The Chariton Leader, Chariton, Iowa Thursday, April 29, 1906 MRS. DAISY BEMISS, daughter of MRS. LYNN CRALL of this city, and who with her husband, C.H. BEMISS, has been residing in San Francisco, writes to her mother that she and MR. BEMISS are safe, but they have been unable to find NINA BRANHAM, daughter of MR. and MRS. W.H. BRANHAM of Russell, although they know she is alive. We take the following extracts from the letter which was received by MRS. CRALL yesterday: Presidio, San Francisco, Calif. April 21, 1906 Dear Mamma: -- I expect you are simply wild wondering how we are. We are alive and that's about all. I sent you a message last night by a man going across to Oakland, for we can get no wire from here. Nobody knows what the people have suffered here and are going through now. First the terrible earthquake came and shook nearly half of the buildings in the city to the ground. I will never forget it to my dying day. The whole city was in a panic and our hotel rocked so we had to hold ourselves in bed to keep from being thrown out and killed. Then the town caught on fire and the whole city is burned to the ground and the people are homeless. We are living in little tents and sleeping on the ground, and eating what the outside cities are sending us. We lost everything, of course, our hotel, trunks and all were burned to the ground and we are homeless and without clothes. God only knows how we will ever get out. CLAVE is so sick. There was over one thousand people kille! d and burned to death, and we are mighty lucky that I got CLAVE out and saved our lives. We had to walk about seven miles out here to the soldiers' barracks to be taken care of. We cannot find NINA but know she is alive. We have hunted but cannot find her. The city is still burning but they don't think it will reach here. If it does we will have to go on boats and stay on the ocean. Take care of yourself and dear old Grandma, don't worry and pray that we will be saved. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert October 8, 2004 [email protected]