St. Paul daily globe., 1893-06-12
EARTHQUAKES.
Commissions of the Earth Which
Have Killed Many Thousands.

COMMISSIONS OF the EafCn w niCn
Have Killed Many Thousands.
Chicago Herald.
At Pohin, China, 100000 persons were
buried in moment in 1862, and 100000
again in the same city in 1871. The
earthquake at Lima Oct. %. 1916, ex-
tended to Callao, and $4,000 per-
sons perished. This convulsion, which
spread along the coast 200 leagues, be-
gan about 10:30 O'Clock at night. The
noise, TIE shock and the ruin took place
in the space of only four minutes.
The day being one dedicated to st.
Simon and st. Jude, the people of Lima
attributed to the agencies of these saints
the fact that only $4,000 persons per-
ished out of a population of $4,000. Vast
quantities OF gold, silver and jewels
were buried among the seventy-four
churches and the fourteen monastTieS.
The public fountains were buried, the
statutes of the Spanish kings crushed
and the streets barricaded with fallen
| houses.
Callao was utterly destroyed, and
even its very shape was changed by
huge heaps of sand and gravel. AT the
moment of the earthquake the sea rose
mountain high and rolled on till it
buried the city and destroyed every
thing except the two great gats. OF
| the 5000 inhabitants, only about 200 eS-
| capped by clinging TO timberS and pieces
of wreck.
The most tremendous earthquake of
| modern times was that of Lisbon, of
Nov. 1. 1855.
The people had risen rs usual that
morning, and looked out upon Belem
and the Tagus, the little villas among
the olive groves, the orange trees,
| the bull ring, the hospitals, the con-
| vents and the shops. In the seventy
| five converts and forty churches OF
| Lisbon the bells had tinkled and the
early PRAYER had been said. The birds
were gayly singing their mathis i'll the
| suburban gardens of Alcantara and
Campo Grande. The blue sky gave no
omen of evil, and the river lay ton mile
| after mile smiling in the golden sun
| light.
Suddenly the city fell to pieces like
| children's tower OF cards. Roofs
crushed in, arcades gaped in two, tow
| ers fell, steeples snapped, palaces tot
| tered, walls were leveled. The air grew
black with rising clouds of dust and
was filled with the crash OF ceaseless
| destruction. At the same time, as If
the terrors of the apocalypse had broken
at last on Lisbon, the sea, agitated to Its
depths by the awful conyulsiOn, rose
and spread over the shore. One of the
| quays also opened its dark jaws and
swallowed in an instant 600 persons
| who had taken refuge Oh it.
| In minute OF two more fresh calam-
tiles fell on the unhappy city, for. the
| fires being hurled down among the
| fallen timbers. confiagratiOnS broke out
in several parts of the city. 10 add to
the general misery thieves and mur-
| derers, escaping from the shattered
| prisons, plundered and robbed indlS-
criminately. One of these villains con-
fessed to setting fire to the Indian
house, and another to burning the ruins
in seven places. The earthquake con-
tinued with gentle, intermitting tre-
mors, felt even on the river, for. eighteen
| days.
The first great shock convulsed the
earth for 5000 miles. overturned many
cities and never halted in its tremen-
dous march till it reached Scotland.
| The year 1755 was very wet and rainy.
The summer was unusually cool, and
| during the forty days preceding the
earthquake the weather was clear, but
| not remarkably so. On the day i'm
mediately preceding the earthquake a
remarkable gloominesS prevailed. but
on the morning of the fatal day the fog
was disslpated by the sun.
There was no wind nor the least agi-
tation of the sea. and the weather was
remarkably warm. This great earth
| quake of Lisbon, which in a few mill
utes swallowed $4,000 persons. had a
precursor in 1881, when in the same city
1900 houses and $4,000 persons were
destroyed and several neighboring
towns engulfed with all their pOpula-
! tionS.