The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1880-02-14

| A1dtouh, SdH. Ac.-4 Hc 4StUtfIHt
earthquake shocks in Vuelta Abaio
and Havana have thoroughly alarmed
the timid inhabitants of Western
Cuba Toward 5 o'clock on the
morning of Sunday, the 25th, slight
oscillation in this city reused com
paratively few from slumber. Later
q sinister heave tossed people from
their pillows and caused NO little con-
sternation. These recent tremors have
been multiplied at certain points Of
the interior, where on the night Of the
25th three shocks are recorded---at 81
ii and 2 o'clock. At San Diego.
Santiago de las Vegas, Pniar del Rio
Cienfuegos, Mariel and elsewhere
come accounts of earthquakes and
public terror, monopolizing the press
to the exclusion Of other matter. San
Cristobal, the apparent centre Of the
disturbance, is town of about q
Thousand inhabitants and one hundred
houses. 1t is seventy-five miles from
Havana and seventeen miles from Ma
jana Bay, on the south coast.
SAN CRIsToBAL in RUINS.
A visit discloses the fact that the
concnssion there last Thursday night
nearly tumbled the place to ruins.
The church stands tottering with its
portico dismantled in front, its pillars
RACED, its cupola awry, its windows
shattered and its altar disturbed. The
priest escaped from his house while
the walls were falling. The telegraph
Office is half demolished. The gov
ernment and municipal buildings are
untenable. A drug store, which was
large and heavily stocked TO supply
the surrounding country, is cracked in
the interior and strewn deep with de-
bris from empty shelves. A primitive
and cumbersome Jail, filled with pris-
oners and their guards, is dismembered
in every part. The presence Of mind
Of the inmates was unique. The pris-
oners instantly leaped for liberty and
the guards as promptly interposcd.
One convict was shot dead after
through crevico made by
The earthquake and bursting open an
outer door, Three guards were wound
cd In the melee. Fourteen others of
the inmates are in hospital with inju-
ries sustained from falling beams and.
THE PATH or THE EARTHouAKR.
The dwellings suffered on line dis
inctly traceable through the town, in
ersecting the aforementioned build
ngs and leaving others almost un-
harmed, though most Of them were
,adly built of adobe, An American
rom Portland, Me-, was nearly crushed
lnder his kitchen chimney. A small
tream runs past San Cristobal, and the
abroad bridge that spans 1t had its
foundations so shaken that trains now
ross at q snail like pace until repairs
an be made. On the verge Of this
tream several assures are discernible,
'eing from three to ten inches wide
nd from forty to one hundred feet
ong. Some Of them are of consider
bile depth. The inhabitants aver that
u the morning after the earthquake
hese fssures emitted sulphureous va
ors, and that the stream itself was
trongly impregnated with sulphur and
alt.
NEGRO supERsTTIoNa.
A military guard and committee Of
ngineers were despatched TO San Girls
obal by the Government, and their do.
ision is understood to be that no in
lred structures shall be repaired, but
] must come down and be rebuilt,
leanwhile scores Of residents are leav-
lg a spot that is now deemed 70 be
scursed, The widest theories arc
fe, based on superstitions three oen-
lries old In the country dozens Of
III Influences are held Ia Be accounts
%, while In Havana the New York
as Company's fresh trenches are de-
onnced by negro preachers, who
'ophesy q speedy apocalypse, preceded
4 swallowing up Of the earth, The
aptain General and his army arc ii
le centre Of the island, MsaE~hhS
e Government has taken measures at
mporary relief for those who have
zen excluded from their homes al San
ristobal and elsewhere,
THE TRUR C0Dn ar HnNnn - A man