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Unit 11

The Story of an Eyewitness

Jack London

1 The earthquake shook down in San Francisco hundreds of thousands of dollars

worth of walls and chimneys. But the conflagration that followed burned up

hundreds of millions of dollars worth of property. There is no estimating within

hundreds of millions the actual damage wrought.

2 Not in history has a modern imperial city been so completely destroyed. San

Francisco is gone. Nothing remains of it but memories and fringe of dwelling hous

on its outskirts. Its industrial ction is wiped out. Its business ction is wiped out.

Its social and residential ction is wiped out. The factories and warehous, the

great stores and newspaper buildings, the hotels and the palaces of the nabobs, are

all gone. Remains only the fringe of dwelling hous on the outskirts of what was

once San Francisco.

3 Within an hour after the earthquake shock, the smoke of San Francisco’s

burning was a lurid tower visible a hundred miles away. And for three days and

nights this lurid tower swayed in the sky, reddening the sun, darkening the day, and

filling the land with smoke.

4 On Wednesday morning at quarter past five came the earthquake. A minute

later the flames were leaping upward. In a dozen different quarters south of Market

Street, in the working class ghetto and in the factories, fires started. There was no

opposing the flames. There was no organization, no communication. All the cunning

adjustments of a twentieth-century city had been smashed by the earthquake. The

streets were humped into ridges and depressions, and piled with the debris of fallen

walls. The steel rails were twisted into perpendicular and horizontal angles. The

telephone and telegraph systems were disrupted. And the great water mains had

burst. All the shrewd contrivances and safeguards of man had been thrown out of

gear by thirty conds’ twitching of the earth-crust.

5 By Wednesday afternoon, inside of twelve hours, half the heart of the city was

gone. At that time I watched the vast conflagration from out on the bay. It was dead

calm. Not a flicker of wind stirred. Yet from every side wind was pouring in upon the

city. East, west, north, and south, strong winds were blowing upon the doomed city.

The heated air rising made an enormous suck. Thus did the fire of itlf build its

own colossal chimney through the atmosphere. Day and night this dead calm

continued, and yet, near to the flames, the wind was often half a gale, so mighty was

the suck.

6 Wednesday night saw the destruction of the very heart of the city. Dynamite was

lavishly ud, and many of San Francisco’s proudest structures were crumbled by

man himlf into ruins, but there was no withstanding the onrush of the flames.

Time and again successful stands were made by the firefighters and every time the

flames flanked around on either side, or came up from the rear, and turned to defeat

the hard won victory.

7 An enumeration of the buildings destroyed would be a directory of San

Francisco. An enumeration of the buildings undestroyed would be a line and veral

address. An enumeration of the deeds of heroism would stock a library and

bankrupt the Carnegie medal fund. An enumeration of the dead ― will never be

made. All vestiges of them were destroyed by the flames. The number of the victims

of the earthquake will never be known. South of Market Street, where the loss of life

was particularly heavy, was the first to catch fire.

8 Remarkable as it may em, Wednesday night, while the whole city crashed and

roared into ruin, was a quiet night. There were no crowds. There was no shouting

and yelling. There was no hysteria, no disorder. I pasd Wednesday night in the

path of the advancing flames, and in all tho terrible hours I saw not one woman

who wept, not one man who was excited, not one person who was in the slightest

degree panic-stricken.

9 Before the flames, throughout the night, fled tens of thousands of homeless ones.

Some were wrapped in blankets. Others carried bundles of bedding and dear

houhold treasures. Sometimes a whole family was harnesd to a carriage or

delivery wagon that was weighted down with their posssions. Baby buggies, toy

wagons and go-carts were ud as trucks, while every other person was dragging a

trunk. Yet everybody was gracious. The most perfect courtesy obtained. Never, in all

San Francisco’s history, were her people so kind and courteous as on this night of

terror.

10 All night the tens of thousands fled before the flames. Many of them, the poor

people from the labor ghetto, had fled all day as well. They had left their homes

burdened with posssions. Now and again they lightened up, flinging out upon the

street clothing and treasures they had dragged for miles.

11 They held on longest to their trunks, and over the trunks many a strong man

broke his heart that night. The hills of San Francisco are steep, and up the hills,

mile after mile, were the trunks dragged. Everywhere were trunks, with across them

lying their exhausted owners, men and women. Before the march of the flames were

flung picket lines of soldiers. And a block at a time, as the flames advanced, the

pickets retreated. One of their tasks was to keep the trunk-pullers moving. The

exhausted creatures, stirred on by the menace of bayonets, would ari and struggle

up the steep pavements, pausing from weakness every five or ten feet.

