, 1891-11-24
INTO DEATHS JAWS.
Terrible Upheavals of the
Earth Swallow Villages.
More Than a Thousand Human
Lives a Sacrifice.
An Awful Earthquake Again
Visits Ill Fated Japan.

of the most violent earth quakes that ever
occurred in this country happened Yester-
day. Hills heaved up and down, water
tumbled down a mass of RUNS. humans
were offered up as a sacrifice while the
earth trembled ~frigLtfully.
Up and down trains on the Tokaido
railway were just meeting at Gifu station.
the centre OF the disturbance, when the
first shock occurred. The shock was &C
companied by a rambling and the move
ment was so violent that people shipped
from their seats. For a moment they
thought a collision had occurred, but
looking out of the windows they beheld
the station in ruins and the water in a
%neighboring pond was dashing violently
from side to side. The rumbling move
ment continued and cracks from two to
three feet wide were observed opening
aud closing in all directions. volcanic mud
and ashes being thrown from some OF
them. Some of the passengers made their
way into Gifu and found it an immense
heap of ruins, many houses fallen, while
others were SO shattered that the
succeeding tremors of the earth
threw them down.
In almost every house some unfortunate
was buried and their chances of escape
we're greatly diminished by confaerations
in many places. The railway line was
too much damaged to allow the trains to
move and the passengers were accordingly
compelled to make way on foot to the
neighboring towns. The roads are almost
impossible BY reason of the assures and
landslides The town of Kano was found
wholly in ruins, not a house remaining
upright. Kasanatsu Jared a like fate,
every dwelling being a mass Of debris.
Every where the survivors we're digging
out the dead and wounded and fighting
against the coDfiagratious on all sides.
Many of the survivors, however, were so
paralyzed with fear they could only stand
staring at the scene of destruction.
AT lchinomya and kiyosu the people
managed to save a few mats and we're
preparing to pass the night In fields.
Throughout the day and night work of
carrying the wounded to Mar oya pro-
ceeded. a continual stream of bearers
passing along the railway, which was the
only available route. The inhabitants of
the ruined town say the first sensation
was the houses being raised and then
lowered from two to three feet. The fact
AboA - "a u IL "a vi NIC
earth's surface for a considerable area
about Giiu, indicates that the latter
town was the center OF the disturbance.
Very soon after the houses were thrown
down. and while hundreds of people we're
buried in The debris, flames burst from
the ruins of a silk factory, and in a short
time spread to such an extent the citizens
were compelled to desist IL their work of
] rescue.
The conflagration burned out in one di
r%ection, but three other fires soon break
ing out, soon Joined aud swept from street
to street, famed by a strong wind. This
was 2 o'clock in the afternoon and by 8 in
the evening almost every part OF the town
OF Gifu was wrapped in fire and the 10,
h%abitants, abandoning all hope OF staying
the conf1agration, saved what articles they
could and fled to the woods and hills. The
police, aided by the normal school stu
dents and prisoners from jail, fought the
fire all night, but it was not subdued I'm
til the forenoon mex day, when almost
the whole town was burned over.
The p0tteries in tho prefectures OF
Dwarf and Mino. great ccnters of porce-
lain manufacture in Japan, and Seto and
other towns were almost entirely de-
stroyed, and it was reported that there
WIS uO pEOsDtCt vi TtsumtuR the INDUSTRY
this year. The shock at Usaki was so
severe that scarcely a sound house was
left standing. with the exception of the
castle. The Cobo temple. belonging to
the Shin sect of Buddhists. was crowded
with worshipers when it fell, burying at
least fifty people. The RUNS took fire
and the shrieking victims were consumed
before the eyes of the Mortified onlookers.
A slight shock was felt at Nagerio the
night of Sunday, Nov. %. Wednesday
morning, while forty Christians we're as
sembled IN one of the buildings of a
Methodist school, the building began to
to totter and the worshipers fled. One
Christian and his wife were killed, and
two Japanese were fatally injured. Mr..
and Mrs. Van Dyke, missionaries, and
one other white person were dangerously
hurt. Out of doors the city was in an
uproar Wild shrieks and indescribable
noises filled the air, while every few mo-
ments came a terrible thunder from the
angry earth. Manv streets are blockaded
with fallen houses. and others were
choked with the fleeing people. Thread
factories and large brick buildings caved
in, killing hundreds of people. The old
castle. despite its 400 years, stood firm.