THE WAYNESVILLE MOUNTAINEER 8ucn?w
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Arrington Recalls Devastation Caused
By San Francisco Earthquake Of 1906
By AGNES FITZHUGH SHATTER
A blanket-wrapped Army recruit
lay shivering on the ground In the
chill mists of the early San Fran
cisco dawn. Suddenly the very
ground on which he lay began to
shake; an eerie noise rose "like a
whirlwind acoming".
"I was ready to run. but I didn't
know where to run to," says Lane
Arrington, as he recounts his ex
periences in the days following the
earthquake and fire which devastat
ed San Francisco in 1906.
Less than four months after his
enlistment, the 21year-old ArTing
ton's regiment was ordered down
from Vancouver Barracks, Wash
ington. to guard duty in 'Frisco
after the quake. He arrived on the
third day after the first tremendous
earth shocks, while there were still
i.iin(?^*emors being felt through
out "In fact,'' he says, i
' thaW^ound kept on shaking for
several more weeks?not something
you enjoy getting used to."
Along with other Service units,
Arrington's regiment was assigned
to guard the stricken area. Some
times he helped keep the hungry
people in line as they waited at the
"soup houses". "You know how it
is ? somebody tries to elbow in
ahead of somebody else, and that's
apt to start a free-for-all. We were
ordered, though, to put any elder
ly or dizzy people up toward the
front of the line. Some of those
people had been without food for
so long that they could barely stand
up."
Arrington's sympathy with the
sufferers once put him somewhat
on the wrong side of duty. "I was
on guard up at the Santa Fe ware
house,'' he relates. "Most of the
food and other relief supplies came
in at Pier 14 and were stored at the
Santa Fe place, and keeping off
looters was a round-the-clock job. |
This old, hungry-looking fellow
came up and I could see he was
eying a whole lot of those little
picnic hams. 1 just handed him
one of them and he took it and
stuck it under his coat. Talk about
getting away from here?he was
gone!"
One of the most vivid of Sgt. Ar
rington's recollections is the clock ;
on the fcrrv boat on which his unit I
crossed the Bay from Oakland to i
the Presidio. "I can still see that 1
big clock," he muses, "with the '
hands stopped at just about 5:15.
They told us the shock of that
first big tremor stopped it." (The
official time of the onset of the 1
quake is recorded as 5:12 a.m.) 1
Arrington's unit remained in San
Francisco until the middle of June,
two months after the quake and
fine. He remembers guarding the
tf. S. Sub-Treasury and the Mint:
"That place was a sight. Walls still
standing, but everything inside had
just caved in and crashed down
into the vaults. Just a big hole in!
the ground."
The fire was far from checked
when Arrington arrived, "Looked
like the whole city was aburning,
or anyway smoldering." (Official
estimates are that, f?ur fifths of San
Francisco was destroyed by the
catastrophe.) He recalls the spec
tacular method finally used to stop
the raging flames: "They made a
fire line out of Van Ness Ayenue
?and that was a beautiful big
street with some fine homes along
it. But the general ordered them
to blow up a good stretch of it
ahead of the fire, so there wouldn't
be anything left to burn. That did
the trick."
On the lighter side. Arrington
chuckles over one experience. "We
were passing one of those old |
saloons. The whole front was blown
in and you never saw so many
bottles in that window. So w'e
reached through and helped our
selves to three or four quart bot
tles. But when we got them open,
every one held not a thing but
mineral water from the nearby
Shiuda ttpi-ingg." -
Mr. Arrington has returned twice
to San Francisco since his emer
gency duty there. The first time
was only four years later, in 1910;
and the second, accompanied by
his wife, in 1936. "You wouldn't
know the town, it was so built up,"
he says.
Now retired after thirty years'
service in the Army. M/Sgt Ar
rington, his wife and son live in
Ratcliffe Cove. A little gardening,
a little yard work fill his time, with
plenty left over to share his keen
recollection of the impressions of
a youngster face to face with one
of the most spectacular catastro
phes of the century'.
IN A REMINISCING MOOD Friday morning was Lane Arring
ton of RatclifTe Cove as he described scenA of the great San
Francisco earthquake of 1906 to Mountaineer feature writer Agnes
Fitzhugh Shapter. Mr. Arrington was stationed in the Golden Gate
eity in 1906 with an Army unit. (Mountaineer Photo).
