The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-10-31
THE SMYRNA EARTHQUAKES.
The Loss of Life and Property Much Greater
than First Reported.


recurring succession of shocks in all direc-
tions from this city, making acircle of earth
qUakes of which Co%nstantinople was the geo.
graphical center. Yet the center has not
been shaken in the slightest degree. The re-
ports which have been brought every day by
Arabs from the desert, Christians on their
tours, and sailors coming in on ships. have
created considerable alarm here, and some
of the inhabitants of the city nave made
preparations for hasty flight from the sec
tions where buildings are put up close to-
gether. There seems to be little ground for
fear thst any disaster will result here from
the earthquake. the shock seems to have
followed the mountain chain, extending
from Java beneath the sea, and through
Asia Minor and thence on to the south
ern part of Russia, continuing westward
through southern Europe to Gibraltar
and the SeacoaSt. The dispatches sent from
here by the agent of Reuters Telegram Com
pany about the disaster have been meager
and unsatisfactory. Those wired to the Cen
trail News were somewhat fuller but neither
have given any idea OF the real extent of the
earthquake and the enormous damage to
property resulting therefrom. Rumors have
OOCl L AlOlC Olob OCNCtC IA iN thoh
have been felt in Europe the past week, and
it is thought that if such occurred, as is
considered highly probable, they have been
caused by the great eruptions in Java, which
seems to have been the terrible beginning of
a phenomenal long series of similar disasters
which AVE not vet reached their height.
Hundreds of Europeans and Americans are
coming in from all over Asia Minor,
and some from other sections, all
frightened by the earthquakes, and
flying in for their lives. Advices from
Smyrna say that all through Anatolia the
inhabitants have been leaving their homes
and seeking places of greater safety; and
that their fears were well grounded the de-
velonments of the last forty-eight hours
show. On Saturday night the shocks, which
have been of daily occurrence for the past
fifteen days, became quite severe, and before
daylight nearly all the people in the shaken
districts had left their homes for the open
country. As soon as the sun came up the sky
became suddenly overcast, and great black
clouds rolled up from the east with great
rapidity, in a few moments forming q conf
plete canopy where there had been clear blue.
There was a very sudden depression of the
barometer, and many animals and birds be-
came alarmed and too quick fight. Then
the vibrations began to increase in violence
and frequency. Ten clearly defined shocks
are said to have occurred before 8 o'clock.
The waves then became almost continuous,
extending from northeast to southwest.
As thG' continued, building after build
ing tottered, and about II O'clock, at
which hour shocks for some unexplained
reason are always most severe. there came a
most tremendous crash and the entire de-
struction of the city seemed imminent. The
walls of Smyrnich, which have been stand
ing since the time of the crusades, were COM
pletely demolished. With them, many of
the remains of ancient SMYRNA haye been
AocfrOvad IN tho oaStla Hill oO,,,a froea,anN,
of ancient columns were thrown Town and
smashed into small pieces, and many of the
handsome monuments in the great Turkish
cemetery were also broken. The remainder
of the old walls built around the old castle
on the hill are gone, and the remains of the
castle itself are now only a heap of marble
fragments and small stones. The relics of
the temple within the castle Enclosure are
now destroyed, and the staviium in which
st. Polycarp suffered nartyrdom is lost to
sight. Columns, busts, cornices, and other
architectural fragments built into the walls
of the Turkish town are broken into bits.
The ruins of the Antique Mosque, said to
have been the primitive church of Smyrna,
which stood without the castle walls, have
fallen. Some distance to the south of the
city the ancient aqueduct which crosses
the Meles river, and which is con-
nected intimately with the memory of
Homer, is entirely destroyed. The palace of
IldDZOOIudT, Vie dSIld, II II TulUS. vi al
the mosques and churches in the city only
one is left standing uninjured. Ali the
others have been either entirely or partially
destroyed. The large Roman Catholic cathe-
dral. which was somewhat damaged two
weeks ago, is so much injured that it will re-
quire fences to put it in repair. All the mis-
sion houses have been almost completely
ruined, and the missionaries in Constantine
ople and elsewhere will have to contribute to
the support of their brothers in distress I'M
til relief can be had from England and
America. The British military hospital is
shaken down, but the few patients under
treatment there had been removed before the
great crash came. OF the many coffee-houses
near the Caravan bridge, over the Meles, only
two are left standing. The office oil the
French newspaper is completely ruined, and
the publisher will be unable to resume bust
ness. The stations along the line of the
Smyrna and Alden railway are all in ruins,
and the tracks are twisted into such shapes
that it is thought new lines will have
to be run. The iron palisade surrounding
the barracks on the shore is thrown down,
and the barracks themselves are very badly
damaged. The loss of life in Smyrna was not
great-probably not over 125 persons-owing
to the absence of so many of the inhabitants
from the city, and the precautions taken for
instant flight by those bold enough to stay
until the last. Some $50 people were injured
while making their escape, but only a few
seriously. The destruction of property and
life in the outlying country and districts re-
mote from Smyrna has been very large. All
along the western coast of the peninsula,
which presents as jagged and irregular an
outline as any in the world-in many re-
spects very much resembles the opposite
shore OF Greece-the shocks were so severe
as to change the formation of the land in
many places. Some of the deep bays, with
bold projecting peninsulas and islands,
have been almost filled up by
great land slides, which came tearing down
the steep declivities into the water, sweep
ing before them every habitation. Cos
island, Samos, Metelin and Lisbos, all a few
miles off the western coast of Anatolia, in
the Kgean sea, were all severely shaken up,
and there was large loss of life and property
on Samos and Lisbos, while the other two
suffered much less. One of the most curious
thinasn about this severe action of nature was