Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 August 1895 — SHAM EARTHQUAKES. [ARTICLE]

SHAM EARTHQUAKES.

How San Franeisoo's City Hall Was Mada to Shako. The tragic death of James Wilkinson at the Old City Hall has called np many reminiscences of the ancient rattletrap, and many tales are told of how the structure has been considered dangerous for a quarter of a century and more—ever since it was so badly shaken np by the great earthquake of 1868. John J. Cunningham yesterday told of how earthquakes became of everyday occurence there along in the '7o's and of how two court rooms were cleared by a couple of merry wags. This was his tale: “In iS76 the southeast corner of Washington and Kearny streets—the part of the building that James Wilkinson lost his life in—was occupied by the Recorder’s office. Otto H, Frank was then City and County Recorder. He was an amiable man, slightly affected with deafness and permitted his attaches to do about as they pleased. “The copying clerks engaged at twelve cents a folio had considerable superfluous time on their hands and were generally mischievous. So they took to improvising earthquakes by shaking the building and frightening the uninitiated. The custom was to detail one of the clerks to take “tab" downstairs, and make a note of thenumberof the unsophisticated present. When things wore propitious he reported up stairs, and the earthquakes were delivered to order. On the second floor there stood a number of bookstands incasing old files of the Examiner from its first publication. “Generally one of the copyists got on one side of the stands and alternated with the other in lifting and tugging. The building would begin to oscillate from nortli to south and the stampede would commence None hold the ground except case hardened clerks and timeworn searchers of records. “All habitues of the old hall remember the shattered condition of the building that poor Wilkinson was killed in, how it was almost razed to the ground in the big earthquake of *6B; the cost to the city for renovating it before it became habitable, and the great hurry of the authorities to move the Hull of Records to the beehive now occupied at the New City Hall. , “Then the Justices of the Peace and their clerks were ensconced at the old Hall of Records. Frank J. Murphy was then Justices’ Clerk. Justices James C. Pennie and Edward Gilson held court in the upper Btory, and I well remember an afternoon when both Judges wore holding court. Two of the scamps from the Recorder’s office invaded the top story of the old building and commenced a rataplan on the iron shutters over the heads of both Judges. Both courtrooms were cleared as smooth as Mother Hubbard’s cupboard in five seconds, judges, attorneys and clients all believed an earthquake was in progress and the courts were informally adjourned for the day. All of this I saw, and a part of it I was.”