The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-04-20
ANCIENT EARTHQUAKES.
Commissions Of the Earth Which
Have Killed Thousands.
China and Italy tho Countries Most Al.
fieted by tho Awful Uphcavals-
Whole Cities Completely
Overturned.


Overturned.
At Pellin, China, three hundred thou
sand persons were buried in II moment
in 1862, and one hundred thousand
again in the same city in 1881. The
earthquake at Lima on October 2S, 1916,
extended to Callao, and eighteen thou
sand persons persisted. This convulsion,
which spread along the coast two hun
drcd leagues, began about 1890 o'clock
at night. The noise, the shock and the
ruin took place in the space of only four
minutes. The day being one dedicated
to st. Simon AMI ST. Jude, the people of
Lima attributed to the agency of those
saints the fact that only eighteen thou
sand persons persisted out of popula-
ton of fifty thousand. Vast quantities
of gold, silver and jewels were buried
among the scvcnty-four churches and
the fourteen monastcrics The public
fountains were buried, the statues of
the Spanish kings crushed and the
streets barricadcd 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 gates OF
the five thousand inhabitants only
about two hundred escaped by clinging
60 timbcrs and pieces of wreck
The most tremendous earthquake of
modern times, according to the Chicago
Herald, was that of Lisbon, of Novcm-
Der l, 1895. The people had risen as
usual that morning. and looked out
upon Belein and the Tagus, the little
villas among the olive groves, the orange
trees, the bull ring, the hospitals. the
converts and the shops. In the seven
ty-five converts and forty churches of
Lisbon the bells had tinlllcd and the
early prayer had been said. The birds
were gayly singing their mathis in the
suburban gardens of Alcantara and
Campo Grandc. The blue sky gave no
omen of evil, and the river lay for mile
after mile smiling in the golden sun
light. Suddenly the city fell to pieces
like Il childrcna tower of cards Roofs
crushed in. arcadcs CAPPED in two, tow
crs fell, stccplcs snapped, palaces tot
tered. walls were lcvcled. The air grew
black with rising clouds of dust and
WAS filed with the crash of ccasc!css
destruction. At the same time, as If
the tcrrors of tie apocalypse had
broken ut last on Lisbon, the sea, agi-
tatcd to its depths by the awful convul-
sion, rose and spread over the shore
One of the quays also opened its darl,
jaws and swallowed, in an instant, six
hundred persons Who had taken refuge
on it. IL = minute or two more fresh
calamitics fell on the unhappy city, for,
the fires being hurled down among the
fallen timbcrs, cor0agrations broke out
in several parts Of the city. To add to
the general misery, thieves and muir
dcre-S, cSoapiug from the shattered
prisons, piundcred and robbed indis-
criminately One OF these villains con-
tossed to setting fire to the Indian house
and another to burning the ruins in
seven places. The earthquake con-
tinued with gentle, internitting trcm-
ors, felt even or the river, for eighteen
days. The first great shock convulscd
the earth for five thousand miles, over
eSnrncd many cities and never halted in
its tremendous march till it reached
Scotland. The year 1855 was very wet
and rainy. The summer was unusually
cool, and during the forty days proceed
ing the earthquake the weather was
clear but not remarkably SO. On the
day Immediately preceding the Garth
quake remarkable gloominess pre-
vailed, bat on the morning of the
fatal day the fog was dissipatcd
by the sun. There was no wind
nor the least agitation of the sea, and
the weather was remarkably warm.
This great earthquake of Lisbon, which
in q few minutes swallowed fifty thou
sand persons, had precursor in 1881,
when in the same city fifteen hundred
houses and thirty thousand persons
were destroyed, and several neighbor-
ing towns ingulfcd with all their popu-