12 Often, after surmounting a heart-breaking hill, they would find another wall of

flame advancing upon them at right angles and be compelled to change anew the

line of their retreat. In the end, completely played out, after toiling for a dozen hours

like giants, thousands of them were compelled to abandon their trunks. Here the

shop-keepers and soft members of the middle class were at a disadvantage. But the

working-men dug holes in vacant lots and backyards and buried their trunks.

13 At nine o’clock Wednesday evening, I walked down through the very heart of the

city. I walked through miles and miles of magnificent buildings and towering

skyscrapers. There was no fire. All was in perfect order. The people patrolled the

streets. Every building had its watchman at the door. And yet it was doomed, all of it.

There was no water. The dynamite was giving out. And at right angles two different

conflagrations were sweeping down upon it.

14 At one o’clock in the morning I walked down the same ction. Everything still

stood intact. There was no fire. And yet there was a change. A rain of ashes was

falling. The watchmen at the doors were gone. The police had been withdrawn.

There were no firemen, no fire-engines, no men fighting with dynamite. The district

had been absolutely abandoned.

15 I stood at the corner of Kearney and Market, in the very innermost heart of San

Francisco. Kearney Street was derted. Half a dozen blocks away it was burning on

both sides. The street was a wall of flame. And against this wall of flame, silhouetted

sharply, were two United States cavalrymen sitting their hors, calmly watching.

That was all. Not another person was in sight. In the intact heart of the city two

troopers sat their hors and watched.

16 Surrender was complete. There was no water. The wers had long since been

pumped dry. There was no dynamite. Another fire had broken out farther uptown,

and now from the three sides conflagrations were sweeping down. The fourth side

had been burned earlier in the day. In that direction stood the tottering walls of the

Examiner Building, the burned out Call Building, the smouldering ruins of Grand

Hotel, and the gutted, devastated, dynamited Palace Hotel.

