Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-09-25
FLEEING IN TERROR.
Frightened by Repeated Earthquake
Shocks Thousands of People
DESERT THE CITY OF GRANADA.
Every House in Town of $4,000 Inhabi-
tants More or Less Shattered.
THE FATE OF POMPEII NOW FEARED.
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE p1srArcH.,

ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DIerArcHL
NEW YORK, September PA correspond
ent at Granada, Nicaraugua, writes as fol-
| lows concerning the recent remarkable
earthquakes in that locality:
There have been ominous warnings of con-
vulsions of nature going on under the surface
of portion of this fair country during the past
| several days, which has driven the people of
Granada from their homes, this locality being
the one in which the earthquakes, beginning
their rumblIngs on Sunday. have since resulted
in the injury of nearly every house of
the city of 5000 souls to greater
or less extent. Granada is built at
the base of the great volcano. Mombacho
which has been considered as extinct for CEN
turies. no eruption having taken place in it
since the discovery of the country. But there
Is now daily dread lest the long-closed crater
should open and bury the town in lava and
ashes. The first evidence of the earthquake
disturbance which has been gong on beneath
Granada was given Sunday, when one of the
fairest days of the year was broken in upon by
trembling OF the earth and an ominous
rumbling noise, as of distant thunder proceed
ing from the volcano. Several spells of trem-
bling were then felt but not any of them suffi-
cient to do harm to dwellings although 1t
SHOCKS WIDELY FELT.
heavy shock came on Monday morning
that caused great injury to nearly every house
of the city, and was felt at Managna. Rivas,
Masaya and the towns go and 20 miles distant
from the volcono Mombacho. Other shocks
equally as heavy followed. though no damage
has been done outside of this city, where there
is hardly house with walls uncracked or with
tile room uninjured and partly thrown into the
streets.
Arriving in the city in the midst of the panic,
your correspondent found that everyone was
making desperate efforts to leave the city
those who had not been able to get away by
railroad, carriage, or cart, or on foot to neigh
boring towns or haciendas. A common sight is
to see whole families. headed by father or
brothers, carrying bundles of bedding and the
most necessary OF household goods. every men,
ber bearing part of the burden. Those who
have been unable to get away have passed the
nights sleeplessly and fearfuly on cots placed at
doorways, in the streets or public plazas, where
groups of campers are huddled together away
from the danger of falling walls. The vibra-
tions of the earthquake have been from north
east to southwest and those of the heaviest
kind have numbered half dozen, though the
minor tremblings have been innumerable.
While the one-story houses of adobe, mud
brick made with straw after the fashion Of
the ancient Egyptians. have been cracked
from ceiling to floor, it is a fact that the firm
masonry structures have also been injured. Of
this latter style there are many examples in
both bridges, churches and few dwellings.
The adobe brick, the popular building material
of Central American towns. has but little
adhesive power and the shakings of the earth
quake readily causes 1t to crack though the
walls are built thick and have a massive ap-
pearance.
TEN THOUSAND FUGITIvEs.
Up to the present time 10000 persons have
left the city by the railroad trains alone. the
Government running the trains out of town as
rapidly as the facilities will permit. In addr-
tion to that number 1000 have gone by other
means. seeking refuge in neighboring haciendas,
the railroad facilities having been insufficient
for the task of effecting an exodus. The depot
has been, and is even now, crowded with men,
women and children, the aged and infirm, the
invalid from bed Of sickness, with bundles of
bedding and most necessary clothes, urged
forth by the widest feaIs.Imany anxious to
get even room to hold on to the train to be
taken from the place.
On all hands the most pitifuI sights are seen
of those whose houses have been partly de-
stroyed, and as the quivering of the earth is
again felt and that ominous, distant rumbling
from the volcano is heard. the weak and help
less cast anxious glances toward the crater's |
crest to detect any beginning of the greater
calamity they fear, The population of the
city has now been reduced. it is estimated, to
3,000-the remains of city Of Is, 600 population
four days .ago Although the calamity has
been great enough, and caused great panic,
any deaths consequent upon the earthquake
shocks. The Government has done all In its |
power to keep order and prevent the punder- |
ing of the deserted houses. Two hundred |
soldiers have been sent here from Manaqua, |
and when any one is caught in the act of steal |
ing Justice is promptly administered in the |
form of flogging, there and then.
MIR. William Newell, the newly-appointed |
American Consul, was here to-day looking after |
the interests of several American young ladies'
Misses Frances A. and D. F. Caldwell, and Miss |
hn ara fao In fho
for young ladies here. There has been no Sc
we're shock for nearly 80 hours, and confidence
is being restored to an extent sufficient to per-
init the refugees to return for some of their |
valuables left in the hurried flight
DANGER FROM AN ERUPTION.
Mombacho, the volcano, which is looked
upon as the center of the upheaval. is about
3,00G feet high. and Granada is located at its
base, part of the town being built on the
lower portion of the slope and less than Is
miles from the crater. There are evidences of
a terrible eruption in the past, when the greater
quantity of the lava coursed down the vol |
canos slope to the centerjof Lake Nicaragua,
from the shores of which the peak rises. There |
are numberless little islands a short way from |
shore formed by the flow of lava. Should |
there be an eruption Granada would be doomed, |
even should the lava take a direction away |
from it. as the fall in ashes would be sufficient
to make the town uninhabItable. At present |
there is no active volcano in Nicaragua and |
but one in Central America. that being in Sal |
vador. Three years ago Ometepe. near the GEN. |
ter of Lake Nicaragua, ended in active state, |
and the last of the eruptions of Mornotombo, |
on the border of Lake Manaqua and near the |
capital. was seen less than two years ago in the |
form of thin column of smoke rising from its |
crater. Since then there has been in this coun-
try no volcanic eruption and no prominent |
Your correspondent left Granada to-day, |
taking the steamer across the lake and as full |
view of Monotombo was had from the ship.
several great landslides near the top of the |
peak were noticed giving evidence of the COM |
motion which had taken place there. Newly |
opened crevices were claimed to be seen by |
some. but this was not established. The in
formation regarding the landslides which
could not be seen from Granada was tele-
graphed to the city and will doubtless prolong
the exile OF the inhabitants even should no |
more shocks be felt for several weeks,