Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1873-04-18
san salvador,

The recent great earthquake by which
this city was destroyed, eight hundred
persons perished, and ten millions OF
property destroyed, recalls some OF the
features Of a former visitation, together
with description OF the city:
The former city of the same name,
which was totally destroyed by a like
catastrophe en- the night Of April l6,
1854, was one OF the Oldest relics Of the
Spaniards Of this country, having been
founded, as is said, by Alvarado, one Of
the followers of Cortes and celebrated
by Prescott for his bravery and gallant
exploits in the conquest Of Mexico, es-
pecially on that dreadful night the
noche triste OF history. when the Span
iards were driven away from the capital
by the Mexicans. Old San Salvador,
first called Las Bermudas, founded in
1923, was abandoned in 1889, and the
settlement removed to spot about six
leagues southwark and three miles from
the volcano of San Salvador, where it
stood till'its destruction in 1854, when
its 10000 inhabitants were rendered
houseless by the earthquake. Seeing the
danger Of the situation, the government
removed the capital and laid out new
city ten miles nearer the sea, and
to be called Nuevo San Salvador
but so many Of the inhabitants
preferred the old spot that in
1865 il was again made the seat Of gov
ernmeat. There is no other place on
the surface Of the globe in which 30
many volcanoes, both live and extinct,
are crowded together within so small a
space as they are in Central America,
that is, in the region between the 18TH
mus of Tehauantepec and the Isthmus
OF Panama. They are all on the Pacific
coast, running almost in right line due
northwest and southeast, commencing
with the lofty volcano Of Cartago, in
Costa Rica In this line there are sew
eral hundreds of peaks and extinct
craters, of which ten or eleven are
active, and thus probably save the
country from more earthquake shocks
than it has. In San Salvador, the
smallest, but in proportion to its area
the most densely populated of all the
Central American republics, are the vol-
canoes of Amapala, San Salvador,
Cooking down upon the city now de-
stroyed), San Miguel, San Vicente,
Isalco, (which was formed within the
last hundred years., Paneon and Santa
Anna. The whole country is subject to
earthquakes, and the houses are built in
the best way to avert danger from such
phenomena; they cover a large area,
and are but one story in hight. Some
times q volcano bursts out and the
earthquake accompanies it with almost
unheard of violence, as in the great
eruption of Cosiguina, In Nicaragua, in
1885, when ashes we're thrown all over
Central America, and the shocks were
felt over an area having a radius Of
1900 miles. In the earthquake which
destroyed the city of San Salvador, in
1854, but few lives were lost, as the ca
tastrophe came during the day. tits i'm.
possible to believe, although the tele-
graph dispatch leaves the question un-
touched, that the earthquake which has
again demolished the capitol did not
take place at night, when the inhabitants
were buried in sleep, for otherwise so
many lives could not have been lost.
At the time of the disaster the city con-
tanned between 10000 and 10000 inhab-
itants. 1t was situated on plain be-
meath the volcano, and covered an area
haviag q radius of about two miles.
The houses, with the exception of the
churches and Government Palace, were
of brick and stone, strongly built, and
having but one story each. They were
between fifteen and eighteen feet high,
covered with tiles, and each extended
over space such as would be occupied
by about four of our houses. The streets
were narrow, being rarely over thirty
six feet wide; the sleeriES apartments
of the houses were large, and the beds
generally placed near the walls. When
an earthquake takes place in daytime
the people have ample time to run
into the streets and thus escape
danger, but at night sudden shock
more than ordinarily severe might cause
the walls to fall in upon them, or the
beams and tiles to drop down and crush
them in their beds. 1t was in all prob
ability thus that the 800 whose death is
announced met their fate. Suddenly
beneath the ground was a noise like the
discharge of artillery, then a creeping
together or sundering of the earth, chill
ing the marrow in their bones, and then
the crash of the tumbling walls upon
them. 1t is probable that the churches
were left standing, as such buildings are
erected in Central America with speoia
reference to the nature of the country
the walls are extremely thick and heavy
and the edifOes ere not very high. The
Government Palace was two stories il
hight and was a beautiful structure. The
earthquake will probably fully settle the
question that San Salvador is not the
proper place for the capital land in these
republics the capitals nearly everything
in point of government and genera
business), which will heneeforth occupy
some less dangerous situation. 1t is moi
impossible that the great conhagratior
which followed the earthquake may have
been caused by the gaseous exhalation'
which at such times often come from the
earth, or by 6res issuing from cracks il
the earth's surface.