Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1880-02-13
CUBAN EARTHQUAKES,
Lively Shaking Up OF San C.rlstobal..
Excitement Among SuperstitiOus Peo-


Excitement Among SuperstiliOus Peo-
pie.
Havana Cable Special to New YORK Herald.
The recurrent earthquake shocks in
Vuelta Abaio and Havana have thor
oughly alarmed the timid inhabitants
of western Cuba. Towards 5 o'clock
OH the morning OF Sunday, Jan 18th,
a slight oscillation in this city
reused comparatively few from their
slumber. Later sinister heave tossed
people from their pillows, and caused
no little CONSERVATION. These recent
tremors have been multiplied at certain
points of the interior, where on the
night of the 18th three shocks are re-
corded, at 8, II and o'clock. FIR. m
Sun Diego, Santiago, de Las Vegas,
Pinar del Rio, Cienfuegos, Mariel and
elsewhere come accounts Of earth
quakes and public terror, monopolzing
the press to the exclusion of other mat
| ter.
San Cristobal, the apparent center of
disturbance, is q town of about 1000
inhabitants and 100 houses. 1t is sew
enty-fve miles from Havana and seven
teen miles from Majana bay, on the
south coast. A visit discloses the fact
that the conclusion there last Thursday
night nearly tumbled the place to ruins.
The church stands tottering, with its
portico dismantled in front, its pillars
raised, its cupola awry, its windows
shattered and it's altar disturbed. The
priest escaped from his house while the
| nv, llo yuara E., llipo Tho tn1aUro h oA3oo
is half demolished. The government
and municipal buildings are untenable.
A drug store, which was large and
heavily stocked to supply the surround
ing country, is cracked in the interior
and strewn deep with debris from the
now empty shelves.
A primitive and cumbersome Jail,
filled with prisoners and their guards,
is dismembered in every part. The
presence of mind OF the inmates was
unique. The prisoners instantly
leaped for liberty, and the guards as
promptly interposed. One convict was
shot dead after emerging through a
crevice made by the earthquake, and
bursting open of an outer door. Three
guards were wounded in the melee.
Fourteen Others Of the inmates are in
the hospital with injuries sustained
from falling beams and masonry. The
dwellings suffered on a line distinctly
traceable through the town intersecting
the foregoing building, though most of
them were badly built of adobe.
An American from Portland, Maine,
was crushed under his own kitchen
chimney. A small stream runs past
San Cristobal, and the railroad bridge
that spans it had its foundation so
shaken that trains now cross at q snail
like pace until the repairs have been
made. On the verge of this stream
several assures are discernible, being
from three TO ten inches wide, and from
forty to one hundred feet long. Some
of them are of considerable depth. The
inhabitants aver that on the morning
after the earthquake these assures
emitted sulphurous vapors, and that
the stream itself was strongly impreg.
mated with sulphur and salt. A military
guard and q committee of engineers
were dispatched to San Cristobal by the
government, and their decision is I'M
derstood to be that no injured structures
shall be repaired, but all Aust come
down and be rebuilt. Meanwhile
scores of residents are leaving the spot
that is now deemed to be accursed.
The wildes. theories are rife, based on
superstitions three centuries old. In
the country dozens of influences are
held to be accountable, while ia Havana
| the New York Gas company's fresh
trenches are denounced by negro
preachers, who prophesy y speedy
apocalypse, proceeded by swallowing
up in the earth. The captain general
and his army are in the middle Of the
island. The government has taken
measures of temporary relief for those
who have been excluded from their
homes at San Cristibal and elsewhere.