证人亲历

杰克·伦敦

1 旧金山的地震摧毁了不少墙壁和烟囱，价值成千上万美元。而随后的大火更是烧毁了价

值上亿的财产。实际损失纵使以亿计仍难以估算。

2 这样一座现代化的宏伟城市被摧毁殆尽，史无前例。旧金山消失了。啥也没留下，只

留下记忆和城郊残破的民宅。城市的工业区被夷为平地，商业区被夷为平地，社交区和居民

区也被夷为平地。工厂、仓库、大商店、报社大楼、旅馆，还有富豪名流的豪华宅邸统统不

见了。剩下的只有残破的民宅留在曾经叫做旧金山的城市的郊区。

3 地震发生一小时之内，旧金山燃烧的可怕浓烟直上云霄，一百英里以外都能看见。足足

三天三夜，这可怕的烟尘巨柱在空中摇晃，使太阳更红，使白昼昏暗，使大地蒙尘。

4 地震发生在周三凌晨五点一刻。一分钟之后，烈焰腾空。在市场街以南十几处不同区

域内，在工人阶级的贫民窟中和工厂里，火灾发生了。大火肆虐，人群束手。没有组织，没

有联络。一座20世纪城市里的一切精巧的调节构造都被地震摧毁殆尽。街道拱起状如山脊

或峡谷，到处是堆满残垣断壁的瓦砾场。钢轨歪七扭八。电话电报系统中断。巨大的输水网

络爆裂。地壳30秒的震动使人类一切巧夺天工的创造和防护设施统统失灵。

5 到了周三下午，在地震发生12小时之内，城市的中心区域已经消失了一半。那时，我

从海湾眺望烈焰火海。周围是死一般的寂静。一丝风都没有。然而从四面八方大风都在向这

座城市涌来。从东面、西面、北面和南面，强风劲吹，涌向这座万劫不复的城市。炽热蒸腾

的气体形成强大的吸力，于是大火在空中造就了自己巨大的烟囱。这死一般的沉寂从白天持

续到黑夜。然而，靠近烈火的地方，风声猎猎，吸力强劲。

6 周三晚上，城市的中心区域被摧毁殆尽。人们使用大量炸药，旧金山许多最令人自豪

的建筑被人们自己夷为废墟，但火焰仍然四处蔓延，势不可挡。消防员不时成功地暂时遏制

了火势，但每次四面的火焰又卷土重来，或从后面猛扑上来，使来之不易的胜利付之东流。

7 要记录被烧毁的建筑那将是整个旧金山的所有在册房屋，而要记录没有被烧毁的建筑可

能只需要一行字加几个地址。如果记下所有英勇的事迹，肯定会塞满整个图书馆，耗尽全部

卡内基奖章基金。死亡人数的记录则将永远无法获得。他们的一切都已灰飞烟灭。这场地震

的受害者人数将永远无从得知。死亡最为惨重的市场街以南地区是首先着火的地方。

8 这个周三晚上可能看起来非同凡响，因为虽然整个城市天崩地裂、排山倒海般沦为一

片废墟，但却是个平静的夜晚。没有聚集的人群。没有大呼小叫。没有歇斯底里，没有混乱

无序。周三晚上，我走在熊熊烈焰不断推进的路上，在那恐怖的时段里，我没看见一个痛哭

流涕的女人，没看见一个情绪激动的男人，没看见任何人有一丝的惊慌失措。

9 大火当前，整个夜晚，数万名无家可归的群众四散逃离。有些人裹着毯子。其他人携

带着铺盖和值钱的家当。有时整家人带上行李坐上一辆载客或载货马车，把车子压得沉甸甸

的。童车、玩具车和手推车都派上了用场，一半的人都拖着一个箱子。然而所有人都依然彬

彬有礼，风度完美。在整个旧金山的历史上，人们都没有像在这个可怕的夜晚这样诚善礼让。

10 大火当前，整个夜晚，数万名群众四散逃离。他们当中的许多人是来自体力劳动者聚居

的贫民窟的穷人，这些人之前已经跋涉了一整天。他们带着行李逃离家园。他们不时把一些

已经拖了数英里的衣服和财物扔在街上，这样能使负担减轻一些。

11 他们是坚持拖运行李箱时间最长的人，然而那个晚上还是有很多身强力壮的男人因为这

些箱子而伤心欲绝。旧金山的坡路陡峭，人们拖着这些箱子爬上坡路，走了一程又一程。到

处都是箱子，上面横七竖八地躺着它们精疲力竭的主人。火焰前方拉起了由士兵组成的警戒

线。随着火势的推进，警戒的士兵一个街区一个街区地后撤。他们的任务之一是使拖着箱子

的人们保持前进。这些疲惫不堪的人们，在刺刀的威胁下，不得不又站起身来，在陡峭的人

行道上挣扎前行，可是每走5到10英尺又累得停下脚步。

12 他们经常发现，翻过一座令人心碎的小山之后，有另一堵火墙成直角扑面而来，于是被

迫改变撤退的路线。最后，像巨人那样艰苦跋涉十几个小时之后，成千上万人体力完全消耗

殆尽，他们不得不放弃了自己的行李箱。这时商店老板和中产阶级的纤弱分子就处于不利地

位了。而体力工人在空地和后院中挖洞，把自己的箱子埋藏起来。

13 周三晚上9点，我徒步穿过城市的最中心地带。两边是绵延数里的漂亮建筑和巍峨大厦。

没有火。一切秩序井然。路上有人巡逻。每幢楼大门都有人看守。然而所有大楼都万劫不复，

所有的一切。没有水。炸药正在用完。两股大火成直角吞噬着整座大楼。

14 凌晨1点，我故地重游。一切保持原状。没有火。然而还是有一个变化。灰烬纷飞。守

门人都不见了。警察也撤了。没有消防员，没有消防车，也没有了使用炸药的人。这个区域

被彻底放弃了。

15 我站在卡尼街与市场街的交界处，此地是旧金山最中心的地带。卡尼街已被废弃。几个

街区以外，这个街道的两头还在燃烧。街上竖着一道火墙。与火墙交相映衬的，是两位美国

骑兵骑在马上，平静地注视着。仅此而已。视线中别无他人。在保持原状的市中心，两位骑

兵骑着马注视着一切。

16 人们彻底屈服了。没有水。下水道里的水早就被抽。也没有炸药。城市远处又有一

处火情发生，现在大火从城市的三个方向席卷过来。剩下的一个方向白天已经被大火袭击过。

顺着那个方向看去，《旧金山观察家报》大厦的墙垣摇摇欲坠，《旧金山早安报》大楼已被烧

毁，旧金山大饭店化为焦土，仍在闷烧，而皇家酒店已被炸药炸得一塌糊涂。