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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.

證人親歷

杰克·倫敦

1 舊金山的地震摧毀了不少墻壁和煙囪，價值成千上萬美元。而隨后的大火更是燒毀了價

值上億的財產。實際損失縱使以億計仍難以估算。

2 這樣一座現代化的宏偉城市被摧毀殆盡，史無前例。舊金山消失了。啥也沒留下，只

留下記憶和城郊殘破的民宅。城市的工業區被夷為平地，商業區被夷為平地，社交區和居民

區也被夷為平地。工廠、倉庫、大商店、報社大樓、旅館，還有富豪名流的豪華宅邸統統不

見了。剩下的只有殘破的民宅留在曾經叫做舊金山的城市的郊區。

3 地震發生一小時之內，舊金山燃燒的可怕濃煙直上云霄，一百英里以外都能看見。足足

三天三夜，這可怕的煙塵巨柱在空中搖晃，使太陽更紅，使白晝昏暗，使大地蒙塵。

4 地震發生在周三凌晨五點一刻。一分鐘之后，烈焰騰空。在市場街以南十幾處不同區

域內，在工人階級的貧民窟中和工廠里，火災發生了。大火肆虐，人群束手。沒有組織，沒

有聯絡。一座20世紀城市里的一切精巧的調節構造都被地震摧毀殆盡。街道拱起狀如山脊

或峽谷，到處是堆滿殘垣斷壁的瓦礫場。鋼軌歪七扭八。電話電報系統中斷。巨大的輸水網

絡爆裂。地殼30秒的震動使人類一切巧奪天工的創造和防護設施統統失靈。

5 到了周三下午，在地震發生12小時之內，城市的中心區域已經消失了一半。那時，我

從海灣眺望烈焰火海。周圍是死一般的寂靜。一絲風都沒有。然而從四面八方大風都在向這

座城市涌來。從東面、西面、北面和南面，強風勁吹，涌向這座萬劫不復的城市。熾熱蒸騰

的氣體形成強大的吸力，于是大火在空中造就了自己巨大的煙囪。這死一般的沉寂從白天持

續到黑夜。然而，靠近烈火的地方，風聲獵獵，吸力強勁。

6 周三晚上，城市的中心區域被摧毀殆盡。人們使用大量炸藥，舊金山許多最令人自豪

的建筑被人們自己夷為廢墟，但火焰仍然四處蔓延，勢不可擋。消防員不時成功地暫時遏制

了火勢，但每次四面的火焰又卷土重來，或從后面猛撲上來，使來之不易的勝利付之東流。

7 要記錄被燒毀的建筑那將是整個舊金山的所有在冊房屋，而要記錄沒有被燒毀的建筑可

能只需要一行字加幾個地址。如果記下所有英勇的事跡，肯定會塞滿整個圖書館，耗盡全部

卡內基獎章基金。死亡人數的記錄則將永遠無法獲得。他們的一切都已灰飛煙滅。這場地震

的受害者人數將永遠無從得知。死亡最為慘重的市場街以南地區是首先著火的地方。

8 這個周三晚上可能看起來非同凡響，因為雖然整個城市天崩地裂、排山倒海般淪為一

片廢墟，但卻是個平靜的夜晚。沒有聚集的人群。沒有大呼小叫。沒有歇斯底里，沒有混亂

無序。周三晚上，我走在熊熊烈焰不斷推進的路上，在那恐怖的時段里，我沒看見一個痛哭

流涕的女人，沒看見一個情緒激動的男人，沒看見任何人有一絲的驚慌失措。

9 大火當前，整個夜晚，數萬名無家可歸的群眾四散逃離。有些人裹著毯子。其他人攜

帶著鋪蓋和值錢的家當。有時整家人帶上行李坐上一輛載客或載貨馬車，把車子壓得沉甸甸

的。童車、玩具車和手推車都派上了用場，一半的人都拖著一個箱子。然而所有人都依然彬

彬有禮，風度完美。在整個舊金山的歷史上，人們都沒有像在這個可怕的夜晚這樣誠善禮讓。

10 大火當前，整個夜晚，數萬名群眾四散逃離。他們當中的許多人是來自體力勞動者聚居

的貧民窟的窮人，這些人之前已經跋涉了一整天。他們帶著行李逃離家園。他們不時把一些

已經拖了數英里的衣服和財物扔在街上，這樣能使負擔減輕一些。

11 他們是堅持拖運行李箱時間最長的人，然而那個晚上還是有很多身強力壯的男人因為這

些箱子而傷心欲絕。舊金山的坡路陡峭，人們拖著這些箱子爬上坡路，走了一程又一程。到

處都是箱子，上面橫七豎八地躺著它們精疲力竭的主人。火焰前方拉起了由士兵組成的警戒

線。隨著火勢的推進，警戒的士兵一個街區一個街區地后撤。他們的任務之一是使拖著箱子

的人們保持前進。這些疲憊不堪的人們，在刺刀的威脅下，不得不又站起身來，在陡峭的人

行道上掙扎前行，可是每走5到10英尺又累得停下腳步。

12 他們經常發現，翻過一座令人心碎的小山之后，有另一堵火墻成直角撲面而來，于是被

迫改變撤退的路線。最后，像巨人那樣艱苦跋涉十幾個小時之后，成千上萬人體力完全消耗

殆盡，他們不得不放棄了自己的行李箱。這時商店老板和中產階級的纖弱分子就處于不利地

位了。而體力工人在空地和后院中挖洞，把自己的箱子埋藏起來。

13 周三晚上9點，我徒步穿過城市的最中心地帶。兩邊是綿延數里的漂亮建筑和巍峨大廈。

沒有火。一切秩序井然。路上有人巡邏。每幢樓大門都有人看守。然而所有大樓都萬劫不復，

所有的一切。沒有水。炸藥正在用完。兩股大火成直角吞噬著整座大樓。

14 凌晨1點，我故地重游。一切保持原狀。沒有火。然而還是有一個變化。灰燼紛飛。守

門人都不見了。警察也撤了。沒有消防員，沒有消防車，也沒有了使用炸藥的人。這個區域

被徹底放棄了。

15 我站在卡尼街與市場街的交界處，此地是舊金山最中心的地帶。卡尼街已被廢棄。幾個

街區以外，這個街道的兩頭還在燃燒。街上豎著一道火墻。與火墻交相映襯的，是兩位美國

騎兵騎在馬上，平靜地注視著。僅此而已。視線中別無他人。在保持原狀的市中心，兩位騎

兵騎著馬注視著一切。

16 人們徹底屈服了。沒有水。下水道里的水早就被抽。也沒有炸藥。城市遠處又有一

處火情發生，現在大火從城市的三個方向席卷過來。剩下的一個方向白天已經被大火襲擊過。

順著那個方向看去，《舊金山觀察家報》大廈的墻垣搖搖欲墜，《舊金山早安報》大樓已被燒

毀，舊金山大飯店化為焦土，仍在悶燒，而皇家酒店已被炸藥炸得一塌糊涂。