Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-09-18
DAY EVENING. SEPTEMBER IS. 1868.

Having gone on shore IN Caidera We
soon met refugees from the North, among
Others a German photographer from
africa, who had been there at the time
the catastrophe occurred and lost oil his
property. The town council OF Copiapo
was collecting provisions to succer the
sufferers, and the United States steamer
Kearsarge was getting ready to proceed
North. At Iquique, where all the con-
densing machines had been destroyed,
great scarcity Of water was said TO be
prevailing. Caldera also had experienced
some heavy shocks and most Of the in
habitants were on their way to the noun
tains. Nothing serious, however, oc-
Cured. The German photographer re-
lated the following:
"On the afternoon Of the 18th, shortly
after five o'clock, was busy at my house
developing some pictures, when several
shocks sf earthquake we're felt in rapid
succession. My Chiilan assistant, shar'
ing the terror nearly all his countrymen
have of volcanic outbreaks, rushed into
the street and | was just about following
him TO induce him to return, when the
earthquake became so violent that a
sensation akin to giddiness overcame
me. Having reached the street i felt the
ground moving under me as If | had been
ahoat. From that time remember but
little. / just recollect the falling Of the
church steeple at the moment | arrived
on the market place. / clambered up
over the fast falling houses, and, the
roaring waters behind me, made straight
for the mountains 1t was the most per-
feet picture Of the food you can imagine
my hair was fairly standing on end.
Everywhere lamentations and despair.
Mothers seeking their little ones and
wives without their husbands. Every
body was glad to escape safe and sound,
for all around the most frightful mutila.
tioDs might be witnessed. On the noun
tains near the coast we spent wretched
and anxious night, terrified by the ever
recurring shocks of earthquake, of which
we counted more than thirty. Mex
morning nothing was to be seen Of our
dwellings. The town was one great heap
of rubbish; not single street could be
recognized. All / saved out of my
property was riding whip, which chance
returned to me. At the time of departure
on board the English steamer thirty.
seven dead bodies had been discovered. !"
Having taken in q considerable amount
of coal and as much water as we could
to assist the people in Iquique, we again
went to sea late in the evening.
CoBIJA, August 81, l86S.-Early this
morning we arrived in Cobija, where we
met the Chilian war steamer Covadongs.
We have not yet arrived upon the scene
of disaster, for Iquique we passed in the
night. Nevertheless, we are in posses
sion of reliable information from that
place, for several of its former inhabi-
tants came on board, and the Chilian
Commander went thither but yesterday,
having taken up some provisions. Three
fourth parts are in ruin, many lives lost,
and hunger and thirst general. The
loss of one single German house
(Gildemeister & Co. } amounts to $780,
900. In Iquique the earthquake took
place seventeen minutes past five, last
ing four minutes and twenty seconds be.
fore it experienced the least interruption.
After this the sea receded about three
quarters of mile, so as to leave the
island facing the town entirely dry. 10
this manner an enormous wave was
formed, which presently advanced against
the shore like wall. 1t rose to the hight
of fully sixty degrees, and came in
southwesterly direction, breaking down
and scattering everything that came in
its way.
AFRICA, August %, 1865. S.-We have the
effects of the earthquake before us. The
sight de6es description. africa, which,
so to speak, but yesterday numbered
seven thousand inhabitants, is to- day one
vast heap of ruins, and beggared null
titude is standing helplessly on the beach.
So thorough has been the work of de-
,truction that the very owners Of houses
ire unable to find the spot where they
once stood so terrific has been the force
of the convrlsed waters that they have
swept away the heavy cannon mounted
On the island battery, and thrown them
nigh up the shore, where they now lie
buried in the sand. -Four vessels, of
which two are splendid war steamers,
ire high and dry; the Fredonia United
States steamship was lost with all hands
,ut two, while the brig Chanarcillo lost
eight men. The launch of the America
vas lost, with forty-two lives, while the
United States steamer Wateree lost but
,ne. Railroad rails, cars, machinery,
run carriages, household furniture, baby
linen, chests and barrels, dead animals
md mutilated corpses were lying about
n chaotic disorder. The stencil was
ickening. Here also the first and most
atal shsck took place shortly after
i've, and was speedily succeeded
" the rising Of the sea, which over
tepped its accustomed limits by at least
fifty feet More than three hundred lives
rave been lost. Tacna and Arequipa
Ilso, the latter town of the interior,
upward of forty thousand in
labitants, have been terribly visited. The
hooks are even now continuing, though
eebly. To the earthquake was soon
dded a general conhagration, and what
be fury of the elements spared was de-
troyed by the drunken and infuristed |
abble, who broke open every store and |
iquor keg. A town after having been |
acked does not present spectacle nearly |
o horrible as the one before us; yet a
sw flowers were still blossoming in a
alf- buried garden, that bore witness to
be care its former owners had bestowed |
pom it. Everything had fallen as it had |
cen left. l could not help being deeply
by what saw. Letters, checks
nd merchandise lay scattered every
here, the intoxicated guards protecting
roperty but indifferently. As far north
$ information reaches rushes the destruc.
on. Its extent cannot be judged till we
rive a CallaO
ARFeUIPA, August l6, 1868. We
re now living in tent on the
iver bank. No one dares 90 to town, as
he shocks still continue to bring down
hat little is left standing. They occur