The Earthquake- April 6, 1906

Finn Greely had only been asleep a few hours. The pub closed at 2 a.m., and he had helped his son Michael close before he headed upstairs to the apartment above the bar.

Kate had gone to bed much earlier. There was no music on Tuesday nights, so it had been quiet downstairs. A little after 5 a.m., something woke her. Days later, she would remember seeing the time on the grandfather clock on her way to the kitchen to get a drink of water. She stood at the sink and poured water from a pitcher into a glass. That’s when the shaking began. 

“Was that an earthquake?” Finn called out from the bedroom.

“Just a small one, go back to sleep,” Kate said before she took a drink from the glass. Then it started again. Slowly at first, she held on to the counter. Earthquakes weren’t unusual in San Francisco. Small ones happened all the time. So, she didn’t panic at first. But it didn’t stop, and it grew in intensity, shaking so hard she had trouble standing. 

She cried out for Finn then crawled under the kitchen table. It was sturdy redwood, hand-made by her husband’s first cousin.

Finn rushed from the bedroom and crawled under the table with Kate just as the ceiling in the bedroom collapsed, covering the bed with plaster and wood. The shaking continued. Kate watched in horror as a bookcase fell over, lamps filled with oil hit the floor, the doors on the kitchen cabinets flew open, and everything inside burst out and fell to the floor. 

Kate gripped Finn’s leg. Digging her nails into his thigh as she watched the living room sofa staggered across the room toward them. Then the outside wall gave way, and the pitch-black night entered the apartment.

Forty-two seconds later, at 5:13 a.m., it stopped. Finn and Kate hugged each other close.

Kate screamed and pointed at the building across the street. A man dangled from a ledge by one hand, his eyes met Kate’s, and they stared at each other unable to look away. Kate, frozen in place, was unable to say or do anything. Then, as if accepting his fate, the man nodded slightly and let go, falling to his death three stories below.

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