The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-10-29
The Destruction of Lisbon.

A writer in Lippincott's gives the fol
lowing description of the destruction o
| Lisbon: The morning of November !
| dawned serene, but the heavens were
hay; since midnight the thermometer had
risen one degree, Reaunor. As it was
the feast of call saints" the churches
were thrOnged from an early hour, and
all their affairs brilliantly illuminated
with thousands of tapers, and decorated
with garlands of various tinted muslins
and thin silks. At a quarter of ten
| O'Clock the first shock was felt. 1t was
so slight that many attributed it to the
passage of heavy wagons in the street
and even to mere fancy. Three minutes
afterward a second shock occurred so
violent that it seemed as if the heavens
and earth were passing away. This agi-
| tation lasted fully ten minutes, and ere
it diminished the greater portion of the
city was in ruins. The dust raised OBJ
scured the sun; an Egyptian darkness
prevailed, and to add to the universal
horror the fearful screams of the living
and the grOans of the dying rose through
the air In twenty minutes all became
calm again, and people began to look
around them and consider the best means
of escape. Some were for going to the
hills, but we're soon discouraged from 50
doing by the rumOrs that those who had
already gone thither were suffocating
from the effects of the dense fog of dust
which still rose from the falling buildings.
Then they rushed towards the quavS
which line part of the Tagus, but only
to learn the horrible news that these had
sunk into the earth with all the people
and edifices upon them. Those who
thought to put out to sea were told to
look at the river, and 10 Lin its centre
they beheld a whirlpool which was suck
ing in all the vessels and boats in its vi
cinity, and not a fragment of them ever
being seen again. The royal palace had
been entirely swallowed up, and over the
site is now the vast square of the Pace,
or Black Horse one of the largest public
places in Europe. The great librar, OF
the holy ghost was in flames, and its
priceless Moorish and Hebrew manu-
scripts fast becoming ashes. The opera
house had fallen in, the inquisitiOn was
no more. and the great church Of San
Domingo was but a heap of stones, be-
meath which lay crushed to atoms the
entire congregation. The Irish church
of st. Paul was ths de2th-place of one
thousand persons, and the palace Of Benz
posta, where Catharine of BIaganza,
widow of Charles H., lived and died,
had fallen over from the heights on
which it was built, and utterly destroyed
the poor but pOpulous part Of the town
which lay beneath it. In a word, where |
but an hour since was Lisbon was now
nothing but desolation. Asto the people, |
who can describe their condition? At
least 10000 persons had persisted, and |
the majority of the survivors were cru
ely wounded and in agony of mind and |
body, Some went mad with fright, some
lost forever the power of speech; sinners |
went about confessing their secret crimes, I
and fanatics, believing the last day had |
come. cried out to the horror-stricken |
multitude to "repent, for that Christ was
coming to judge hequick and the dead"