The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-11-24

Further Particulars of That Great Catastro-
phe by Eye witnesses.

SAN FBAScsoo. CAL. Nov. 23.-The
steamer China arrived from Hong Kong and
Yokohama this morning bringing details Of
the great earthquake that occurred in Japan
on october 18th. The shock was first felt in
iokohAme about GAO o'clock IN the morning,
but no serious damage was done in the city
proper The motion OF the shock is said 10
have continued tor seven minutes its drec-
ton being ca and west On the morning of
the zstn news OF an alarming character was
received.
IL was learned that the Post and Telegraph
in Nagoya, large brick building. had been
thrown down by the shock. and that three Of
the stan were crushed 10 death and five were
wounded by the falling mass From the
oIy OF Nagoya itself came the yet more
appalling intelligence that five hundred
people had been killed and many thousands
wounded, and that great majority OF the
houses had been destroyed or damaged. In
one cotton mill alone one hundred lives are
SAID 10 nave been lost In GiIu and Ogaki.
the former town Of 1000 inhabitants,
nearly all the houses were destroyed by fire
that broke out after the shock
The Japan Mail SAYS 1T was naturally ex-
pected that the account first received OF the
damage done by the earthquake would prove
u be exaggerated. but. unfortunately. the
opposite appears 20 be the fact. Hitherto the
records have shown that the most serious
loss Of life occurred in Aichi Prefecture,
the figures for which were Killed. 2,19O. in
Jured, 2.f7l houses totally destroyed 50, $40.
houses partially destroyed 5.69l. But the
latest repo + show that the worst results
were in the Gifu prefecture"
A telegram from Ogaki, dispatched in the
afternoon OF the 3lst. says: "Of4 4.434 houses
constituting this town $3.50 are completely
over thrown and 160 are partially ruined Fire
has destroyed l.473. The number OF persons
Killed Is l4l, the number severely injured $40
and the number slightly injured 750" IL will
be seen from this that houses spoken
Ct as burned are included in the category
Of those completely OyerihrOwn. Doubtless
houses said 10 be partially ruined are too
much shaken 10 he inhabitated at any rate SO
long As the shocks of earthquake continue. IL
would follow therefore that out of 4 .43g
hou- es constituting the town only 1l9 escaped
without injury.
APPALLING as IS the magnitude Of this
still more terribeis the report which
comes from Gifu prefecture as & whole.
- telegram dispatched IN the afternoon of
the lst instant gives the number OF killed in
the whole prefecture as 3 900. the number
wounded 1900 aud the total number Of
houses destroyed $4,000 10 lG.0OO. They
are evidently approximations, but that
they are much exaggerated can scarcely
be hoped, when we remember that IN addition
10 the destruction wrought IN the towns OF
Glfu and Ogaki, and the smaller towns of
lchnOmya. kyOsu. kasamatsu and Iakegi-
ltana are said 10 have been wiped out alto
,ether If we accept the returns a. fairly
"a curate. it VIII result that the deaths IN the
two prefectures of Aichi and Gifu aggregate
between seven and eight thousand. that the
number of injured is nearly O.OOO and that
he houses totally destroyed are about 10 0OO.
Many entombed IN the ruins of the houses
are said TO have been roasted TO death. Out
IF 200 temples in Gifu more than One-third
are totally destroyed and of twenty five tenn
)les in the town of Ogaki only three escaped
lnnjured.