The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-11-06

ing, the anchor smashed 2 stone balcony
into pieces and sank deep into the stone
pavement below.
Further details of the explosion and
destruction are still lacking, owing TO the
fact that telegraph communication with
that point has not been renewed, and
none of the local newspapers have been
able to appear since the disaster. Private
letters, owing to the panic prevailing,
have not reached the city from Santander,
and but few private kilograms have been
transmitted.
Santander was lately among the most
prosperous towns in Spain, but the dis
aster which has overtaken it will take
many years to repair.
THE WHOLE COUNTRY INDIGNANT.
The whole country is indignant at the
criminal conduct of the captain and crew
of the Cabo Machichaco, as well as the
criminality of those who shipped the
cOntraband 4S0 case, of dynamite, the
general opinion being that the govern
ment must take immediate steps TO pun
ish the people who shipped the dynamite,
as the death of the captain and crew Of
the dynamite steamer is but poor COM
pensation to the thousands of victims for
the destruction caused by their criminal
ity in the city of Santander.
The explosion of the dynamite lifted the
sea into the air like a waterspOut, ming
ling enormous quantities of mud and
stones with the wreckage and hurling
them for great distance on every side.
THE STORY OF AN EYEWITNESS.
An eyewitness of the terrible disaster
says that the dynamite on board the
Cabo MachichacO was concealed under
the iron which formed portion of her
cargo. The fire, the eyewitness referred
TO, says, is believed 10 have originated
in some packages of skins which were
crammed into the steamers bunkers.
When the fire broke out, still according
to the story told by this person, the cap
tam of the transatlantic steamer AlfOnZo
XII, ordered his steam launch to be low
cred and manned by nearly all his officers
and crew, who he sent to the assistance
OF the burning steamer. The steam
launch with the crew Of the Alfonso XII,
on board, arrived along side the Cabo
Machlchaco just moment before the
latter vessel blew up, and consequently
they were blown to atoms with the crew
of the dynamite steamer.
LIKE AN EARTHQUAKE.
Continuing, he says: 1.-The explosion
was like an earthquake. A shower of
burning fragments fell upon the houses,
which were already tottering, crushing
in the roofs, while heavy pieces of iron
were hurled through the walls of the
houses with the violence of cannon shots.
The houses were Immediately ignited by
the blazing timbers and the people who
were not killed rushed in terror into the
streets, where a number of them met
death, or were wounded by the falling
houses. Others ran in terror from the
scene, and hundreds, wild with fear,
abandoned the city and ran into the fields,
shrieking Historically and tearing their
hair with fury. A number of the most
frenzied people ran from Santander into
the neighboring villages, spreading, in
incOherent words, the news of the disas-
ter, refusing to return to the Inflated
city, even when assured that all danger
was over.
HIDEoUs SEARCHES.
"Others after recovering from thelshock
haStened to the scene of the disaster, in
order to search for missing relatives, who
they believed had met death through the
explosion. On reaching the scene they
found the quays and adjacent territory
strewn with bodies mangled and black
ened into an unrecOgnizable condition.
The wounded were also lying about every
where, and their shrieks and groans were
heart-rending.
words cannot describe the awful
scenes amid those burning ruins and on
that death-strewn ground, rendered more
hldeous by the agoniZing cries of the
wounded. Many bodies We're torn to
shreds by the terrible explosion.
MORE TERRIBLE STILL.
t'The scene became more terrible still,
when the relatives Of the dead, wounded
and missing came staggering with horror
to the spot in order to search for the re-
mains of those they loved. The re-
latives of those who escaped knelt by the
side of their wounded friends and lifting
up their hands to heaven, thanked God
for their escape from au awfnl death.
Then again, the cries OF those who
found among the ruins or among the
heaps Of killed and wounded, one or more
members of their families, blackened in
death, were horrible to listen to, and loud
and fierce were the curses hurled at the
authors of this sickening calamity.
MANY of the searchers only recognized
parts of the clothing of those who were
killed, and one unfortunate was identi-
fed by his watch, which had stopped at
the moment of the explosion,
MIRACULOUS ESCAPES.
There were many miraculous escapes
from death. For instance, one man was
thrown great distance by the explosion
and vet he was only slightly injured by
the shock sustained through the fall.
Another man was thrown into the sea
by the force of the explosion, and though
the disaster occurred at about 4 80 o'clock
D. m, this man was rescued from the
water at 10 o'clock the same night, be-
numbed and stupefed, but alive
"On Saturday morning, following the
awful night of fire and death, a number
of people who had been shocked into
state of insensibility or madness, were
found hiding beneath the ruins.
Crowds of orphans yesterday gath
cred at the town hall bewailing their lost
mothers or fathers and asking for assist
ance in the search they had been making
among the ruins for the bodies of their
loved ones.
''For long time to come the city Of
Santander will need assistance from
other cities, in order to succor the home
less and wounded, to bury the dead and
to repair, as far as possible, the damage
done by the awful dynamite upheaval.
HUNDREDS DRIVEN INSANE.
"The number of people who have lost
their senses through the explosion is very
great, and it is openly asserted that
hundreds of people have completely gone
out OF their minds and will have to be
confined into asylums for the remainder
of their lives.
"Mandez Nunez street is completely de-
stroyed, and a number Of adjoining sec
tions of the city have suffered terribly
and are in ruins.
"a father who was carrying his crippled
daughter upon his shoulders, was injured
nv FRAGMENTS which fell from a fotfaripor