Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-10-14
The Destruction of Lisbon.

A WRITER in Ltppanc0tt's gives the fol-
lowing description of the destruction of
Lisbon in 1856:
The morning of Noy. dawned serene,
but the heavens were hazy; since mid
night the thermometer had risen one de-
gree, and stood at nine o'clock at fourteen
above freezing, Reaumur. AS it was the
feast of All Saints the churches were
thronged from an early hour, and all their
affairs brilliantly Illuminated with thou
sands of tapers and decorated with gar
lands 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 mere fancy
Three minutes afterward a second shock
occurred, SO violent that it seemed as if
the heavens and earth were passing away
This agitation lasted fully ten minutes,
and ere it diminished the greater portion
of the city was in ruins. The dust raised
obscured the sun; an Egyptian darkness
prevailed, and to add to the universal hor-
ror the fearful screams of the living and
the groans of the dying rose through the
air. III twenty minutes all became calm
again, and people began to look around
them and consider the best means of es-
cape. Some were for going to the hills,
but were soon discouraged from so doing
by the rumOrs that those who had already
gone thither were suffocating from the eff
fects of the dense fog of dust which still
rose from the falling buildings. Then
they rushed toward the quays which line
a part Of the Tagus, but only to learn the
horrible LEWIS 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!
in its center they beheld a whirlpool
which was sucking in all the vessels and
boats in its vicinity, and not a fragment
of them ever being seen again. The
royal palace had been entirely swallowed
up, and over its site is now the vast square
Of the Pace, or Black HoSse, one Of the
largest public places in Europe. The
great library of the Holy Ghost was in
flames, and its priceless Moorish and He .
brew manuscripts fast becoming ashes.
The opera-house had fallen in, the Inqui-
sition was no more, and the great church
of San Domingo was but a heap of stones,
beneath which lay crushed to atoms the
entire congregation. The Irish church Of
st. Paul was the death-place Of 1000 per-
sons, and the palace of Bemposta, where
Catharine of Braganza, widow of Charles
II, lived and died, had fallen over from
the heights on which it was built, and ut
terly 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. AS to
the people, who can describe their condi-
ton? AT least 10000 persons had per-
ished, and the majority of the survivors
were cruelty 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, and fanatics, believ-
ing the last day had come, cried out to the
horror-stricken multitude to repent, for
that Christ was coming to judge the quick
and the dead.'