The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1894-08-25

/ write from the midst of the
strange scene. One may doubt whe-
ther there was ever before case quite
like this one. The cabinet of Gov
eminent Ministers at Madrid, who
for several days seem to have done
little else than hold meetings on this
matter, at last decided that the sub
merged wreck of the Machichaco
should be blown up as soon as pos
sible- "Wednesday morning, the 18th
of March, the proclamation was
issued that between 9 and 10 o'clock
on Friday morning, the 30th of
March, the explosion would take
place, and that by S o'clock all houses
within $50 yards of the wreck must be
vacated-the streets that approx
mately marked this limit being indi-
Gated. So great, however, has been
the decentralization from fear during
the last two or three days-wild
rumors running through the town
that great quantities of nitrO-gly-
cerine had been found in the wreck
and that there was mOmentary danger
of another explOsion-the city was in
large part deserted of its A., 900 inhab-
itants long before the appointed time.
During Monday, Tuesday and We'd
nesday an almost crazy crowd was
pouring out of the city to the sub
JOWHSJ anu every anu
cart and horse and OK or mule-every
available thing and animal and man
that could be pressed into the service
was engaged in moving the panic
stricken crowds to the suburban
towns and villages and farm houses,
and special trains were taking thOus-
ands away to- more distant points.
Hundreds Of houses far beyond the
proclaimed radius of danger are emp
70.
the care of the military guards that
occupy the city as if it were under
martial law.
By O'Clock of the morning of the
eventful day those who had not left
before began to stir in preparation for
the evacuation of the houses within
the prescribed zone by S o'clock.
From to o'clock it was a sight to
see. The streets of that part of the
city were alive as never before. The
:. current streameG along all the great
roads leading to the suburbs. 1t con-
sisted chiefly of the middle and lower
classes that could not afford to pay
for lodgings out of town, and who
would leave their homes only when
peremptorily ordered so 10 do by the
Government. The elders bore the
little ones in arms and the youths and
maidens carried such simple pro-
NlslOuS Us poor people COulu dnOiu-
so leaving for those who were poorer
than themselves the free ratiOns
promised to be distributed by the
Government. The Protestant pastor,
the school teacher and the cOlpOrteur
and their families went together to
the house of one of the congregation
in the suburbs who takes boarders in |
summer, and who could give them all |
rooms. The most of the rest of the |
obi
ings with friends.
Even the sick in the hospital |
and the prisoners in Jail, and the |
old and the young in the asy-
lums and nuns in converts
for, singularly, all of these were |
within the danger limits-were |
removed to places of safety during |
these early morning hours. The nuns |
were taken to cOnventual buildings |
two miles away from the city, and the |
occupants, both old and young, of the |
different asylums to buildings near !
the same place. The seventy patients |
in the hospital were moved to a she'd |
like building in the grounds of the |
annual provincial fair, and the fifty |
six prisoners to the bull-ring-most |
appropriate and suitable of all places |
for them. Though easy To guard the |
bull ring, open to the skies and with |
but a salubrious, refuge for this part |
of our fellow citizens, who, undoubt-
eddy, will ever remember this event |
as a most delightful picnic.
At O'Clock in the morning, San
tander was a deserted city; the natural
fear of the inhabitants had more ef-
fectually and more rapidly emptied it |
than all the commands of the most |
remorseless of governments, without
haIT of ha arnTss n. IN l
have done.
As the dread hour approached, and |
throughout these two historical days,
SantandeT and its surrounding heights !
suddenly populated by the homeless
thousands, presented = sight fitted TO
move the dullest heart.
The day was SPLENDID. The hot RAYS ,
of the sun We're sOftened by thin
veil of clouds, and the waters of the |
bay lay quiet and smooth over the
treacherous wreck.
The multitudeS of men, women and
children who swarmed on every hill
side, and who covered every height |
commanding a view OF the dock,
might easily have passed as out on a
grand romeria (the out of-door cele-
bration of church feast day. The
only wonder would have been as TO
who could be the Saint celebrated by
q fiesta such as was never before seen
nor heard of. 1t was indeed a charm
ing sight, and these thousands might
have been taken as mere rOmeros
were it not for the many babes in
their midst, and very young children,
and for their subdued voices as they |
gather in groups, and for their anxious
looks as they intently gaze toward the I
one spot that draws all eyes.
The great hotels of FL SardinerO-
the bathing beach about a quarter of a
mile away from the city, closed except
i'm summer-are filled now by those
who can pay for the accommoda-
ton. The Government has erected
nIain board sheds that will shelter,
free of charge, thousands of the poorer
citizens and their families who may