The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-04-07
fCIENT EARTHQUAKES.
lvulsions Of the Earth Which
Have Killed Thousands.
In and Italy tho Countries Most Al.
fiioted by tho Awful Upheavals-
Whole Cities Completely
h Overturned.

VIC Pcl1in, China, three hundred thou
fSl persons were buried in Il moment
Ss1GG2, and one hundred thousand
i Gin in the same city in 1871. The
thqual<c at Lima on October 2S, 1876,
tended to Callao, and eighteen thou
sN persons persisted. This convulsion,
4 Sch spread along the coast two hum
sid leagues, began about 1880 o'clock
Might. The noise, the shock and the
IA took place in the space of only four
sBlutcs. The day being one dedicated
sft. Simon AMI st. judo, the people of
Sla attributed to the agency Of those
HITS the fact that only eighteen thou
|4d persons persisted out of Il popula-
hh of fifty thousand. Vast quantities
gold, silver and jewels were buried
Ssong the sevcrty-four churches and
III fourteen inconsistencies. The public
eEtains were buried, the statues of
|A Spanish kings crushed and the
ttets barricadcd with fallen houses.
\ lao was utterly destroyed, and even
u very shape was changed by huge
Cps of sand and gravel. At the
lSment Of the earthquake the SCI. rose
ssuntain high and rolled on till it
Ei'icd the city and destroyed every
ing except the two great gates. OF
e five thousand Inhabitants only
sPut two hundred escaped by clinging
~ imbcrs and pieces of wreck.
81 The most tremendous earthquake of
,adern times, according to the Chicago
.|rald, was that of Lisbon, of Novcn-
81 1, 1855. The people had risen as
Skal that morning, and looked out
%'n Bclcm and the Tagus, the little
Gas among the olive groves, the orange
Sses, the bull ring, the hospitals, the
81 Events and the shops. In the seven
sRlve converts ard forty churches of
ss6bon the bells had tinlilcd and the
ely prayer had been said. The birds
sH'e gayly singing their mathis in the
&urban gardens of Alcantara and
ssnpo Grandc. The blue sky gave no
zen Of evil, and the river lay for mile
Yer mile smiling III the golden sun
sAt Suddenly the city fell to pieces
Nh children's tower of cards. Roofs
tdshed in, arcadcs gapcd in two, tow
"A fell, stecples snapped, palaces tot
EJ w. Z LIZ icNCiCtl. TIC ulT grew
N with filing clouds of dust and
US filled with the crash of ccaselcss
kttruction. At the same time, as if
Il, tcrrors of the apocalypse had
sSllen at last on Lisbon, the sea, agi-
HID to its depths by The awful convul-
fh, rose and spread over the shore
sh Of the quays also opened its dark
s3s and swallow ed, in an instant, six
shdrcd persons who had taken refuge
n it. In minute or two moro fresh
Sjlmities fell on the unhappy city, for,
fires being hurled down among Tho
81 en- timbers, CONGREGATIONS broke out
facveral parts of the city. TO add to
Il general miserr thieves and muir
---, escaping from the shattered
a'ons, plundcred and robbed indis-
Ultimately. One Of these villains con-
2}cd to setting fire to The Indian house
M another to burning the ruins in
lien places. The earthquake con-
HElcd with gentle, intcrmitting trem-
Z, felt even or the river, for eighteen
RS. The first great shock convulscd
81 earth for five thousand miles, over
fined many cities and never halted in
" tremendous march till il reached
sbtland. The year 1755 was very wet
u rainy. The summer was unusually
Ibl, and during the forty days preccd-
81 the earthquake the weather was
lar, but not remarkably so. On the
Rf Immediately preceding the earth
pike n remarkable glooniness pre-
fled, but on the morning OF the
aal day the fog was dissipatcd
4 the sun. There was no wind
" the least agitation of the sea, and
4. weather was remarkably warm
fis great earthquake Of Lisbon, which
Ia few minutes swallowed fifty thou
I'D persons, had Il precursor in 1881,
/ ben in the same city fifteen hundred
uses and thirty thousand persons
S.rc destroyed, and several neighbor-
X towns inGulfed with all their popi,-
ltions.