Anna Blake Mezquida
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anna Blake Mezquida (September 1, 1883 – March 12, 1965) was an American writer, poet, and journalist based in San Francisco.
Anna G. Blake was born in San Francisco, the daughter of Maurice B. Blake and Martha Eastman Blake. Her father's uncle Maurice Carey Blake was an attorney who served a term as Mayor of San Francisco just before Anna was born.[1]
Experiences in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
Her letters after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake are preserved as evocative eyewitness accounts of the aftermath.[2] She was evacuated as a patient from a hospital in the city to a crowded refugee ward at the Presidio. She wrote of her fears and experiences:
"The first week here was like a week in Libby Prison. Over a hundred of us were crowded together in one room of the barracks. There were rich women and poor women, white, yellow, and black, from all quarters of the city. It was impossible to keep the place clean. There was no heat, scant food, and little water. We were allowed no communication with the outside, and sentries guarded the place day and night, no one being allowed to enter but priests and nuns and wearers of the red cross."[3]