Blue Ridge
Spelling Bee
Set Nov. 20
The second annual Blue Ridge
Conference spelling bee will be
held at the Bethel School audi
torium Tuesday, November 20, ac
cording to C- C. Poindexter, con
ference secretary.
The first conference last year
was won by a Ben Lippen stu
dent.
Mr. Poindexter said that each
conference school may enter three
spellers and an alternate from
grades 9 12 Eligibility rules are
the same as those for athletic
?teams. Notification of entry in the
contest and a list of the competi
tors must be sent to Mr. Poindexter
at Bethel not later than Friday,
November 16.
Word lists, pronouncers, and
judges will be provided by West
ern Carolina College
The following National Spelling
Bee rules will be observed at the
conference match:
1. In competition, contestants
may pronounce words before spell
ing them, after spelling them, or
not at all.
2. Proper names must be capit
alized.
3. Having started to spell a word,
a contestant shall be given no op
portunity to change letters once
pronounced. A speller may retrace,
provided letters and their sequence
are not changed in the retracing.
4. A contestant may request
that a word be re-pronounced, de
fined or used in a sentence. The
pronouncer shall grant this request
until the officials agree that the
word has been made reasonabl ?
clear to the contestant. Judges u?ay
disqualify any contestant who ig
nores a request to start spelling.
5. Obsolete spellings will be re
garded as errors.
6. If. inadvertently, no defini
tion of a homonym is given, the
correct spelling of either word
shall be accepted as correct. When
a speller is given the definition of
a homonym, he must spell the word
defined. ?
7. When a speller fails lo spell
a word correctly, he or she must
drop out of the contest, and anoth
er word shall be given to the next
contestant in lino.
8 The elimination procedure
changes when- the contestants are
reduced to two. At that point, as
soon as one contestant misspells a
word, the other contestant imme
diately shall lie given an . oppor
tunity to spell that same word. If
the second contestant spells the
word correctly, plus the next word
on the pronouncer's list, then the
second contestant shall be declar
ed the champion.
9. If one of the last two spellers
misses and the other, after corrects
ing the error, misspells the new
word submitted to him, then the
misspelled new word shall be re
ferred to the first speller for cor
rection. If the first speller then
succeeds in correcting the error
and correctly spells the next word
on the pronouncer's list, then he
shall be declared champion.
10. If both misspell the same
word, both shall continue in the
contest.
11. Webster's Unabridged Die
ti<mary will serve as final authority
for the spelling of words.
12. Any question relating to the
spelling of a word must 1*' referred
to the judges immediately. No pro
test can be entertained after the
contest is ended.
12. The judges are in complete
control of the Bee. Tbeir decision
si-hall be final on all questions.
CONSTRUCTION of the new Board of Education
administrative and storage building behind the
courthouse is now being pushed to completion.
This is a view of the new structure, looking to
ward the courthouse.
(Mountaineer Photo).
Balsam Area
Community News
Br LOUIS ENSLEY
Community Reporter
We regretted very deeply to hear
of the death of L. P. Truesdale.
He had been a summer visitor here
for the past few years and had
made many friends in the com
munity. He left here for his home
in Miami, Fla., and died en route
at a hotel in Columbia, S. C.
Edward Parson has had a suc
cessful season at the Balsam Lodge
this year including several visitors
from Cuba and a couple from
Scotland.
S. T. Gentry and family have
moved to Candler. Mr. Gentry Is
employed at the Highland Hospital
in Asheville.
A household shower was given
at the home of Mrs. Clarence Hoyle
Saturday night in honor of her
daughter, Mildred, the wife of
Casper Thomason.
Among the tourists still arriving
are Mr. and Mrs. R. B. Naylor of
Lutz, Fla., and Mr. and Mrs. F. R.
Floyd of Miami, Fla.
Mrs. Boyce McCall is in the Hay
wood County Hospital.
The leaves are beginning to
change color and several of the
tourists are remaining late in the
season just to see this beautiful
sight.
II. Rhode of Sebring, Fla., and
A. If. Codington of Atlanta, Ga.,
take many pictures of the mountain
scenery each year and show the
slides to several audiences the fol
lowing summer. Mr. Rhode also
has hundreds of pictures of foreign
countries which he shows. The ma
jority of Mr. Cordlngton's pictures
are flowers and still-life pictures.
Toastmaster
Club Elects
Underwood
Charles Underwood of Lake
Junaluska was elected at a recent
meeting as president of the
Wayne svllle Toastmasters Club for
the next six months.
