Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-01-05

running the American legation. This Is
large frame structure, and it is surrounded
by big brick wall. In the same com.
pound is the house of the secretary Of
the legation, Mr. Herod. The earthquake
threw over the chimneys. 1t moved the
walls so that they left their places and
bent over as though they would toppie
1t cracked the plastering all over the
house, and it sent the china and the brio
a-brac flying. 1t was the same in Mr.
Herod's house, and IN all of the foreign
buildings of the city. l went through
the houses of parliament. They were filled
with mortar and debris, and there was a
hole through the roof big enough for an
elephant to have passed down through
without touching the edges of the hole.
The great club house of Tokyo had porte
cochere of stone, and within this a coach
man was sitting with his horses at the
time of the shock The structure went
down, and the horses were killed. At the
hrst evidence of the shock the driver tried
TO whip the horses onward but they were
para!yzed with terror and refused to move.
AT the Imperial Hotel. where l was stop
ping. the heavy chimneys came flying down
through the roof. and of them fell
into the dining room just after it had
been vacated.
The Earthquake and the Palaces.
The shocks came at about five minutes
past two in the afternoon. l had an ap-
pointment with MIR. Tokioka, of his ma
jesty's imperial household department. and
was in this building at the time. 1t was
an oldfas hioned European building built
of stone and brick, and badly constructed.
MIR. Tokioka and myself were talking to-
gether on the second floor. and he was
giving me the photograph of Donjuro, which
he had gotten for me, when there was a
rumble like thunder and the walls began
to move. The air was thick and sitting,
and could feel the floor rise and fall At
the same time, the halls We're filled with
hundreds of running clerks, and Mr.. Toxic
ka sprang to his feet, and said 1T is an
earthquake. Let rum And ran.
We went down two steps at a time, and
just got outside when nearly the half Of
the building went down. Many were in
jured, and one man was killed. Stones
were thrown hundreds of feet away from
the building. Outside the shock contin-
ued. The ground rose and fell. Men rid
ing in jinrikiShaS We're thrown over, and
when called the same afternoon at Count
Ito's, who has a large foreign residence
not very far from the American legation,
found that his house had been badly in
jured. and that his wife was terribly pros
trated by it.
The Old Inhabitants Don't Like Them.
found in discussing the earthquake that
those who had been longest in Japan fear
ed the earthquakes the most. The face
of one man connected with the legation,
who had been there for many years, be-
came white as chalk when the shock
occurred, and some of the older Japanese
were Frustrated with terror. Those who
know what an earthquake Is appreciate
its terrible possibilities and during the
remainder of my stay in Japan l trembled
whenever a man walked across floor
over me, thinking that there going
to be another earthquake, and wondering
whether l was to be swallowed up in it.
This earthquake affected the railroads. 1t
twisted the rails here and there, and peo-
pie the trains said that it sounded as
though two trains had come into collision.
1t ruined one large tea factory containing
many girls, who We're killed in the debris.
1t was a curious earthquake in that there
were only two three shocks. and in that
it was confined almost to the vicinity Of
Tokyo. Many of the earthquakes have
from nineteen to twenty shocks following
each other, and there is always more than
one shock. This earthquake caused sew
eral big fires. and there is never an earth
quake in Japan which does not result in
more or less cOnflagration. The houses
are, you know, nearly all of wood, and coal
oil is now used very largely for lighting.
Lamps are thrown over. and the burning
oil runs through the buildings. Thousands
of houses are destroyed, and the damage
quakes.
Talks About Earthquakes.
met during my stay in Japan the great
est earthquake authority on the globe.
This is Prof John Milne of the Imperial
College of Engineering at Tokyo. He has
made a great study of earthquakes and
has invented machines which show just