Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1881-04-21
Agents for the "Teller."
THE CHIC EARTHQUAKE.
4 SAD SCENE OF DEVASTATION AND DEATH
THIRTY THOUSAND vI.,TIMs.
CONsTANTINOpLE, April 9.

CoNsrANTlNopLE, April 9.
A correspondent at Chic telegraphs,
under date Of the 7th, as follows
have just arrived here from CONSTANT.
nople, and find picture of desolation
such as is rarely witnessed. The town
looks as if it had been terribly bonn
barded. Hundreds of houses are trans
formed into shapeless masses of ruins,
under which lie buried an unknown
number of victims. A majority of the
remaining houses are cracked and roof
less, and may fall any moment. Nearly
every building in the town suffered
more or less. The inhabita nts wander
about searching for missing relatives for
lost property buried, but are afraid to
risk their lives in 'he perilous work of
clearing away 'he rubbish. Many who
are wiling to expose themselves to dan
ger are prevented by friends or by the
police. Fear, grief and despair are de-
picted on nearly every face. Nearly
all have had some sad or tragic tale to
tell. The first shock was felt Sunday
afternoon at about half past 10 o'clock.
Immediately houses began to fall, and
wild shrieks were heard everywhere
Then followed an awful silence for some
minutes. The terrified survivors grad
ually ventured into the narrow lanes
and reached the open spaces shortly af-
forwards. Another terrible shock COM
pleted the devastation. All night shocks
succeeded each other at short intervals.
and each one was preceded by dull
sounds like subterranean explosions
Since that, frequent shocks have been
felt.
"A 1e" moments ago, while writing
the present dispatch, l distinctly heard
an explosion and felt the earth tremble;
but, as l am under canvas, | have
nothing to fear. The old Genoese fort
ress, containing about 400 houses, in.
haoited by Musselmans and Jews, suf-
fered more than the rest of the town.
The ground there sank about half
metre, and nearly all the houses were
Immediately destroyed and several hun
bred persons must have persisted 1t
is known that about thirty Musslemen
women were assembled in one house.
not one OF whom escaped. The south.
ern part Of the island is said to have
suffered more than this town.
Her maiesty's gun vessel, Bittern,
arrived this morning. The captain at
once came ashore and after consulting
with the governor Of the island, organ
lied relief parties for attending the
wounded and extricating the dead from
the ruins. He then went over the
Chesme and made careful inquiries re-
garding the state of the town and the
inhabitants. Tomorrow he intends
visiting the southern part of the island
where less has been done for relief of
the sufferers. l visited Chesme this af. |
ternoon. Only about ten inhabitants
were killed, but many houses were in |
ruins and many more dilapidated. The
mayor assured me that three. fourths of |
the houses are in dangerous condi-
ton. The inhabitants are afraid to
live in those which are uniniured for
every night since sunday frequent
shocks have been felt. Nearly all pre-
fer to camp out. As the weather is
fine the hardship in this respect is not
great. 1t is said that throughout the
district not less than $4,000 people are
without shelter.
In Kastre the work of extricating
bodies and attending .he wounded is
progi essing satisfactorily, but sitting
odor in the vicinity Of many of the ru-
ms prevents operations. On the other
hand, some wonderful escapes have &C.
CURED. One woman was buried under
ruins 81 hours and at last was rescued,
having given birth in the meantime to
child. The child is dead, but the
mother is doing we'll.