Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-11-16
VICTIMS NUMBER 1000.


Friday night show that the number of dead.
missing and wounded is fully 1900 The
people have not vet recovered from the cf-
fccts of the catastrophe, and are entirely
apnthctic paving no attention to business,
but standing about the streets discussing in
low tones the awful calamity which has be-
fallen the city. Men and women living
near the waterfront who providentially c,-
capped from the wreck of their homes can I've
seen standing in numbers near the huge
masses of debris which fiji the streets, wait
ing to recover the bodies of those known TO
be under the ruins.
The scenes in the ncighborhood of the
destruction wrought by the exploding dyna
mite are sad in the extreme, and whenever
n body. crushed and manGled beyond rcco&-
milton. is removed from the ruins a heart
rending vail goes up from women, who fear
that the shap"lesS mass of flesh may he all
that remains of one Of their loved ones.
There is no doubt that many of the dead
will never he identified.
Many of the dead werc buried Yesterday.
The h"adlc,, and mutilated body of the Mar
quiS de- Pomba was among them The ser
vices were attended by large crowds Of p"o-
pie and many distressing scenes werc wit
MESSED Many of the fragment. of bodic,
found near the quay were buried in com
mon grave.
the dINcf. who were employed to recover
the bodies in the bay have been so appalled,
at the numhcr of the dead and the grew
SOME appearance Of the corpse, that
thcv have refused to continue their
work. and have begged the officials
not to insist upon carrying ont their en-
gagcucnte. The authorities granted their
petition. and now men in boat, with Crap
ping irons are employed in searching for
the dead who were blown into the bay.
Some of the bodies show that death was
caused 10y drowning and not by the shock Of
the rNplos IA. il is believed that many
! person, were rendered partially unconscious,
/ by the explosion and their bodies thrown far
ont into the harbor They of course were
drowned. fer in the terrible confusion no
one thought of attempting to save the lives
Of those thrown into the water In fact
those near the scene were thrown into a
wild panic. and had no thought of saving
any ono hut themselves.
Lopez Loliga, a Spanish naval officer.
state, that when the fire broke ont ON the
! Cabo Machicaco. he. with number of
other officers, went alongside the steamer to
/ loud their aid in cXtinguishng the flames
! The commander of the port. finding that it
was impossible to fight the fire with the
!
! cr should hp lowed from the quay
and scuttlcl The fire spread so rapidly,
| however, that ii was impossible to
make towing lines fast to her. The com
mmder of the port then ordered that the
steamer be sunk alongside the quay. Her
! ,eG-cockS We're opened. allowing water to
flow into hcr, but the water entered slowly.
| The vessel began to sink 10y the head, but in
| the mean time the fire continued 70 spread
| aft. burning tiercely The captain Of the
steamer. Alfonso Xii, seeing that it would
take considerable time for the vessel 10 sink,
entered n launch with "A number of his men
! carrying tools to cut through the plates of
the Cabu Machicaco for the purpose of Civ
ing free access to the water.
At this time Senior l4origa left the quay
He pushed his way through the crowd.
which had gathered to witness the novel
spectacle OF q steamer ON fire, and was be
hind a cart, fifty yards from the quay, when
the explosion occurred. lie remembers
hearing a terrific roar and thea he fell
half stunned under the cart. He is sure
that the vehicle saved his life. for as he fell
a shower of rails, bars, ioists and other
wreckage passed through the air where he
had been standing moving down the spec
tators like blades of grass. The Cabo
Machcaco for an instant wa, lifted clear
out of the water The forward part of her
hull warped around and curved toward the
stern, and falling back into the bay, she
sank. The vessels lying near her hceled
over with immense holes blown in their
sides, and as they righted quickly filed and
| sank.
Senior Loriga adds that when he rcgained
fun possession Of his senses he found the
dead and dying lying around him in every
direction. Buildings around the water front
had been wrecked. and as he looked ne saw
Il number of them lettering to their fall. as
the frightened inmates. with terror pictured
ON their faces. sought to make their escape.
in some cases the fleeing inmates had almost
reached places Of safety, when hundreds of
tons of stone and brick came topping upon
them, and their cries of fcnr were suddenly
hushcd beneath the debris. The air was
= molnentarily darEened with clouds of dust,
and then long tongues of flame assembled
from the wrecked buildings AMI in fc,v
minutes the whole waterfront near the ex-
plOSiOn was a mass of fire.
The scene which followed battles desclip-
ton. The houses left standing had every
window smashed. Roofs. many of them of
tiles, had disappeared, and little except the
walls Of the houses was left standing Men.
: women and children. frantic with fear, ran
aimles'ly to and fro, crying. screaming and
wrinGng their hands heplessly The panic.
terrible in It's intensity. lasted for hours, ant
whom the people realized the full extent OF
3 the disaster which had befall,n them the,
2 were paralyzed.
During the night the ghouls which infc,t
every city sneakcd about the ruins stripping
the dead and wounded of their clothing ant
money. Tie thieves entered and d,mantlec
houses and seized and carried Off furnitur,
AND everything else which they could realiz,
money upon. Few families in the cit,
escaped without furnishing at least ON
victim.
2 Senior Gamazo. minister Of finance whoa
e once proceeded from Madrid to Santande
3 when the extent Of the calamity became
known, is doing everything in his powe
to awaken the authorities to the fac
= that they must arouse themselves an,
set about repairing the damage. 4
4 soon as lie arrived he summoned the tow
) officials and expressed to them the svmpath
u | pl fine IJa al :,