Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-09-17
THE

on Sunday 2s having occurred recently
in Peru and Ecuador, by which cities
With lgrge snI active populations were
suddenly 5a-ept from the earth or en-
gulphed IN vast tidal waves, the more
thoroughly detailed, becomes the more
he~srt-rending aud distressing. No
pen can ever describe the hor-
rors that the survivors of this
awful and sublime CONFUSION of
nature must have experienced, when
suddenly, IS in "the tginkIiag Of an
eye" they were called upon to see
transformed from living, sentient bsings,
to livid, msngled corpses, the sister, wife
or mother, and with all that made life
dear, swept into nsmsless ruin. The de-
tails Of this frightfur uphesval have, in
part, been received, and they confirm
the first report, if, indeed, they do not
make it mora terrible ia severity and
h~orrifying il loss of life.
The city Of ArsqliPs, and the towns
CT MoquegnR and Locumbs, located up
on the coast mountain range, and those
Of Aries, Iquique and PisEqua, built up
on the seaside Of Southern Peru, we're
entirely destroyed, with large portions of
their populations; ships were dashed to
pieces On the beach, OF borle hundreds q
yards inland, by the tidal waves. and la !
hopelessly stranded.
The whole loss OF life by this hight.qi
calamity is roughly estimated st twenty
five to thirty-two th~ousand, snd property !
supposed to be worth three hundred mil
lions was ruined or ehgulfad.
While among tue moss awful Of the
~vis!tatiors Of this character upon record,
i. is By no means the first either 10 loss
fife or property. In 115 there occurred
st Antioch, IN Syria, an earthquake by |
which that city was nearly destroyed,
and sgain 10 81. aecoroiAg to Gibbon,
when 25o. 900 people psrished with
an untold wealth, the result Of
ages Of industry. The great con-
vulsion n 1755, during which Lis
bon was wrecked and lost 90. 900
Of her ~,tiz=Gs, although one hundred
and thirteen years gone il well remem-
Bered by every student Of Our schools.
We may mention, those Of l6s. in Js-
maica, when the capital OF the Island,
Port Royal, was altogether submerged
IN less than a minute; inst which oc-
CURED on the island of Java, in l772,
when a mountain fifteen miles long and
six wide, with forty villages upon it,
sunk from sight, and 1851 persons per-
ished also that of Caracas, in 1872
which cost the loss Of 1900 lives; aud
again in 1926. when that town was en-
tirely destroyed, with a loss of 1000
lives Those Of Naples and Mexico, in
1857 and 1883, are fresh in the memories
OF our readers, O-ccasioning jointly a loss
of life v~ariously estimated from 10000
to 60, O0O souls.
The Mississippi Valley, especially the
part Of 1t inhabited By Us, has not been
exempt from these terrible upheavals Of
nature. There are those among Us who
remember the earthquake Of New Mad
rid, extending a leBgth OF 300 miles, from
the mouth Of the Ohio to the st. Frsn-
els, when the earth rose and sank in great /
undUlstions, and lakes were formed only
TO be drained ia comparatively an in
slant after. Many OF these lakes, the
result Of the latest and finishing quake
Of mother earth, still exist on both sides
the Mississippi near this city. Reel
foot lake is one, as familiar as Main
street to our citizens. The familiar haunt
Of sportsmen, 1t has furnished themes
for many strange stories, not the least
sensational being those set Ehoat by that
waggish, witty and polished yri-
ter-Col. LOUIS J. DUPRE, now of
the st. Louis Times. One OF his sto- ,
runs that there is a s~uhterraneous
passage between RselfOot and the river. :
and That away under Union CITY, and !
extending even to Memphis, there are
underground streams, that may at any
time lead to our engulphmeBt. Ali our !
remember his sensation as to ,
underground passages, when Menu =
phis was last visited by q shock that f.,
90 Us that We are scarcely less =
10 an awful visitation than the {
people Of the land Of volcanoes, who, for {
thousandth time, have Just been t
10 fsarfuliy wrecked. =