The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1868-09-24
Loss OF 40, 900 to 60 600 Lives
and $500, 900 900 of Prop
ertY.
A DOZEN CITIES DESTROYED.

The recent terrible earthquake in South
America seems to have ranged from Port
Conception. on the southern coast Of Chill,
M 10 Quito. the capital of Ecuador. just
below the equator. The length of coast
line affected by the several shocks IL esti-
mated at about 1000 miles. The extreme
distance from the sea coast into the in
terror. where the shocks were felt, is not
known; hut il Is supposed that the de-
VISITATION extended to tho east OF the Cor
diloms. Peru. Ecuador and Chill are
known to have been the principal sufferers
from these great ca~tastrophies. No adj
vices have been received from Bolivia and
the Argentine Republic. Mariners who
had arrived ut Peruvian ports reported that
the vessels in which they rode We're rocked
by fearful undulations far out nc sea.
THE EARTHQUAKE II cHEL.
A dismal p~remonition of the earthquake
in Chill was heard by the inhabitants OF
T~alcqhuano. Conception Bay, on the night
of the 18th ultimo. This wa a low moan
from the south. The earth tremhled
slightly, aud then all was still. The next
day passed without disturbance; but, early
in the evening of the 18th, the moan was
agnin heard, and again died away and left
the coast unmttled, save by the wash of
the ocean waves. Iu half AN hour after
wards about 9 p NJ the noise rose again,
and approached, increasing IN volume, like
thunder rolling along the ground. At the
moment when the unseen tempest seemed
about to burst upon the town, an earth
quake shock swnyed the buildings and sent
the people Keeling and shrieking into the
STREETS.
As the whole population gained the sub
urbs and He'd toward the mounmiuH, the
sea receded away from the slope of the mp.
lifted shore, piling itself mp into n vast wall
Of waters. Then It came rolling back, and
the hundreds of human beings who paus-
ed In their flight, saw the Indications they
had quilted enrulphed in an instant by
the unnatural tide. Half the town was
carried away and the remaining buildings
were rendered almost u"ninhabitable. -Four
lives were lost: the property wrecked and
damaged was valued ot $500, 900. Tome,
another port ON the CHILEAN coast, was Wis
tied in u similar manner; but the town,
being situated at a greater altitude above
the shore thnn that OF T~alcahuano, did
not suffer as great damage. The port OF
Constitution suffered slightly. Several
vessels wcEe driven on shore, but the build
iugs were not much injured. A heavy sea
swept towards Valparaiso, utdid no harm.
THE EARTHQUAKE IN PERU.
The subtermnoan shock which startled
Chilli on the 18th inst, and left that coun-
try uudisturbcd on the following day,
arose IN the afternoon of the 18Th, and
shook the foundations OF Peru. At 3 p.
m. the same prodigious sound that stunned
the ears OF the people Of Tulcahunno, was
heard by the people of lquique, a city on
the southern seashOro of Peru. Thence il
swept northward, arousing, within "A lew
seconds, the entire western population of
the republic 10 a sense Of coming danger.
The inhabitants of cities and towns COM
pretending what the sound presaged, va
Gated their houses just before the Wrouud
beneath their feet began 10 sway. Then,
while the shock increased in violence, dis,
tressful cries nrose. Walls of buildiug,
gated hnrshly; windows crashed; pave
ments burst and flung their stones into th,
air. chimneys fell; towers toppled aud de
seconded in ruins Alpwer cdihce5, not stronl
enough Ia Withstand the increasing vIo
lence Of the shocks, came crashing down
The noise of falling stone, the shouts o
men, the piteOus cries Of women and thu
plants Of little children sounded above tn,
dull grumblo of the tortured earth. Clouds
Of dust blinded and chOked the bewildere,
throngs who sought an exit from the chaol
about them. And from time 10 time thu
agoniZing means of those who had beel
struck down by the falling ruins told tia
all had not escaped and that death lurkeI
in the cracking mortar of every hRngin
wall A writer from africa, on the Sc
coast, says:
The hour was that when by custom mos
Of the inhabitants had Just closed thei
daily labors and We're ut their homes. tn
instant the startling indications of al
earthquake were ielt there was a geler
rush Tor uncovered spaces, which weT
reached by many uniniured; but not b
all. The streets became a scene of terror
All the houses in the city trembled like
person affected with the ague. Then the
surged, aud some of them fell 10 piece
with crash after crash. At this %iuncturC
when the undulations were active, th
earth opened in several places in long an
almost regular lines. The assures we
from Jne 10 three inches in width. TIL
sensation was distinct as though somt
thing was rolling underneath. FroI
every fssure there belched forth dry cart
like dust, which was followed by a stiAin
gas. Owing 10 the demolition of building
and the general destruction of all kinds
property, and the dust belched forth q
well as that set in motion by the generi
tumult, a dense cloud formed over the cit
and obscured the light Beneath the clou
was the gas which severely oppressed ever
living creature, and would have suhocate
all these if it had fingered longer stationar
than it did, which was only about ninet
seconds. The undulations were three
number. Each succeeding one was
greater magnitude than the former. Whe
the undnlations ceased, the cloud of dui
assembled and dispersed, and light was II
stored. Then quakes at short interya
succeeded, as though subterranean expl
sions on collisions were taking place.
this time people from all parts Of the Gil
fed TO the hills, amidst falling stones an
timbefs, which descended from swayiI
walls and b~roadly-rent buildings, just