Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-04-08
The Destruction OF San ChristObal,
Mexico, by an Earthquake.

A GuADALAJARA letter. to the New
York Herald contains the following ac-
count, given by a correspondent, of the
destruction in February last of Mexi-
can town by an earthquake: o'gs Gf
San Christobal is situated, or rather
was situated, at the bottom of the beau
tiful valley which crosses the greater
part of the north of this State, the
waters of the Grand River nearly touch
ing the foundation walls of our houses,
and was most picturesque place, for
the high rocks upon the opposite side OF
the valley and in front of us appeared,
hanging over our heads We lived tran
GULLY, for our commerce was not great,
and earthquakes in former years had
never been severe with us and had &C.
casioned us no alarm. a..
On the 18th inst..,S at 8:25 p. M, a
rumbling sound came from the earth be-
meath us, the precursor of a tremendous
earthquake. The animals instinctively
manifested their surprise; the dogs
howled, the horses turned down their
ears and sLorted, the cattle8which were
lying down jumped up terrified and as
sumed their attitude when fearing to be
eaten up by wolves; all were pre-.
pared for the danger which was
about to come upon them. An instant
afterward came another subterraneOus
rumbling, and then began the catas-
trophe. The earth swung back and
forth from the northeast to the south
east, rapidly succeeded by oscillations
from the east to the west; it seemed, SO
to speak, that the earth had been
wounded by some electric shock. A
frightful whirlwind followed after
which all was confusion. Even the river
itself seemed to be frightened, dashing
from side to side, its current being lost.
l happened to be in the edge of the
town and proceeded toward my home,
but the rapid movement of the earth
threw me down twice, and moment
afterward was immovably. fixed by a
terrible noise occasioned by the falling
of the houses and the doleful screams of
nearly all the inhabitants. A cloud of
dust covered the whole town and the air
Was suffocating. a
ran with precipitate haste toward
the spot where my house stood, meeting
in the way a number of men and women,
many Of them but partially dressed,
wildly gesticulating, alternately calling
upon God to have mercy upon them and
making use of certain superstitious ora
tons. Ny heart almost sunk within me
as / rushed forward in the hope of see
ing my family, for, to add to the horrors
of the scene. the groans of many per-
sons tended to prove that each heap of
ruins would also be a sepulchre. Ar
irving at the spot where my house was
found but heap of rubbish. / called
Justify, so as to ascertain if possible if
there was anyone alive beneath, but
received no response / then ran off to
another part of the town, and there dis
covered that my family, fortunately,
were away visiting at the time
the house fell, and were thus
saved from destruction. After
some hours had been lost the work of
searching for friends and relatives known
to be beneath the ruins was commenced;
but it is impossible at this time to state
exactly how many persisted, partly be-
cause great many people took to their
heels and ran into the forest, and partly
because the darkness prevents perfect
search for the bodies. So far, in few
hours, thirty-seven bodies have been
dragged out. .F0&2A2a 4sA sta.
1t is reported from Ahuacatian that
little while before the earthquake was
felt, the volcano of Ceboruco was COW
cred with reddish clouds, and that con-
tinued subterranean noises were heard.
At ten O'Clock at night there was
shower of sand which lasted for more
than five minutes. ss
- At a quarter past eight yesterday morn
ing the volcano of Ceboruco was OBJ
served to be. throwing out fire with great
activity.