The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1878-01-01
Earthquakes.

SOME GREAT SHAKES WHICH RATHER
EXCEEDED THE RECENT INVITATIONS
IN CANADA. NEW ENGLAND AND THE
MISSOURI VALLEY.
On Thursday morning. Lisbon was
visited by two shocks Of earthquake,
which were. happily attended with
harmless consequences The telegram
of our correspondents announcing the
Intelligence states that beds and far.
niturs ratified. and . rumbling noise
like the passing of heavy artillery Vas
heard" Beyond these alarming symp-
toms. We do no. hear Of sny serious
result from tine recent convulsion Of
nature, bat Lisbon hss not always es-
caped so lightly There 10 probably no
city in the world IN whilh easthquskes
have hsppsned - ofteT 81 s.ussa ths
destruction OF life and prooerty on
scale 50 indiscribably awful as in the
Portuguese capital. The history of the
place is in every respect romantic.
Like Rome. it is said to be built on
seven hills. though the separate outline
OF each of these elevations cannot be
traced without the aid of vivid imsgi.
nation The historians OF Lisbon, in
harmony with a prevailing tendency
shown by writer's Of the Iberian PENN.
suls in general. ascribe to the city IN
incredible antiquity. some of them actu-
ally claiming . great grandson of Abrs-
ham As its founder about Ave thousand
years ago But whether its origin was
Hebrew, or, as Homeric students con.
tend, is derived from Ulysses, its de-
velopment has been pre-eminently Of .
chcquered character. From its original
inhs bitants, the Tentuli. the city passed
under the successive rule OF PhGnicans.
Carthagenians, aud Romans. Probably
owing to the beauty of its site, which
challenges comparison with that Of Ma
pies. and the acknowledged geniality
Of its climate. Lisbon received from
Julius Caesar the suggestive appellstiOn
Of "Felicitas julia" and the privileges
of q muaicipium. With the rest of the
Roman empire. it was conquered by the
VaniSls early in the fifth century.
Three centuries later it was captured by
the Moors, and it WAS subsequently
pillaged by northern hordes. destroyed
by Ordono III. Of Leon; seized. with
the aid of crusaders. by Alfonso l.;
bsseiged by Henry H., Of CASTLE, by
John. . sovereign Of the same Spanish
dynasty, afterward by the Duke of
Braganza, and nearer our own times by
the French. Not the least memorable
of the peaceful events witnessed by its
inhabitants were the departure aud
return Of Vasco de Cana and Gsbral en-
their renowned voyages of discovery.
1t is. however, as . city against
which the internal forces Of nature have
conspired with unparalleled frequency
and fury that Lisbon is populsrly
known in other countries. With the
memory Of previous disasters from the
same cause. extending back more than
eight hundred years, it was hardly to
be expected that the recent shocks
would not excite considerable alarm
among tho population. Between the
years 1908 and 1l46 three cases OF earth
quake occurred. In 1856 the visitation
was repeated with increased severity.
In 1873 the earth WAS convulsed ct
intervals of three successive days, when
twenty five hundred houses were de-
s.royed. and thirty thousand persons
persisted. In 1879 three streets were
destroyed. and in 1899 and 1922 the
earthquakes were marked by peculiar
violence. But it was on the first of
November. 1855. at 10 o'clock in the
morning. the weather being bright aud
serene. that the capital then in the
height Of its splendor. was overwhelm-
ed. in less than quarter Of an hour.
by tho most stupeudous catastrophe
recorded IN human annals. First there
was tremulous motion. 90 slight a.
to hsrdly attract attention. In two
minutes afterward the earth shook
with such violence that the houses
were split in every direction, and the
sun was obscurcd by the clouds of dust
which arose. At length the third and
most disastrous shock succeeded, which
laid the city in ruins in moment. An
eyewitness relates that ''the screams of
the living, the groans Of the dying. and
the profound darkness, increased the
horror" In twenty minutes the silence
Of the grave reigned over locality
which had shortly before been . scene
Of cheerful activity. But the havoc had
not yet reached its height. Fires broke
out in various quarters of the city. and
were famed by strong wind So
intent were the helpless survivors on
saving their lives that they left the
spreading flames 70 their course. On
the morning Of the 7th of the same
month, at o'clock. ell the terrors of
the previous week were repeated under
greatly aggravated circumstance. The
sea rose nine feet higher than the great.
cs, recorded river flood which bad ever
inundated Portugal. The affrighted
crowd conaregated on the banks Of the
Tagus were overtaken by huge wave.
and. with houses and streets, were over
whelmed in the act 6f endeavoring TO
escape. A vast throug of persons tied
for refuge from the falling ruins TO the
marble quay now known - the Frsca
&c Cowmercio. which suddenly sank
with the dense living mass collected
upon It, and not one OF the bodies ever
rose to the surface. Boats and vessels
crowded with wretched fugitives were
swept down by o whirlpool, and M
trace of them was ever found. The re-
suit of this abnormal movement Of ma
ture could not be confined within the
limits Of the locality in which It pro-
ducsd the greatest destruction. 1t ex-
tended to Morocco anl oue-half of Fex,
ineludtun swolva kl.os,ea n nd Y,aba vvna