundredz of dollars, as the rain poured into the store and soaked everything within its reach.. The entire front of the grocery of F. Fox, at Fourteenth and Guerrero streets, was also blown out with a conse- quent damage of several hundred dollars. A carriage repairing and blacksmith shop cn Mission street, near Thirteenth, was reduced to Kindling wood. The damage was not material, however, as the butld- ing was but a shack. Fortunately no one was hurt. The house next to it saved it from be- ing blown over. It was formerly occu- pled by Rev. Dr. Pond. ? On the southeast corner of Fifteenth and Folsom streets fifty feet of fence was blown down, and forty feet of one on the west side of Mission street near Four- teenth was also leveled to the ground. Fences were blown down on Valercia street between Thirteenth and Hermann, southeast corner of Fifteenth and Valer- cla streets, northeast and southwest cor- ners of Valencla and Clinton Park, Thirteenth and Fillmore streets, 3426, 3217 6t all board.fences. Other portions of the warm belt suffered likewise, leaving streets and sidewalks impassable until men appeared and removed the obstruc- tions. Electric and telegraph poles went by wholesale, as did flimsily &onstructel sheds and outhouses. In one case the front wall and roof of a etable at the cor- ner of Potter and West Mission streets were blown away and made into kindling wood. The big fence that incloses the grounds at Folsom and Fifteenth streeis was considerably shaken and a portion of it was blown down. The whole will have to be repaired. On one of the railroad’s bridges which span; the cross streets at Twenty-ninth and Dolores streets flve large corrugated sheets of iron were dislodged and sent flying before the wind for a distance of four blocks. Notwithstanding all of this damage to property there is no record of personal injury to any person. At McAllister and Jones and Market streets the sform created considerable damage. A tler of stone on the building in process of erection there was blown down and a derrick toppled undey the tremend- ous power of the wind. Sectlons of the roof of the old building on Fulton street which was formerly occupied as a college of pharmacy were blown away. Cornices on the Mechanics' Pavilion were torn away and hurled into shop windows on Larkin street, causing considerable dam- age. A large section of the fence which incloses the site of the Baldwin Hotel, on the Market street side, was blown down with a crash. Valuable windows were broken and a great sign on the building at 857 Market street crasLed from its fastenings and fell forty feet to the ground. No one was injured and police officers were immediately placed on guard. | | crew to remove the obstruction.” The Southern Pacific could not get & word from any of its operators on the Salt Lake or Coast divisions. The issuing of a weather report, consequently, had to be abandoned. A big gang of men was sent out immediately after the storm to replace broken poles and reset tangled | and twisted wires, and both the South- ern Pacific and Santa Fe roads hope again to be in telegraphic touch with the out~ side world early this morning. could be seen in every p:{r‘t of the city. BURNED OUT ALL MESSENGER WIRES | Crossed Lines Destrop the Ser-| vice in a Large Section of the City. Crossed wires in the branch office of the | American District Telcgraph Company at | 839 Sutter street completely demolished DEATH WAS RACING e et LS Sk e sars] s SHIUURIL I AIR fice. The switchboard was burned out | and several hundred boxes were rendered | FENGES, SIdeWalks, Poles, Roofs useless. An alarm was3 rung in from box | and Signs Hurled Frem Their Fastenings. 41 and the fire was quickly extinguished. The building was but slightly damaged. | The loss will probably reach $1000. SIXTY MILES AN HOUR IN THE CITY Numerous sewer breaks, | sewers, sidewalks and fences were | ported to the Bureau of Streets day as a result of the violent storm. The | sidewalk on Kentucky street, from the damages to re- | car house to First avenue, a distance of | several blocks, was undermined by the | rain and the wind blew one end up and over on the other side. The electric | wires and twenty-five poles were blown down and the roadway made impassable. And now for the causes of all All the telegraph and telephone poles which were attached to the wooden side- and stress and damage. pesa o e “ : ¢ | walks went e debris and left t! o t Fye t‘om “a: Aty ,h‘sh"‘ in this ! place impassable until help arrived from city at 10:20 a. m,” said Weather Prophet | the city and cleared the way. At the .McAdie in discussing the matter last| ttme the sidewalk was pitched abou night. “The wind blew at the rate of six- | Louls Baker, a dairyman living at Nine- ty miles an hour for one minute over the | teenth avenue and Bay View. was struck | by pleces of flying lumber and badly eut Mills bullding. according to the record | O¥ Pieces of fying LRACt IRC TN L ted made by the wntomatic instruments, and | by Dr. Dewitt and sent fo his home. the velocity for five minufes about the| Just before the hurricane started Dr. same time was forty-eight miles an hour, The wind blew from the southeast. Unparalleled Velocity of the Wind When the Storm Was at Its Helght. the storm | Continued on Second Page.