
442 REPORT OF THE CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE COMMISSION. 
get out of the building and into the street, some 18 feet distant, but on recovering from 
my fright I found I had left my cane in the shop. I managed to get back into the build- 
ing, got my cane, and started for my house only a few yards away. The house had been 
thrown from its foundations, the chimney had been torn from the roof, and the porch 
had been wrencht away. Dishes were broken and everything was in confusion. I 
discovered that most of the houses were in the same condition as my own — thrown 
from their foundations, with chimneys down, porches knocked sideways, etc. All the 
while the ground was shaking and continued to shake for days and even weeks; but 
each shock was lighter than the last. On a certain piece of ground near the Haywards 
Hotel there was a common board fence, the boards abutting on the post. After the 
quake the boards lapt one over the other about 5 inches, the ground seeming to have 
been prest together that much. On going down the county road toward Oakland, we 
came to Mr. A. L. Rockwood’s house, which had been thrown from its foundation and 
one end thrown into the cellar. The house was badly wrecked. In the south part of 
the town there was a flour mill on a foundation about 4 feet high. This building was 
thrown to the ground and wrecked. On the ground which is now the plaza stood a new 
brick warehouse filled with grain from the season’s crop. The building was completely 
torn to pieces; grain was spilt from the sacks, and everything was in a mess. The 
building was 300 feet long by about 60 feet wide. A wooden warehouse about the same 
size shared the same fate as the brick. On B Street the ground opened about 2 inches, 
and water and sand were forced from the opening. Some springs were closed, while 
others were opened or made to flow more freely. Many wells were affected in the same 
manner. Mr, Charles Herman, who was in the baking business, was driving back to 
Haywards after delivering bread. Looking up the road, he saw the ground coming 
toward him in waves, and when the motion struck his horse, she went down on her knees. 
Mr. Herman thought the world had come to an end. As he neared the San Lorenzo 
Creek, he noticed that the water had been thrown out of the bed of the creek on to the 
road. 
“At San Leandro the earthquake destroyed the brick court-house, which was then 
located there. A Mr. Joslyn was killed in attempting to escape from the building. 
Many buildings were much damaged in that town as well as in Haywards. The earth- 
quake was the direct cause of the death of 2 persons in Haywards.” (George A. Goodell.) 
The crack past thru a gravel quarry practically on the summit of the first range of 
hills. (O. Hill.) 
The crack below Haywards Hotel was 12 inches wide. It ejected water and white 
sand. A fence which traversed a hill from north to south was crost by the crack, and 
had the ends of the boards loosened from the posts. Gradually these boards lapt over 
one another, until within a couple of weeks they overlapt several inches, the progress 
of the overlapping being noted from time to time by a pencil mark. The “cap” board 
of the fence was also archt up in consequence of this movement. Large waves were 
set up in the soil. The house was moved southward, while a neighbor’s was tipt north- 
ward. (D.S. Malley.) 
The rumbling preceding the shock came very distinctly from the bay, and the plain 
in that direction rolled like huge waves of the sea coming toward Haywards. (F. Allen.) 
The crack opened parallel to Castro Street, 35 to 50 feet below Haywards Hotel. The 
fence passing diagonally up the hill was shortened 6 inches. (P. McKeever.) 
A stove in the house was thrown north. (J. Wolput.) 
A crack 3 to 4 inches wide started from the Powell place and struck across toward the 
county bridge next to Nettleton’s, passing west of it; crost the creek, demolisht a fence 
completely, and past on toward the Strowbridge residence, where the house was badly 
shattered. (Mrs. Hamer.) 
