The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1855-07-05
STROUDSBURG, MONROE COUNTY, PA. JULY 5, 1855.


scourge of God. As before, confagra
tion followed the earthquake, and addet
to the horrors of the scene. The custom
house took fire, and was soon reduced t.
ashes, with all the merchandise it con
tanned. From thence the fire was com
municated to the wooden buildings which
the earthquake had spared, and soon the,
became the prey of the flames. All th'
mosques, and the ancient and renowned
monuments of Brousa, were burped Of
more or less injured. The inhabitants
surprised by the calamity, had only time
to fee from their houses, and take refuge
under the tents which they spread for the
company, The number of persons as
certained 10 have been killed was about
400, without completing the investiga-
tion. A resident of Brousa writes as fol-
lows to the Journal de Constantinople,
under the date of April 10Th:
"Iu my last letter informed you that
the shocks of earthquakes continued every
day. Still we were hoping to reach the
end of our calamities, when, on Wednes-
day evening, April 1lth, at 80 minutes
past one, by Turkish time, dull sound
was heard proceeding from the bowels of
the earth, the foreruDner, or rather the
very presence of, a terrible catastrophe,
which must in few seconds have re-
duced to ruins whatever remained of the
Holy City. Five minutes later second
vertical shock succeeded, and with such
violence that the entire city was raised
from its foudations, and hurled down with
a terrible crash. This lasted about twen-
ty-fve seconds, but had at least three
times the force of the earthquake of the
2Sth.
"To describe to you all the heart rend-
ing scenes, the suferings and agonies of
our unfortunate population, would be i'm
possible to me, in the painful impressions
under which [ labor. All the monuments
and al. the structures of stone are over
thrown or broken; while the greater part
of the wooden buildings have fallen, and
among those which remain, few are in
habitable. As in the first instance, five
minutes after the earthquake, fire broke
our in the lower part of the city, which
lasted eighteen hours, and consumed ff-
teen hundred houses and shops. For
twenty-four hours the shocks were repeat
ed, at small intervals, the greater part
weak, but some sufficiently violent to bring
down tottering walls and houses which
remained. [ do not speak of the materi-
al loses, which are incalculable; [ can on
ly pour my tears over the unhappy lot of
the victims buried under the ruins, or
burnt alive by the confagration. The
precise number cannot be known, but I
think it must be immense.
"The news which has just come to US
from the provinces is of the most distress
ing nature. In the southwest many vii
ages have been entirely destroyed, or
greatly damaged
At once nearly the whole European
population left the city for Constantine
pie. while the unhappy natives encamped
N the gardens and out of the city in mis-
erable barrack, hastily constructed to the
zebrlS of fallen houses, and. the city was
made desert. But misfortune did not
quit them there; for violent sh ocks fol-
lowed, which made the very tents tremble
which sheltered them. The mineral wa
;ers doubled their volume, and warm
water ran every where through the city,
should have stated, in making out
his extended record Of memorable and
are occurrence, thatthe islands of Rhodes,
1t great distance from BrouSa, in the
Southern Archipelago, was visited by a
violent earthquake on the seventh of A.
oril; and Mytelene, in the Northern Ar
on the same day and hour with
Brousa. The shocks continued to be ex-
oerienced at Brousa down to the last of
April, and the inhabitants were prepared
or more disasters.
1t will be seen that the area OF this
is of vast extent, embracing
he northern and western parts of Asia
Minor, the full length of the Archipelago
rom north to south, and part of Europe
The frequency of the shocks, and their
ong continuance, reaching from Februa-
y II to nearly the present time, if not
urther, are without precedent in the his
ory of similar phenomena, and make the
occurrence one of rare interest"
n