The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1870-06-25
Half the Globe ehalken-Simultancou
: Earthquake in Mexico and Japan.


Earthquakes in Mexico and Japan.
The following account of the terrible earth
quake at Oaxaca, in Mexico, on the night of
May II, is furnished by the correspondent of
that city of the Taoo Republics, published in
the city of Mexico:
The night of the 18th of May, 1870, will be
one long remembered in Oaxaca. At II ~
O'Clock, one, or repetition of shocks of earth
quakes occurred, which shook the city to its
foundation, causing large number of deaths,
and the almost demolition of the southern
part of the city. The movement at first was
oscillating from south to north, and almost in
simultaneously followed by vertical one, which
was fearful to behold. The shock or shocks
lasted about minute, and in their intensity
have never been equalled by anything in this
State. OaXaca dates back two hundred years,
but bears no scars which can compare with
those inflicted on it Wednesday night. There
is no city in Mexico, probably none on this
continent, more substantially and solidly built
than is Oaxaca, and yet there is not one
house or edifce which has not suffered more
or less, while many are in absolute ruins. The
whole of the corredores of the old convent of
San Juan de Dios are down, and, in their fall,
buried four persons, wounding and manning
is heap of rubbish. The palace is almost in
ruins, and will require an outlay of many thou
sands of dollars before it can be rendered fit
for occupation again. The clock-tower, which
was only completed on the 9Th of May, came
down bodily, passed through the roof into the
halls of the Supreme Court. through the floor
of these, and piled itself in the portal of the
palace underneath. The whole of the arches
are sprung, and many of the columns are shift
ted eight and ten inches on their pedestals.
The Cathedral, in its interior, has suffered
most severely, and the Saint perched on top,
over the centre door, came down with crash.
The total number of deaths known thus far,
is 1903; the wounded and the manned it is i'm
possible to find out. The shocks continued at
intervals throughout Thursday, and at one
O'Clock there was quite sharp one.
Japan papers brought to San Francisco give
brief accounts of the shocks felt on the 18th of
May:
This morning, at about 2.40 o'clock, there
certainly came the severest earthquake any
foreigner has ever felt in Japan. Many of the
Japanese, aroused from their sleep, jumped up
and rushed out of their dwellings; and even
among foreigners, who, as a rule take these
things more coolly, there were some who got
up and dressed themselves, anticipating a
that had not a very firm support were thrown
down, and the alarm, which proves to have
been very general, was by no means without
cause. Before daylight there were several
more shocks of a comparatively slight charac-
ter; though one, which happened just an hour
after the other, was pretty sharp.
The Yokohama Herald of May % says:
Lately Yokohama has been visited by sue
cession of minor shocks of earthquakes.
That which occurred on the 18th, at about
half past two in the afternoon, was one of the
most violent felt since the calamity of 1885.
The houses rocked alarmingly for about a
minute and a half, plaster being dislodged,
paper burst from the partitions, and stones
cracked or utterly thrust out from the walls.
The master OF the schooner Anna reports
that while we were experiencing this smart
shock, his vessel was coming up the Gulf OF
Yeddo, between Kanonsaki and Treaty Point,
when conclusion was felt as if the ship had
struck rock; the lead was Immediately hove
AID found fifteen fathoms of water. About
quarter past three lighter shock was felt
The water was smooth and the wind light at
the time, but Immediately after the shock the
vessel swung completely round, being i'm
mersed in temporary vortex. In the vicin-
ity of Vries Island large fields of pumice
stone were noticed floating round, samples of
which Capt. Peterson brought on shore.
A gentleman from the interior, who wit
messed the eruption of the great volcano As
ayama, which took place about the same
time, after continued quiet of three or four
centuries, thus describes it:
Showers of lava and dense sulphurous va
pors were constantly elected, and fell on the
slopes OF the mountains, while the earth's vi
olent tremblings caused the peasantry to quit
the fields in great terror and seek shelter in
their miserable dwellings or adjacent temples,
where they strenuously invoked the gods to
preserve them from peril, adding the thumps
OF their tom-toms to the grumblings of the
volcano. The traveller passed within few
miles Of the mountain, which still emitted
clouds of smoke the next day, and noticed
the land about strewn with pumice. No
catastrophe, as rumored, occurred by the alb
sorption of whole village in a chasm, but one
lying near the mountain was ruined by the
cOnvulsion-its huts and statelier buildings
being overcast, and the fragments strewn in
disoidered masses. WI at loss of life occurred
is not yet known. The natives predict more
terrible outburst, arguing from former expert
ence.
Up to the 10th there had been no less than
123 shocks of earthquake. 1t is reported that
holcanO extinct for centuries, has broken
into eruption in the interior, and that Vres
Island is more than usually active. The spars
OF the shipping whipped about in the most
alarming manner during the earthquake of
the 18th