Bellevue gazette. [volume] (Bellevue City, N.T. [i.e. Neb.]) 1856-1858, 1856-11-27
mt Malta.

On Sunday the 25th of October, at eleven
minutes before 2 o'clock, A. NJ, the Is
lands of Malta and Coco were visited by
shocks of an earthquake, so violent in
their nature, and so long in their duration,
that the Oldest inhabitants do not remem-
Der ever to have experienced anything so
severe. The first shock made itself per-
ceptible by a tremendous motion, similar
to that caused by the passing of a heavy
gun carriage a thousand times repeated,
accompanied by a rumbling noise, of dis
tant thunder, which rapidly increased in
violence until every building trembled.-
Scarcely a minute had elapsed, when a
more violent shock, accompanied by a
louder noise, occurred. The alarm occa-
stoned was general throughout town and
country.
Men, women and children, suddenly
aroused from their slumbers, issued from
every house, rushed into the streets and
made their way to the squares, and other
spaces, which soon became full of people.
The sentry at the Treasury left his post
and ran to the main guard, which he turned
out, under the impression that shells were
being thrown into the town by an enemy
from some steam feet. The two shocks,
the interval being so brief as to be meal
culable, lasted two minutes. In the city
of Valetta scarcely a building escaped in
jury, and all corner structures have moro
particularly suffered. OF the Roman
Catholic churches those of San Giacomo,
st. Orsola, and ST. Dominica appear to
have suffered most.
At Floriana, and in each of the three
cities, as well as in the harbor, the shocks
were felt with considerable vigor, and a
Sengels, Cospicua, and Vittoriosa, many
of the buildings are injured. Persons on
board ships in tn. port describe the effec
of the earthquake, as felt by them, as Of
letting go the ships boats from the davit
by the run, only much stronger. The SEE
receded two feet and a half. The nigh
had been without a breath of air, with
sultry sensation, the sea, perfectly calm
and the moon shining in a clear sky witt
a brightness that seemed to transform nigh
into day, it being within twenty-one hour
of full moon.
At Ciyita Veccha, III the interior of tn,
island, all the churches, monasteries, nun
neries and hospitals, (the church of St
Augustine excepted, sustained greater o
less damage. The dome of the cathedra
is rent, so as to admit the light, and tn,
beIfry is much shaken.
In Malta it is usual to ring the bells O
the churches on occasion of imminen
danger, and on Sunday, soon after tn
shocks had ceased, d burst of tintinabula
sounds was everywhere to be heard.
On the same day, a Te Deum or thanks
giving was chanted in all the churches
to which was added the ceremony of tn
holy sacrament, and sermons were de
livered to crowded congregations. S
impressed were the natives with the com
mon persuasion that a repetition of tn
phenomenon would occur at the expira
ton of twenty-four hours, that few wei
TO their beds on the following night unit
after the clock had struck Two, remainln
until then from sunset On the square
bastlans and parade grounds, grain floss
at florinna, Marina, and other place
more secure than under roof. SentriC
report a great red glare in the heavens
have preceded the outbreak, and all Il
market dogs joined chorus in a yell al
howl Tor an hour or two previous. TT
thermometer stood at about "a, and Il
barometer at BOIL. There was a slig
fall in both shortly after.
independence is the noblest Of all pc
Sc s>ipns-