Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-05-17

As1sl Los. u ..lis-A Large su.s'lDsr

recent earthquake at Antioch. In the first,
which is dated Antioch, April 4, Mr.. Keer
says: ~
a severe shock Of earthquake was felt
here yesterday, precisely at A. NJ, Eng
fish reckoning, or shortly before in the
day, Turkish time. The house in which
was was shaken violently to and fro for
four or five seconds, or, as one gentleman
thinks, even more. A stove weighing near
ly a hundredweight was overturned;
the walls of stone and plaster, with
woodwork and beams, were crack ed,
and the plaster fell on all sides. Books
were thrown from the cases, and clock
hurled from bracket on the wall into an
armchair few feet distant, without brea ak
ing the glass case or The clock works. Out
side the house wall fell, the narrow streets
(only abont twelve or fifteen feet wide, and
some less) being literally blocked up for
long distances with the ruins of fallen houses,
and dense cloud of dust arose on all sides.
Men, women, and children ran hither and
thither, wailing their own hurts or the loss
of relatives. l went down to the bridge,
southwest of the city, about two hours after
at 10 O'Clock A. M.-and saw many dead
persons brought out of the city and laid out
for burial Later, counted fifteen new
graves, all close by each other. Looking
towards the town, ruins could be seen in
all directions. Several aqueducts were
broken, and telegraph poles were
thrown down and the wires broken.
The Greek Church, strong stone arched
structure, built only few years ago, and
capable of holding 500 or 800 persons, was
utterly ruined-one side and the entire roof
are gone. The American Protestant
Church and premises are also greatly iDjuI-
ed, and four persons of their small cOmmun-
ity were killed, though the Mission families
are all safe. The number of killed and in
jured cannot be ascertained With any ap-
proach to accuracy, and, of course, flying
rumors are abundant, one man saying that
he thought there must be 1000 killeu,
while another said 500, and third $50,
which is, perhaps, within the truth. The
city contains from 10000 to $4,000 persons,
it is said, but no accurate census exists.
There was time from the beginning Of the
first shock to its close for many to escape
the falling houses or walls, and during its
continuance two or three person in the
house where l write walked across the
room and (not very quickly down stairs
while the shock lasted. Several smaller and
lRhter shocks occurred for an hour or two
afterwards, but not sufficiently strong to
shake down buildings. The Shocks have
continued at intervals through the night,
and another, more distinct and waye-like,
was felt to shake the house, with loud,
hollow, rumbliDg noise, about $50 this
morning. The shock yesterday was imme-
dietely preceded by a rumbling and creak-
ing of the joints of the window and door
frames, to which a louder noise, like thun-
der, succeeded, and then the walls and
buildings fell. Several minarets are cracked,
but all yet stand, though some of the arched
caravanserais and baths near them are fall
en-. The old Roman bridge of four arches
is rent IN several places until the water can
be seen through it from above; part of
the parapet wall has also been shaken of,
and the arch above the city door at its east
end has been hurled down and lies almost
whole. Much damage has been done to
houses in the lower part of the town, and
many of the inhabitants are now TO be
seen encamping around in the fields or
plain.
In another letter, dated Alexandretts,
April 9, the writer says:
l returned to Antioch YESTERDAY, and came
on to this place, about thirty-five miles, to-
day. There is little harm done north of
Antioch compared with the south side of
the valley. Alexandretta was shaken, but
no stones fell. q Beylan, in the mountain
pass (Pyle Syria,) is also almost uninjured.
The shocks have continued in and around
the south of Antioch at irregular intervals
of from few minutes to two or three hours.
The wind has been strong to-day, and
have net observed one, but yesterday two
or three shocks were strong enough to
make the men run from the walls of houses
which they were pulling down or excava-
ting for furniture or goods. One man told
me he counted forty-four shocks within
twenty-four hours after the first one,
which | can we'll believe. They were all
accompanied by noise like distant thun-
der or artillery, and produced a tremor of
the ground; but no fresh ruin has, be
lieve, been made by any of them except
the first great shock about A. NJ. of the Sd
inst. That shock one man describes, not
inaptly, as shaking the house just as horse
shakes himself in harness when loosed from
a journey, and then came a shower of
stones, falling walls, and roofs. Many of
the houses-indeed, nearly all around Sua-
dia and around Bitias-have fallen, and
large boulders from the mountain knocked
down some few trees. The house of DR..
Yates, used as mission school in Suadia, is
in ruins, but the inmates were all saved. The
house of the late Consul Barker is entirely
destroyed, the man who kept it narrowly
with his life. The Protestant
Mission Chapel at Bitias forms q singular
exception; not stone of it has fallen,
though the native pastors house and others
around were levelled to the ground. ave
are all safe dL-hGmd-lt-ialdh" (thanks be to
Cody, said the pastor when 1 inquired for
his family. Not so, however, in other cases.
Some families have lost two or three of
their number, and several are dead in
every village to the South as far as Selucia.
The number of dead in Antioch is as yet
unknown. met the Roman Catholic pas
tor yesterday among the ruins and asked
him how many he thought was killed.
His reply, in French, was, "God only
knows; probsbly over thousand" The
opinion of the Rev. P. o. Powers, the ex-
cellent and respected American missionary,
who has labored in Turkey for more than
thirty-five years, was that thousand was
probably nearer the number of lives lost
than any other.