Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1867-05-03
A Terrific Earthquake.
Orer a thousand hires lost-Heart-rend-
ang scene.

OUef Il tHOHSU'GU ttCeS toSt-AA@''
ing scene.
On Thursday, the 9Th, the weather
had been close and unwhoIesomely
not; but as this is generally the case
with the south wind, which had been
blowing for some time, nothing was
thought of it, least of all was there |
any fear of what followed. Though |
volcanic, as is proved by the numer-
Gus hot springs, the island had not |
during the present generation been
visited by earthquake; it was now,
however, to have terrible expert
ence of the phenomenon. About
p. M, a sharp shock, lasting some III.
teen or eighteen seconds, vlbrated
throughout the town, and before the
fact was we'll realized was followed
by a second, longer and much more
violent one. happened at the mo-
ment to be down at the pier OF the
Austrian Lloyd's agency, and nearly
half minute before the shock was
| felt on the shore saw the sea heave
and foam out in the port as if sub
marine explosion had taken place.
Little time, however, was left for sur
prise. In much less time than take
to write it the double thrill quivered
through the town, and Keeling like
drunken men, whole blocks OF solid
stone houses collapsed as if they had
been cardhouscs. The Offices of the
agency and nearly all the adjoining
buildings, including the Custom House,
the Light House office, and the large
oil-mill thus fell Up in the town en-
, tire streets similarly crumbled, bury
| ing their inhabitants by hundreds in
) the ruins. The fine old castle, the
cathedral, the Governors konak, the
prison, the mosque, and | believe, all
: the consular residences, more or less
? Welded to the violence of the shock,
] and are for the most part mere heaps
j of ruins. The very solidity with
). which the town was built has aggra-
: waited the disastrous effects Of the ca
lamity a hundredfoId, both as regards
the loss of life and destruction of
:, property. The most complete ruin
+ has fallen upon the lower part Of the
town, where the earth literally opened
and swallowed broad belt of build
ings right up from the sea to the slope
inland. At this point a permanent
subsistence of the ground has taken
place, and the sea has accordingly en-
eroached far into what on Thursday
Q afternoon was one of the busiest parts
e of Mytelene. In fact, to sum up the
j. disaster, more than half of our beauti-
ful town-the prettiest and most live
ly, perhaps, of all the Levant-is a
a desert of ruins. The worst part of
a the calamity is, of course, the loss Of
@ life As yet we can oaly guess at the
@ extent of this; but it is thought that
a from 500 to 1000 have persisted
while as many more have been manned
and wounded in every way. Up till
Is today one hundred and twenty bodies
he have, | hear, been dug out of the
III safer ruins; but how many may b(
n buried under others which are too
dangerous to be approached can only
be surmised. Such of the houses a:
= are still standing have all been aband
" oned, and the whole surviving popula
ton is now scattered over the hillside
rs and among the gardens outside thu
ii town-a few of them under such GOV
ID ers as they have been able to i'm
IT. provise, and the rest bivouacking with
Mt out shelter OF any kind. Any attemp
nt to describe the scene would be useless
ID Heart-rending grief, panic and confu
lo sion meet the eye on every side. Al
ready the wants of provisions is 40
gravating the distress, and only
On speedy supply from Smyrna or tn
be capital can avert great additional los
at of live. One of the Austrian Lloyd
ad steamers, and a French gunboat from
Is, Smyrna, have landed quantity Of
to biscnit ana some others stores, but il
Is, all not perhaps more than a day
in food for the place. 1t is earnestly t
be hoped that the Porte will at one
send down tents, biscuits, and what
te- ever other stores can be quickest GO
eS' together. But not the town of Myte
lot lene alone has suffered from this grea
'ef calamity, it has scattered ruin an
lcil death throughout the whole norther
We part of the island. Hardly a villag
has escaped, and not merely propert
Sc but life has been destroyed in nearl
,vn the whole. Molivo has been all bu
entirely demolished, and several hume
reds of its 5000 to 1000 inhabi.ant
oil. have, it is said, persisted i the ruins
the 1t is, in fact, no exaggeration to sa
lgs that half the island has been laid t
the waste, with the sacrifice of human lii
ost that may be reckoned by thousand
re. No such disaster has ever before b
lis fallen Mytelene.
alt
HANGED IN SPoRT--The Called