A Personal Narrative

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · May 3, 1906

A Personal Narrative

BUILDINGS have no voice with which to portray the experience of being shaken like a reed in the wind, and of then falling prostrate in ruins; and the experience of living beings in such a time is, after all, of the most real interest, and touches humanity most closely. Knowing that our people everywhere would be glad to read a well-written account of the great disaster in Mountain View, Cal., prepared by one who has passed through it, we present herewith the greater part of a private letter from Brother E. R. Palmer, whose home is five blocks from the Pacific Press printing plant. This letter was written the day after the earthquake. We quote as follows:—

“Yesterday morning, April 18, I awoke about five o'clock, and as I was lying in bed planning the work of the day, I felt a sudden jarring of the house as if some one had sprung suddenly out of bed, and was running along the floor. . . . Almost immediately we realized that it was an earthquake, but did not think it would be serious, and did not apprehend that any harm would come to us or to the house, but we got outside as quickly as we could, so as to be safe from danger and to see whether harm was being done to the many water-towers and chimneys. In less than ten seconds the earthquake was at its worst. We were pitched one way and another as if we were trying to walk in a rapidly moving cart over rough ground. As we went through the sitting-room, the three bookcases fell. Pictures, and clocks, and everything movable were thrown violently to the floor. The piano rocked as if it were a dry-goods box, and every time it went back to the wall, it cut a hole. It punched the wall that way three times. The beds were rolled out from the walls, the couch rolled part way across to the piano, and dishes, lamps, and everything that could be pitched and broken, were hurled to the floor and broken.

“I suppose in less than ten seconds we were outside, but on the ground we were as unable to stand as in the house. I dropped down on one knee on the narrow sidewalk, and held on with all my might with both hands, and while in that position, I saw the most awful evidences of power and calamity that I have ever witnessed.”

“The tanks which supplied the town water system, and which I believe were one hundred and fifty feet high, fell and smashed like kindling wood. The Pacific Press water-tower just back of our house swayed so much that the electric wires which were attached only about twelve feet from the ground were stretched so that they sag down several feet. It reeled back and forth several times, and the water poured over the tops of the tanks in sheets, but the tower stood, though it leans to the east more than a foot. In every direction, there was a crash of water-towers and buildings.”

“The shaking was over in precisely twenty-eight seconds, according to the report of astronomical observations. We have heard that it lasted a minute. The majority of people were under the impression that it lasted five minutes. Personally, we did not suffer any harm. We lost many things that were cherished very highly. As you know, our home contained the relics and keepsakes of three homes. Some of them were brought from far-off lands, and we prized them very much. Perhaps we thought too much of them. At any rate, nearly everything of that kind was crushed into fragments, or if not breakable was crushed or wet so as to be ruined.”

“The little boys came very near being seriously hurt. Only one of our chimneys fell. That was the back one, and it fell directly over the head of their bed. It partially cut through the roof, and one brick came through the ceiling and knocked off the plaster, which fell directly into the boys' faces. It then rolled off onto the ground, doing no more damage than to break both the gutters of the house on the back piazza. Our house is plastered with fiber plaster, which does not yield very readily, and as far as we can see, the walls are intact. Houses that were plastered with ordinary lime plaster were nearly stripped.

“This will seem more wonderful to you when I tell you that the house was moved from one to three inches on its foundation. This house is so low and broad on its foundation that it fared better than the most of houses. Some escaped as well as we did.”

“In Brother H. H. Hall's house, the chimney, fireplace, etc., dropped down into his cellar, and his was a new house. In other respects, his house was severely damaged. All houses were strained and rocked so that there is hardly a house in town with a perpendicular wall. In some cases, the house is thrown three inches to one side. The front of the house is perhaps thrown two or three inches in one direction, while the middle remains in place, and many houses lean over one way or the other. This is how the one-story frame houses stood.”

“I believe that only one or two brick buildings in the town remained standing, and those are racked to such an extent that they will probably have to be taken down. . . .”

“We are well. Our lives were spared, and all that was of real value to us remains. This morning Cora and I were saying to each other that while we had ourselves and our family and the third angel's message to work for, we were rich, and could have no reason to complain, though everything else were taken away. We trust that under God's blessing we may ever feel like this. I am sure we do hold ourselves and what little we have wholly subject to the closing work, and it is our intention so to relate ourselves to the closing work of the message that we shall not be fearful, nor complain, when the earth is shaken, and God's judgments are seen in the land.”

“How many times yesterday, as we experienced shake after shake of the earthquake, although all the succeeding shakes were faint compared with the first, we thought of some of those grand scriptures which describe the shaking of all things that can be shaken during the last days, and the stability of God's people during that time. Surely character is the only thing which can not be shaken. While we are assured of a standing place upon God's truth, why should we fear though the mountains be removed, etc.”

“As the reports, although they were only rumor, came in, telling of the dire catastrophe in San Francisco, the prophecy often came to our minds, ‘and the cities of the nations fell.’ We have no reason to mourn, or weep, or wonder at God's providences. We have expected this, and still expect many times worse than this. . . .”

“Up to the present time we are in ignorance of what has taken place farther away than Los Angeles and San Francisco. A rumor has reached us this afternoon that Chicago is on fire, and that New York is under water. Probably there is not the remotest truthfulness to this rumor, but it will give you an idea of the sort of rumors flying here. . . .”

“I think I never retired with such a feeling of mingled sorrow and apprehension as last night. The day throughout was a terrible experience, starting in as it did so early with the wreckage of the town here and of the things in our home, then with earthquake tremors coming rapidly all day, the Pacific Press buildings in ruins, reports coming in of the most terrible catastrophes, and with a climax at night in the shape of the terrible news from San Francisco. But we were all exhausted completely, and our nerves were worn to the quick, and we felt that above all things we needed forgetfulness and sleep. . . .”

“Before we retired, we had a very precious season of family worship, in which all the children took part with us, as they usually do Friday and Sabbath evenings. Then we retired about a quarter to nine, and I slept, even without dreaming or awaking, until nearly five o'clock this morning. . . .”

“Well, here we are picking up the ruins, straightening things out, writing letters and putting them in the post-office, having no idea when they will leave, writing telegrams and filing them at the telegraph office with no knowledge of when they will be sent, and entirely cut off from information beyond our nearest environment, but we are all trusting in our God, and are not afraid. Of course there is a great feeling of apprehension.”

“Groceries can hardly be secured at any price. Every bank in the State of California is closed, and we are unable to get a dollar of our relief funds, or of our little private deposits. This does not mean that the banks have failed, and I suppose there is not the least danger of it, particularly here in Mountain View, where the bank is one of the most conservative, solid banks in the State, but this is one item to tell how we are tied up, and how little we know of what is going on outside.”