Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1864-01-28
THE LATE CATASTROPHE IN
. CHILLI. f- ~

cember 18th, gives the particulars of
the appalling catastrophe at Santa
go, Chill, announced yesterday, by,
which between 1000 and 5000 per-
sons lost their lives. We have room
only for The following extracts;
One Of those awful yisitations
which from time to time affiict nations
with eternal mourning took place
on Tuesday, December 8, at the fes-
tival of the Immaculate Conception,
in what was the Church of the Jesuits
in the capital A magnificent tenn
pie reduced to ashes, hundreds of
dear lives sacrificed, the whole city
weeping its lost ones-such is the
picture Santiago offers us.
The Sth of December was a great
triumph for the clergy of the church.
An enthusiastic audience filed every
nook There were hardly any men
there, bat three thousand women,
comprising the flower of the beauty
and fashion of the capital, were at
the feet Of the ecclesiastic, very many
against the will of fathers and hus-
bands, but that of course, only
showed forth the power and might
of the gospel. Never had such py-
rotechny been seen before; twenty
thousand lights mostly camphene, in
long festoons of colored globes,
blazed the church into hall of fire.
But the performance had not yet be-
gun when the crescent of fire at the
foot of the gigantic image of the
Virgin over the high altar over
flowed, and climbing up the muslin
draperies and pasteboard devices to
the wooden roof, rolled torrent of
flame. 1t was maddening - the
screaming and wringing of hands
for help as the remorseless flames
came on; and then, while some al
ready dead with fright were burned
in CHASTITY indifference, others in
their horrible agony-some in prayer
were teariug their hair and batter
ing their faces. Women seized in
the embraces of the flames, were
seen to undergo a transformation as
though by an optical delusion, first,
dazzlingly bright, then horribly lean
and shrunk up, then black statues,
rigidly fixed in writhing attitude.
The fire imprisoned by the thick
ness of the walls, had devoured
everything combustible by 10 O'Clock;
and then defying the sickeHing
stencil people came to look for their
lost ones. Oh what a sight the
placid moon looked down upon
Closely packed crowds of calcined,
distorted forms,- wearing the fearful
expression of the last pang, whose
smile was once aheaven; the CHASTITY
phalanx Of black statues, twisted in
every variety of agony, stretching
out their arms as if imploring mercy.
and then, of the heap that had
choked up the door; multitudes, with
their lower parts entirely untouched.
and some all ashapeless mass, but
with an arm or foot unscathed.
The silence after those piercing screams
roere huSAed in death, aCas horrible IL
1CGs he silence Of Ihe graVe, un6rokea,
bit By Tie bitter wda or .fdint,ng cry
over two thousand souls, had passed
through that ordeal offre to he judy
ment seat Of God.
Heroic acts of sublime daring have
not been wanting. Enduring graft
tude has been excited in every
Christian heart by the gallant con-
Iu.f ofNTr NolSAn tho Mipicfar n 6
the United States, his countryman,
Mr.. Meiggs, and several other for
eigners. There were generous mep
who defied the fury of the flames to
save lives, and some ofthese died mar
tyrs to their noble hearts. An Eng
lishman or an American, it is un-
known which, was seen to rush
through the flames, to seize in his
powerful arms a lady, stride with
her a little way, and then with his
hair in a blaze. and choked with
smoke, fall back into the volcano
never to rise again. A young lady
named Ovello, having in vain implor-
ed some bystanders to save her mo-
ther, rushed in and shortly after
wards miraculously issued forth with
her parent in her arms saved. A
young lady of the name of Solar, just
before the smoke suffocated her, had
the presence ofmind to tie her hand
kerchief around her leg, so that her
body might be recognized.
The following gives an idea of the
class of persons that perished by
the deplorable accident: although
many heroic men performed prodi-
gies of daring and strength in tear
ing some from the death-grasp of the
phalanx of bodies that choked the
door, in some cases literally tearing
off their arms without being able to
extract them, the number ofsaved by
this means falls short of fifty. More
than hve hundred persons of our
highest society have perished, the
greater part young girls offifteen to
twenty years of age. One mother
has perished with her five daughters.
Two thirds of the victims were ser
wants.. and there are many houses in
which not one has escaped. Several
houses have been noted by the police
as empty because all their inhabit-
ants have perished.
CONCENTRATION OF THE ENEMY NEAR