Surrender was complete.

[**The following is in regards to the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. It is an excerpt of a memoir written by Jack London. At this point in the memoir, he is detailing the horrific and widespread fires which had occurred in the aftermath of the quake, which lasted for several days. Altogether, about 3,000 people died and approximately 80% of the city was destroyed.**] >At nine o’clock Wednesday evening I walked down through miles and miles of magnificent buildings and towering skyscrapers. Here was no fire. All was in perfect order. The police 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. >At one o’clock in the morning I walked down through the same section. 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 The police had been withdrawn.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. I stood at the corner of Kearny and Market, in the very innermost heart of San Francisco. Kearny Street was deserted. 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 on their horses, calmly watching. That was all. Not another person was in sight. In the intact heart of the city two troopers sat on their horses and watched. >Surrender was complete. There was no water. The sewers had long been pumped dry. There was no dynamite. Another fire had broken out further uptown, and now from three sides conflagrations were sweeping down. The fourth side had been burned earlier in the day. __________________________ **Source:** Stephens, John Richard. “Firsthand Accounts by Famous People.” *Weird History 101: Tales of Intrigue, Mayhem, and Outrageous Behavior*. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2006. 108-9. Print. __________________________ **Further Reading:** [1906 San Francisco Earthquake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1906_San_Francisco_earthquake) [John Griffith Chaney / John Griffith “Jack” London](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_London)