Kobe, Sept. 9.
Mrs. Firth, the wife of Mr. George Firth of Samuel, Samuel and Ca., told Reuter's special correspondent that she walked over the roof after the first shock. "The last shock was awful. It was terrible to sec children struggling through collapsed houses, many of them broken and bleeding, but it is strange to say that hardly any were crying.
wanted to reach the house and the children so I climbed the Bluff. The fire was now unspeakably awful. I cannot describe my feelings. The chief thing was to save the children. I saw the American Hospital totally destroyed. I_ did not notice the patients. My hands and" face were scorched, but I climbed and climbed. I passed a tumbled house where several Japanese were pinned underneath and others were trying to rescue them. One man's head was sticking out sideways. Apparently his neck was caught.and he could not move. Finally I reached my collapsed house and the children, who were scared but safe. The first thing I did was to have my entire wardrobe emptied into the street, so that half naked women and children could take what they needed as they passed by."—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.