New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1859-01-03

The Earthquake In Portugal.

pEtvate letter JUST received from Portugal con-
talns the following graphic description Of an earth
quake:
LISBON, Thursday, Nov. IL, 1858. My Deer
u is Of Gods great mercy that this steamer does
not carry you the news Of the sudden destruction Of
al you hold dear on this side the Atlantic. At IL
minutes past I this morning fearful earthquake
shook Lisbon to its center. It lasted minute and
some seconds. and was VERTICAL 7. and / were
asleep; we awoke, Of course, and sat quite motion
less holding each other BY the hand, feeling the
house shaking violently and expecting instant death
accompanied it was very awful-awe predomnated iu
our mind T. tells me that said softly" God have
mercy upon us," but was not conscious Of speaking
he Gays that the most fearful part Of it all to him.
| the increasing violence OF sound and motion-the
rapid crescendo. Each instant we expected the roof
and walls to fall in upon us then the sound dimn-
ished sensibly, and again increased in violence.
A minute seems short time, but it was lifetime
then. 7. says he never before felt himself in the i'm
mediate presence OF destruction, and his thought was
Death is immediate and inevitable ; now / shall
learn the great mystery When it was over he said,
K. that was very awful" jumped up and ran to
B.; 7. followed we found her calm but filed with
solemn aweohe fitted SO directly from the hand Of
God that tears and lamentations could find no place.
We knew that We were on the brink of the grave-a
| few seconds only between US and sudden death.
The partition walls of Ms dressing bedroom,
!
dining room-in fact oil that support the walls Of
that side OF the house. are cracked from top to bot
tom, with rents in which you may lay your hand.
| few seconds more and the whole would have come
the mghtness Of the shock. one must remember that
the walls Of the Lisbon houses not like those Of
the Filth Avenue cardpaper palaces but solid masses
of masonry, some three and four feet thick.
After breakfast went to the Viscountess AS to
see how she bad Jared and if any accidents had hap
pened in her house. Part Of Mle. de SIS room had
fallen in, and is now quite unnhabtable, but nobody
was injured. People were flying to and fro, thinking
and talking Of nothing else. Many persons were killed
BY the falling OF walls many houses have been shaken
down entirely. One of the columns Of the beautiful
Estrela Church has fallen, as well as several of the
saints from their inches within. Two columns Of
the Theater Dona Maria Segunda have also toppled
down, and it is said that the whole building ia in
ured that it must be rebuilt It is believed that if the
earthquake had lasted few seconds longer it would
have been as fatal as hat of November l, 1855. At
halEpast eight there was aoher shock much lighter
and yet far beyond anything you have ever ex-
il was with much emotion, grasp 4the hand and
!. Thank God, we are still alive VI f6e shock was
felt very distinctly in the feet On the Colgny the
commander rushed on deck, believing that another
vessel had dashed into him. and carried away part OF
| the ship. LINK GEMS
Nov 1--we can still talk Of nothing but the fear
full earthquake. The damage done to this rambling
old house is greater than we knew at first The whole
L
IT'S dressing room has huge rent four inches wide
in the corner of my room also the wall was cracked
from top to bottom. In the kitchen the walls bad
broken, and great mass Of brick and mortar fell
from the top of the chimney, crushing in the range
had the cook been there he would have been killed on
the spot. for the breakage Of crockery and the
tumblng Of things on the etageres that is not to be
considered T. says the house has suffered so severely
that be considers the northern side not only unsafe
but dangerous in case of another shock. May God
avert it. The night before, being sleepless, heard
the sentinels' "Alerta = and the distant answer,
Alerta /" and the text came into my mind, Ex-
cept the Lord keep the city, the Waterman looketh
but in vain" How few hours brought it home
The day previous Dr. Pezado, Chief of the Observa.
tory Of the Polytechnic School, had announced that
it was almost certain that earthquake would take
place within twenty-four hours he judged from the
variations of the magnetic needle He timed it, and
found its duration one minute and four seconds If
this seem short, take your watch, and try to think
the house is falling, for that space Of time. give
you no idea Of the sound besides the creaking and
groaning of all the timbers, there was rafting be-
yond the noise Of any machinery have ever heard,
and through the air the voice OF a mighty rushing
wind, though not breath stirred. In the different
towns near Lisbon, it has been very bad at Villa
Franco, many houses fell, and some persons were
killed. ~
November 13.-The news to-day from Oporto is
very sad the shock was felt there most severely
several public buildings were destroyed, and sixty
persons Killed. At Trafaria, a new church fell =
* * The Barracks at Val de Perriera are
greatly damaged and will have to be rebuilt. Gu.
rous thing took place on board Brazilian steamer.
Sailing from Southampton the 9th, she was in the
Bay of Biscay on the l1th That morning the needle
of the compass suddenly went round and round, in
manner most inexpicable and alarming. The cap
tain scarcely knew where he was and declared to the
passengers that something very remarkable taking
place on land cannot say terra Jrm,a, my conf
dence in its stability has been shaken! T. and are
discussing, very seriously, whether we shall remove
to another house. 1t is one thing not to be overtmid
courage in Drawing an earthquake. My nerves are
considerably shaken even dem0raized, as the French
| would say, and the rattle Of door or a window
sounds to my ear like the precursor Of another fear
full visitor and makes my heart beat with quicker
pulse. And so l will follow the Yiscountess exam
Pile. and resolve mot to talk any more about it."