Also selected were: M. H- Mc
Aulay, executive vice president;
C. R. Border, administrative vice
president; John Thomas, secretary
treasurer, and Virgil Smith, ser
geant-at-arms.
The next meeting of the Toast
master's Club will be held at 7
p.m. Monday at Shepard's Restau
rant.
Speakers will be; Homer Justice.
"Democracy"; C. R. Border. "Bac
teriology and the Microscope"; Eu
gene Harpe. "Vision and Highway
Safety." and Ray Ellis. "What the
Pearsall Plan Will Do."
On the evaluation panel will be;
John Thomas. Jack Felmet, Charles
Edwards, and J. Noland.
Mack Howe/ will be the time
keeper, M H. McAulay will give
the invocation, John Reeves will is
sue the instructions, and Bruce
Alexander will act as toastmaster.
Ted Stackpole will be in charge
of table topics, Charles Underwood
will be table topics evaluator. Jack
Dickerson will be grammarian, and
Virgil Smith will be the master
evaluator.
Hooked ! !
Mi.sb Ntfif Fish of Raleigh haw
announced her engagement to
J. E. Baas. Both are employes of
Carolina Power & Light Com
pany. Mian Fish's boss is R. R.
Pool. The head of Bass' depart
ment is A. 1. Ska ale (pronounced
scale).
,?' ?? - :?. ?;:? ' .. '?.'???? V ??'' V.-:. ?', ;-;; ' ..
_ BUILD A EIRE BUT ONCE A YEAR l#\,
* WITH A BROWN TROPIC-SUN
'MASSlVt CAST'
IRON MAIN
'tARCI SMOKELIS*
FEED DOOR WITH ---,,
SWINCINC SMOKt ?
^RAFFlt ' ^
^^OAl ,
FRfVlNTS SPILlACI ?
Cf COAL
'?EAUTIFUt^
PORCELAIN .
CARINIT WITH >
LOUVERS FROM TO*
kTO BOTTOM / '
SlOTTtD f lif
BRICK LINING*
FUUS COLD AIR
OFF THI FLOOR
lARCI ASM RAN ? ii
A SEPARATE ANTI.
FLY ASH 8AFFLI ^vW
KEEPS FLOORS AND
HOMI CLIAN \rW fljj
east mt/
- porcelain
HUMIDIFIER,
in sack,
constant flos*',
of air burns all.
11 casis and
eliminates
k "flashbacks*
t
* MOLDS J.S BUCKET*'
Of COAL MAKES ITS 1
- own ? coke '
1 burns haro oh .
soft coal
burns from out!*)
wall inward ? # j
eliminates
crustinc.
clinkers.
aridcing,
. lonc life cast
iron crates
asm door and .
1 register precision
-- ground for j
? positive draft.
control
CHOOSE EITHER THE 60 LB. $1|Q95
CIRCULATOR AT ONLY .... II#
OR THE LARGE 100 LB. CAPA- $1 JIQ95
CITY CIRCULATOR AT ONLY II#
- CONVENIENT TERMS CAN BE ARRANGED -
GARRETT FURNITURE Co.
Main Street Waynesville
SEZ WE AT RAY'S
<W)' Wi-ko;/
y here'* the
*V 11/ COWBOY BOOT
fj I ^ for your
^^^^feacJkyard desperado
For rough and tumble ploy... let him
have (un wearing these authentically*
designed, sturdily-built cowboy boots /
by Step Master... rugged rubber \Stt5l
sole takes lota of wear and tear!
I
Above Style ? Sizes 6 to 3
OTHER BOYS' BOOTS
Sizes For Small and Large Boys
COMBAT - LACED - PULL - ONS
Needed School Styles
In Just About Everything
RAY'S DEPT
UlaL^
- ?
r TO STOCK UP ~
YOUR MEDICINE
CABINET NOW!
SAVE MONEY, KEEP YOUR HEALTH
AND BEAT THOSE EXPENSIVE AND
DANGEROUS WINTER COLDS NOW.
STOCK UP ON ^ .
I ? niinrd
~ WINTER HEALTH
HERE AND NOWl
A REGISTERED PHARMACIST
IS ON DUTY
AT ALL TIMES
CURTIS DRUG STORE
EXPERIENCE MAKES THE DIFFERENCE
MAIN STREET WAYNESVILLE
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