midday
Some were not yet dead . And even as you looked , you saw men sink down with the death fastened upon them . There were numerous fires burning in Berkeley , while Oakland and San Francisco were apparently being swept by vast conflagrations . The smoke of the burning filled the heavens , so that the midday was as a gloomy twilight , and , in the shifts of wind , sometimes the sun shone through dimly , a dull red orb . Truly , my grandsons , it was like the last days of the end of the world . `` There were numerous stalled motor cars , showing that the gasoline and the engine supplies of the garages had given out . I remember one such car .