Louisiana capitolian. (Baton Rouge, La.) 1879-1881, 1881-04-12

Details Gifts Terrible Ravaxes.

Ihave just arrived here from Con-
stantinople, and find q picture Of des-
olation such Us is rarely witnessed
The town looks as lift had been ter
ribly bombarded. Hundreds ofhouses
are transformed into d shapelass mass
of ruins, under which lie buried an
unknown number of vistims.
The majority Of the remaining
houses are already cracked and roof
less, and may fall at any moment
Nearly every building in the town
has suffered more or less. The in
habitants wander about anxious to
search for missing relatives and lost
property but are afraid to risk theil
lives in the peri1ous work of clearing
away the rubbish. Many who are
willing to expose themselves to dan
ger arc prevented by friends or the
police.
Fear, grief and dispair arc depict
ed on every face. All have some sad
or tragic tale to tell. The first shock
was felt on Sunday afternoon at
| about half-past one o'clock. imme-
diatcly the houses began to fall, wild
| shrieks were heard on every side, and
then followed an awful silence ofsomc
minutes. Terrified survivors gradu-
ally vcntured iuto a narrow lane and
reached open spaces.
Shortly afterward another terrible
shock completed the devastation,
when it remained quiet until sunset
when it again began to shake the is
land throughout as severely as before.
All night long shocks succeeded each
other ut short intervals, and each one
was preceded by dull sounds like sub
terranean explosions. Since that fire.
Quent shocks have been felt. A few
minutes ago, while writing the pres
ent dispatch, fydistinctIy heard an ex-
piosion like the sound and felt the
earth trembte, but as am under can
vas have nothing to fear. The old
Geonese fortress, containing 400
houses, inhabited by Musselmen and
Jews, suffered more than the rest of
the town, Ground there sunk about
half % metre, and nearly all the houses
were immediately destroyed and sew:
eral hundred persons must have per-.
ishcd.
About thirty hlussulmans, armed,
were assembled i'll one of the houses,
uol one whom escaped, The south
crn part inf the island is said to have
suffered more than this town. Her
Majesty's gun vessel Bittcrs arrived
here this morning.
The captain at once came ashore,
and af'erconsulting with the governor
Of the island, organized relief parties
for tending to the wounded and ex-
Treating bodies from the ruins. lie
then went to Chesm and made careful
inquiries regarding the state of the
town and its inhabitants. Tomorrow
he intends visiting the southern part
of the island, whereless has been done
for the sufferers.
visited the chasm this afternoon
only about ten inhabitants were killed
but many houses are in ruins and very
MANY more are dilapidated. The
mayor assured me that thrcc-guarters
Of the houses are in dangerous con-
dition. The inhabitants arc afraid to
live even in those which are uninjured
for ever since last Sunday frequent
shocks have been felt.
Nearly all prefer to camp out as the
weather is fine: the hardship in this
respect is not great. It is said that
throughout the district not less than
$4,000 people are without shelter. In
kostro the work of extracting bodies
and attending the wounded Is progress
sing satisfactorily, but the sitting odor
in the vicinity Of many Of the ruins
shows that the former operation is far
from complete.
On the other hand some wonderful
escapes have occurred. One woman
was buried under the ruins for fifty
1,,.. lo,,,,, .,,J 80 t,.I $780,, ..-a-... 4