madbaker | A timely letter

The wife’s great x2 grandfather or grand-uncle (or so) was a pastor at the St. Paulus Evangelical Lutheran Church in San Francisco from 1902 to 1928.
This is a letter he wrote to his brother in Michigan regarding the events of one hundred years ago today, translated from the old German by one of his descendants.

May 8, 1906
Dear Brother!

At last I can write you in more detail after all the horror and confusion; only now you will have to exert yourself to be able to read my writing, since I have to write by candlelight. At this time there is no gas or electricity in San Francisco, and oil lamps are not allowed. You have by now no doubt received my first letter which was probably delayed because of the congestion in the postal service. I also sent off a short report for the May 2 issue of the "Lutheraner", but it did not arrive in time for the printers. That is why I am getting so many anxious questions from all sides. But now to get to the matter at hand before I will be disturbed again.

Tomorrow it will be 3 weeks since that terrible day, the kind I have never experienced before and hope never to experience again. It was on the Wednesday after Easter, April 18, that early in the morning at 5:15 we were shaken out of our sleep. Our house cracked and rattled, spit and jumped, and everything fell into a heap. Breaking glass clattered, vases and the like crashed down, and there was such a noise that we thought Judgment Day was here. The 48 seconds seemed to be hours. I called my wife and children to be sure to stay in their rooms, as I immediately thought about the chimney. And that was fortunate since many people who ran out into the street were killed by falling stones. We dressed quickly and then went out into the street. O, what an awful sight! The street swarmed with people in their night-clothes, and on all sides we heard their cries. In many places fires started to break out. Under the circumstances, our neighborhood got by better since we lived on a hill. In the lower parts of town innumerable houses collapsed in a heap. I headed immediately for the city hospital which in our big city was only 6 blocks away from us. But, lo and behold, the entire building was in a heap of ruins. In a hurry a large hall near the hospital was opened and I was the first pastor that arrived here to speak words of comfort to the poor people. Whole wagonloads of injured and dying were constantly coming in, such as could be pulled out of the ruins. I stood for hours at the operating tables and was downright spattered with blood. It smelled like only in a slaughterhouse; again and again legs, arms and other limbs were amputated and whole piles of amputated limbs were lying around. The screams and groans were dreadful. How I could stand it, I myself do not know, but finally my senses became completely numb. This continued until noon but fortunately, none of my people were among the injured that were brought in. Again there were always new earthquakes and the whole building made a cracking noise and the people screamed in terror. Adding to their fears was the news that the fires were coming closer. These had been pretty much under control but a stupid woman tried to light a fire in her stove even though the chimney had fallen in. In an instant, the house was in flames and a strong wind whipped the fire onward. Unfortunately, most of the water mains had been broken by the earthquake and we had no water to put out the fire which rushed on unhindered and now was already very close to the wooden buildings in which we found ourselves with the hundreds of the injured, dying and dead. Only on one side was the way still clear. In all haste, the injured were loaded on all kinds of wagons and were evacuated. It was like a wild retreat after a lost battle. The dead bodies remained behind. Hardly had we gotten away when the whole building stood in flames and in 10 minutes was completely leveled. I now went back home. The fire continued to be driven from the southside toward our church property – and no water. Buildings by the dozen were blown into the air by tons of dynamite before the fire reached them, in order to form a firebreak. But all was in vain. They also wanted to dynamite our church. Then there appeared a wonderful act of God. The water lines to our church had water. So from here all the might of two machines pumped water and the fire was halted 1 1/2 blocks from us and then went in an easterly direction. For the time being we were saved although we still stood in a windy firestorm. It was now becoming evening and an awful night it was. There were fires everywhere, crashing of collapsing buildings, thunder from the dynamite, etc. Also there were repeated earthquakes.

My people and other displaced persons in our house lay down on the floor in the parlor. But several of my friends and I made the rounds again to observe the danger in our area. The fire had moved off farther toward the business district. By morning, hundreds of the finest buildings in the city stood in flames. It was like a hell. The strongest buildings collapsed together like cardboard boxes. Then the fire turned again from the east side toward us. I brought my wife and children 3 1/2 miles on foot to a neighbor for safety after we had already on the previous day taken away our valuables and church books in a trunk. It was a sad departure from our home and we had hardly any prospects of ever returning. I will never forget the moment when with tearful eyes I looked back at our beautiful church which stood there high and isolated by a sea of fire. I returned with my ___ Mr. Boise. O, was that an anxious time, as we watched the fire now only 2 blocks away. Yet, in a wonderful way, our water line was still holding out. The fire was again arrested, and hardly had that happened when we had not a drop of water anymore. That was obviously wrought by the hand of God and the people were utterly amazed by this sign of divine protection. Herbert gallantly helped the fire brigade and was dragging and holding hoses till he could hardly stand anymore. Agnes and the children comported themselves well in calm and quiet resignation. Agnes never lost her head even though she had to pack everything for our departure. She always maintained that God would save our church. That was a great comfort to me in my despair. How happy we were when on the second morning, Thursday, our church and parsonage were still standing and were now out of the reach of the fire. We moved in again and took in many of the homeless. The fire raged on for two days and laid two-thirds of the city in ashes. The property loss goes over 300 million. All the banks and large businesses are gone. How many people lost their lives will never be known for certain. It will be in the thousands and the newspapers here don’t even want to make it known.

We opened the doors of our church for use as a temporary hospital and have as of now taken in and cared for over 3,000 people. A beautiful work, but what a stress for me for three weeks now. Added to this is the monstrous correspondence from all sides. My hand is altogether lame and feelingless and I can hardly write anymore from all the stress. The church and parsonage were damaged by the earthquake and will require quite a lot of expense to repair. Half of my people lost everything and are facing poverty, if the insurance is not paid out. The latter will happen in cases where only the earthquake was responsible, and not the fire. It will probably also happen in cases where the buildings in the path of the fire were blown up. Therefore, support of our people is urgently needed, as will be reported in the next "Lutheraner".

What are we to do now? I have just announced to my people that I will remain and even for less salary. How we will get through it for the time only the Lord knows. If it gets too bad I will send my wife and children to Frankenmuth and you will for a time be able to provide bread for them. But I will not forsake my people in their need as long as God gives me life and strength. With that the matter is left in God’s hand. We are all still well and cheerful, although through this trauma we have aged years as the people tell us.

We all send our sincere greetings and ask you to include us in your prayers.

Your brother,
Georg