The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1894-08-21


head of IA great banking house, one Of
the largest stockholders in the com
pany To which the ill-fated ship be-
longed, and one of the richest men ia
the north of Spain, was missing. The
next day his headless body was found
on the roof of hoIse, three hundred
yards away. Four days later the body
of the governor was found in the sea
far down the coast in the direction OF
Bilbao, where ii had been borne by
the ocean currents. Evidently he
had been thrown into the water, as
scores OF others were, by this concus-
sion.
Heads and limbs were severed from
bodies; bodies were transfixed by
steel carriage aXles as by lances, and
bodies were lying everywhere on the
dock and I'm the neighboring streets,
in every form OF awful Disagreement,
some being flattened TO the ground az
the body of Il mouse over which log
has rolled.
The most terrible feature OF all was
the dismemberment OF bodies. Half
the body OF man was hurled through
the windows of Il neighboring hotel
into the dining room. For three or
four days bodies and members were
found OH the roofs of houses, some OF
them almost mile away from the
scene of the explosion. One man was
killed by the detached foot OF another
being driven through his body. a
young man rose from the ground and
commenced to run, and not until he
found that he could not make head
way did he perceive that lac had lost
one of his feet. y woman, who was a
mile away from the spot, was killed
by piece of iron, and man, who
was still farther away, also met death.
Several ladies were wounded while in
their own houses far away from the
immediate scene Of the disaster, and
some of these have since died.
For the first ten years of our life in
Spain, Santander was the residence OF
Mrs. Gulick and myself, and we had
there many friends and acquaintances
outside the immediate circle of our
congregation and schools. OF these,
Don Manuel SuareZ Inclan was one OF
the most intimate and cordial. He
and his brilliant wife were members
OF two of the oldest and best families
of the Province. The death of Senior
SuareZ lnclan and his daughter, a
beautiful and accomplished girl, six
teen years of age, is one of the saddest
of the many sad cases. They were
watching the burning steamship from
what seemed a safe distance when
they were struck, apparently by one
of the death dealing iron beams that
tore the multitude TO pieces. The
body of the father was taken TO the
hospital, where it was identified some
sixteen hours later by the clothing
and watch. The head had been sew
cred from the body, only an ear being
left. The disfigured body of the
daughter was found and was taken by
kind hands to the house of those 10
whom they supposed she belonged.
But soon they found that it was not
theirs. So they bore it TO another
family some distance away; but no,
that was not her home; and so they
wrapped the precious body in a sheet
and carried it in their arms TO the dis
tant hospital, where il was finally
identified.
The station of the local provincial
railway was within n hundred yards OF
the burning ship. \ train with pas
sengers arrived at the moment of the
explosion. y car was wrecked and
instantly set on fire and some six OF
the passengers We're killed.
The labor of extracting the dead
and maugled Corpses from the sunken
ship was almost more than even the
hardy "diversn could bear-from the
terrible sights that for days met their
gaze in that horrible wrrckage.
The conclusion OF air burst i'm the
balconies and windows " houses far
and wide over the city, and then tore
down partitions, upset furniture and
shattered glass and cr0ckery and
every fragile thing. The fine houses,
some sixty in numbc, five stories
high and Of recent construction, OF
the streets Mendez Nuuez and Cald-
erOn facing the dock were instantly
wrecked by the rush ,t air and the
next moment were ia blaze-frOm
the burning missiles from the steam
ship.
When the news of the disaster
reached me | was on missionary
tour moving down the valley OF the
tbro toward the Mediterranean.
imme ediately turned back and hast
ened 10 Santander. Only last August
we had dedicated beautiful new
chapel there that knew must be i'm
the zone Of the greatest danger Just
hacl. Of the whaTves, and rising alb
ruptly above the street Meudez Nunez
a hill rises 10 the height Of about a
hundred feet. The face OF il toward
that street, the docks and the baV Is
nearly perpendicular. The fine old
building, half fortress and ha cathe-
dIal. crowns the highest point, look
'iiA UPON Attt 'lttk~ anu Ah AAN spot
where the burning Steamship was
moofed. only about a hundred wards
from the foot uf the hill. The other
slope of the hill il deuselv built up
with the city houses. Starting from,
the cathedral and following the crest
Of the bill Is street, the houses on
the western side Of which look down
upon the docks and over the bay TO
the beautiful hills beyond. The
chapel Is on this street All these
houses, BEGINNING with the a'hedral
and including our chapel, with the
PASTORS residence. were swept by the
devastating currents of air set i'm mo-
ton by the explosion.
The ground floor of our house is the
chapel, the second floor Is the resi-
dence of the pastor and the third floor
that of the school teacher. The en-
tire breadth of tie rear of the second