Bonners Ferry Herald

SHORT EARTHQUAKE
SOUTH CALIFORNIA

ONLY ONE LIFE KNOWN LOST, BUT SERIOUS DAMAGE TO PROPERTY REPORTED.

RUINED TWO SMALL TOWNS

Business Section of San Jacinto and Hemet Wiped Out—Woman Hurt in Los Angeles—Panic Reigns in Resorts.

Los Angeles.—An earthquake shock felt throughout southern California about 3:30 Sunday afternoon took toll of one life at a nearby resort, caused the serious injury of one woman in a mad rush from a downtown theater, broke large plate glass windows, shook down cornices and cut off communication with at least two small towns whence came unverified reports of serious property damage and possible loss of life.

Two Towns Almost Destroyed.

Hemet, about 25 miles east and south of Riverside, and San Jacinto, the next town north of Hemet on a branch line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad, were reported practically destroyed. It was reported in San Bernardino that both telephone offices had been totally destroyed and the telephone companies said they were unable to get any response from that or nearby sections.

At San Bernardino the shock was said by old residents to be the most severe in many years. Scores of plate glass windows were broken, a hundred feet of brick wall from one low building fell into the street and cracks developed in several other walls. There was a panic at the ball grounds, where a game was in progress, and one man was hurt in the rush to escape. Another, running out of a theater into the street, was run down by an automobile and seriously injured.

Riverside Suffered Shock.

Riverside suffered a shock of similar intensity. Ornaments were shaken from the courthouse cornice and windows were broken.

At Banning the front of the Odd Fellows' building fell out, striking two automobiles which had just been vacated by their passengers.

The tremor was first reported from Barstow at 3:30 and apparently moved east and south from that point, becoming most severe in the Hemet and San Jacinto section and further north about San Bernardino. Coming on toward the coast, the tremor did slight damage at Whittier and other intervening points and then struck Los Angeles at 3:32 p. m., two shocks being recorded. Their duration was estimated at 10 seconds and 30 seconds, respectively.

Large Glass Windows Broken.

In the city the earthquake broke a number of large plate glass windows in office buildings. There was almost a panic in theaters and picture houses and one woman, Mrs. A. Jacoby, was struck on the head by an iron fire escape, lowered from above as she stepped from a theater side entrance. The city hall stands two inches from an adjacent building. The tremor swayed them together and crushed off brick and stone dust. There was a panic among the prisoners in the city jail when glass crashed from the upper windows. Bricks fell from the cornice to the street.

Panic at the Beaches.

At Santa Monica a crowd was on the municipal pier, which swayed perilously, and in the rush to escape Frank E. Darnell, a retired manufacturer of Los Angeles, was thrown down and trampled to death.

The bathhouse at Santa Monica canyon was also the scene of a panic when the building swayed and creaked.

Several hundred pleasure seekers on the Redondo pier made a rush for land when the pier began to sway and several were slightly hurt in the resulting crush.

At Long Beach several large office buildings were severely shaken and numerous windows were broken. There were several small panics in public meeting places, but it was reported that no one had been seriously hurt.

The earthquake apparently was not serious very far south as reports from Imperial valley points said it had not damaged any of the towns in that part of the state, although it reached there at 3:39 p. m.