Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1859-02-10
WHEEL
THE INTELLIGENCER.

LIE IIN II lGLLLlNTLlNO
TaE. following is from a paper styledsEy Liam
er0, in the last number OF the Atlantic Monthly.
1t strikes us as fine piece of description, and
as such we present it to our readers. 1t possess
es a memorable interest, too, for who has not
read with thrills of horror of the awful Earth.
quake of Caracas?
The solemn festival was ushered in with the
most imposing rites of the Church. In the great
cathedral, which dwarfcd all other buildings in
the Plaza, there was high mass that day. The
famous bell changed out to all Caracas remem.
brance of the agony of our Lord. a silent tnul-
titude was prostrated al day long before the
gorgeous altar. Prelates and priests and acolytes
stood, splendid in veStmcnts of purple and white
Soiemnly celebrating upon the steps of the sane
tIary the holiest mysteries OF the Roman Cath
olic communion. Above and around, gigantic
tapers flared from candlesticks of beaten gold
and every little WHILE the glorious anthem float
ed forth in majestic cadence, eddying in waves
of hamony about the collonade that stretched in
dusky perspective from the great door to the
altar, soaring above the distant arches, and dswel
ing upwards in floods of melody, until the vast
concavity of the vaulted nave was filled with
sea of sound. But sultry heavincss weighed
with the incense upon the air. Elder citi-
Zens glanced at one another, and the thoughts
of many wandered anXiously from the sacred
building. Outside, the streets were empty
All Caracas was engaged in public worship; and
the white dwellings that enclosed the Plaza,
with its converging avenues, looked silently
down upon deserted paVements echoing only
now and then to the careless tread of party of
negroes, or to the clattering heel of some unde-
vout trooper The sun had glow as Of molten
copper; the atmosphere was dense; but not a
cloud occupied the heavens. Towards evening
the churches and the cathedral were again emp
tied, and the throng of worshipers, streaming
out intothe streets, prepared to witness the
great religious procession that was to close the
ceremonies of the holy day. Still the declining
sun glowed with unnatural intensity of hue; and
the evening breeze swept over the town IN un-
usually titful and stormy gusts. The mir seemed
to be laden with mysterious melancholy, to sigh
with hidden presage of some awful calamity
to come
OF sudden it came. A shudder, a treinor, a
quivering shock ran, for hundreds Of miles sim
ultaneously, through Venezuela. A groan,
swelling thunderousy and threateningly into
hollow roar, burst from the tortured eaTtll, and
swallowed up in its convulsye rumbling the
Shrieks of an entire nation suddenly inwrapt in
the shadow and agony of death. For a moment,
las if u supernatural hand were painfully lifting
it from its inmost core,-the earth rocked and
heaved throU gh all Venezuela; and then, almost
before the awful exclamation, El teng5lorl had
time to burst from the lips of that stricken ma
ton, it bounded from the bonds that held it, and
in a moment was quaking, heaving, sliding,
surging, rolling, in awful sembance to the sea
Great CULTS opened and closed their jaws, swal-
lowing up and beching forth dwellings, church,
es, human beings, overtaken by instantaneous
destruction. a flash and n roar passed through
the earth, aal jagged chasm followed in its
track, creating others in its rapid clash and close
Whole cities shiyered, tottered, reeled and fell
in spreading heaps of undistinguishable ruin
In one minute and fifteen seconds, twenty thou
sand human beings perished in Venezuea; and
then the Earthquake of Caracas ceased.