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

one of the six upright joists of the
frame, four inches square, was snap.
ped like pipestems, and the whole WOOD
work was reduced to splinters. Inc
air rushed through the halls and pas,
sage-ways bursting open doors anu
throwing down partitions, until
striking the heavy wall oil the oPPo-
site side of the house il recoiled, IKE
a wave of the ocean striking Gill;
and in the rebound shattered the
remaining doors and threw down the
most of what remained OF the partl-
tions. .
At this moment the pastors wife
Uos in one of the inner rooms by the
side of the bed on which lay slightly
aiIino their Youngest child two years
old. while another of four years was
amusing herself near by. Mrs. de
Tienda heard the crash, felt the rush
of air and saw the partition bending
forward toward her. 1t was the in
stinctive act of the mother to snatch
the child from the bed and TO seize
the other from the floor, holding
them both tightly to her breast as she
bent to receive the falling partition
upon the head and shoulders and
back, some OF the bricks and mortar
being carried by the force of the air
through the house out into the gar
den. Her husbsnd ran from an
other mart of the house to find
them buried well nigh out Of
sight under the debris. Presently,
however, they emerged, the children
unhurt, but the mother with wound
lust above the temple two inches long
and her face covered with blood-a
blow from brick which, had IL
struck her head half an inch lower
down, would probably have added an
other to the six hundred dead. AS IL
was, when / left them a week aiter
the catastrophe, her right eye was en-
circIed by a deep ring almost as black
as ink, and the rest OF that size CT The
face was black and blue.
The deacon of the church and the
colporteur of the American Bible So
ciety, was on the dock some forty
Yards from the side of the ship when
She exploded. Stunned and Devil
dered he rose from the ground to
which he had been thrown and found
himself surrounded by ten or fifteen
mangled and dying persons. scarcely
knowing where he was or what ne
was doing he ran like mad man, he
knew not where, until coming 10 ms
senses he returned TO the spot he had
left and worked the rest OF the after
noon and all night in helping to re-
move the dead and wounded to the
hospital. The next day he was
Obliged to go to bed, and for week
he was under the doctors care.
Three children from our school were
lost. One was killed where he stood
looking at the burning ship. dis little
was swept into the water
by the force of the explosion and was
drowned. Another has died from the
effect of wounds received. The fathers
of two others of the pupils, while en-
gagged in helping extinguish the fire,
were instantly killed by the explo-
sion. a widow of a former deacon,
who, with her husband, was of the |
group who united to form the church |
when it was first organized, has been |
driven from her house which has been !
condemned by the city architects as |
unsafe for further occupancy. she, a |
tried and true Christian woman, be- |
comes an object of charity. The pa |
rents of two girls who were in the |
San Sebastian boarding school for
four years-the persons who first made
our acquaintance in Santander
twenty-One years ago, and who nave
always been good friends-were Durn-
ed out in the street MendeZ NuneZ,
and lost the savings of forty years. !
But how great the cause for rejoicing |
that the congregation was not more !
closely touched by the catastrophe!
\ hat OF the interior of the chapel |
will need to be renewed, nearly half
Of all the partitions of the house and
more than half of all the doors and
and the entire large
gallery, which was the pastors din
ng room and study.
4 piece of the iron plating Offthe hull
IF the ship, weighing over hundred
and fifty pounds, falling on the roof of
our house broke two oak rafters and,
passing through the roof, lodged upon
pile of shavings and kindling wood
n the attic, and there we shall let 1t
lie. Another and a larger piece struck
IN the other slope of the roof, crushed
he tiles to the dust and rolled down
nto the street. Still another piece
ell into the garden at the rear of the
louise, and there, too, it shall stay,
alf buried in the earth, memorial
{ the sad day. The house had cost
6400, and the damage to the building
nd personal losses will now come to
early $1,000 more, and we know not
here to look for funds, unless, indeed,
} our ever generous American friends. {
The fortress-like walls of the cathe-
raj were not injured, but sad havoc
as made with the beautiful clOisters. !
as Strewn by 4 number OF thirty s
nd knOtted into every fantastic
lape, while others rested on the