The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-07-13
DAILY, $40 A YEAR
CENTS A COPY.
I WEEKLY 2-TIMES-A-WEEK s. A YEAR
TIDAL WAVES AWFUL TERROR.
GRAPHIC STORY OF JAPAN's LOSS
OF 10000 LIVES.

The Noise Made by the Coming Ava
Ianchc Of Water VariousIy Inter-
preted-some Thought IL "A Gale,
and Others "a Huge school of sar-
dInes-The Din Increased UntiI IL
Assumed the Dcafening Din Of a
Great Pack OF Artillery, and Then
Came the Disaster.
San Francisco. july l2-The Toxic cor
respondent OF the United Press. writing
under date OF June 26, thus graphically
describes the devastation wrought by the
seismic wave which recently visited the
northeast coast OF Japan:
Japan has been visited by a calamity Of
almost unprecedented magnitude. on
the 18th Of June at half past eight o'clock
In the evening seismic wave struck
the northeast coast Of the main island.
throughout a distance OF about 200 miles.
and In five minutes $1,000 people were
killed and 1900 houses destroyed. That
Is the whole story.
Any one can Identify the locality OF the
disaster by a glance at the map OF ia
pan. From the island or Kinka-san on
the south. to IIachineye. on the north. the
coast or Rikuzen and Rikushu provinces
assumes distinctly convex shape.
Throughout the whole of this bow-Iike
area. nearly every town and every village
was visited by the wave. The portion be-
tween Motooshi and Yamada suffered
most severely. The general direction OF
the wave appears to have been north by
east, for after carrying devastation to
the shore OF the main island, It left Yezo
on the west. touching that island at
Yerimo Cape only.
In the case Of inundations cyclones or
even earthquakes, there is a record OF
more or less continuous mischief and
more or less successful struggle against
the forces Of destruction; but in the case
Of seismic waves. one tremendous blow
accomplshes the whole calamity in an
instant
At $3.50 O'Clock the Inhabitants Of nu-
merous towns and hamlets along the
coast We're celebrating the boys festi-
VAL on the 5th day OF the NTH month,
according to the old calendar, at 25 min
utes before O. 10000 Of them had been
swept out to sea, or thrown dead upon
the shore and 5000 OF their homes had
disappeared or lay wrecked
There was nothing to presage the disas-
ter From II In the forenoon until 4:30
o'clock In the afternoon heavy rain fell
IL was followed by "a fine evening, and a
dark calm night. There Is much diff
Guilty in obtaining perfectly accurate
statements as TO the times Of the phe-
nomena that preceded the final catastro-
phe; they were too Insignificant to seem
worth recording. Several accounts agree.
that about o'clock, three or four shocks
OF earthquake were felt not violent
shocks, though of the vertical kind that
folks In Japan have learned to dread The
barometer gave, at the time, no Indication
OF anything unusual Some twenty or
twenty-five minutes later a booming sound
became audible from the direction Of the
sea. IL appears to have been Variously
Interpreted. Some construed II as the
noise of a coming gale; others supposed
that huge school Of sardines had reach
ed the ofhng. Only very few suspected
the real significance Of the sound and fed
inland at the top Of their speed.
Rapidly the noise increased until II as-
sumed the volume and deafening din Of
a great pack OF artillery and then in
moment waves from twenty to thirty feet
high were laundering against the shore.
The place where the actual totals OF
deaths reached the highest figures were
not always those that suffered most IN
proportion 10 their population. OF the
three procedures visited by the wave
Iwate, Mlyagl and A0mori-Iwate had by
far the largest aggregate OF disasters It's
list Of dead amounting to 5000. Some
Of the details, however, convey more
graphic idea of the facts than any gem
eral statement can suggest.
Kamaishi Is a little seaside town, situ-
ated at the head OF rocky inlet two
miles deep and directly facing the ocean.
Behind 1t is a preciptous hill. The IN
habitants seem to have remained until
the last, wholly unconscious of what was
pending At a little after 8 o'clock In the
evening a mountain of sea was observed
piling itself up at the mouth of
the inlet, and in moment,
thirty feet high swept over the town.
Three times these avalanches Of water
rushed forward, the first incomparably
the most terrible, and in less than two
minutes the town was virtually annihl-
ated. Out OF 1928 dwellings only 143 re-
mained standing, and out of a population
of 6557, death had overtaken 400 and 900
lay wounded. In completeness Of de-
struction this record heads the list.
Scarcely less appalling was the work OF
| the waves in bay some five miles fur
| Futaishi, only 100 persons escaped death
| out of a population of 790 and only two
| houses out Of as many hundreds remained
| standing.
At Yamada 700 houses out Of 800 were
destroyed and 1900 persons were killed
| out of 4,20O.
/ At Toni $50 houses were swept away out
| of 269, and LOB persons were killed and
| 50 wounded out Of a total of l,2O6.
In the Kissen district one town and
| eleven villages attacked by the wave had
| $3.50 persons killed and 1,560 houses wash
| ed away or wrecked.
At Hongo, the whole hamlet OF $50
| houses was annlhilated, and the sole sur
I ViVors were a party Of men that hap
| pened TO be playing "go" in temple sit
uated on high ground.
Such are the tales Of death and ruin
! that come from place after place, the
| terrible totals at this moment of writing
being 29073 killed. 7,737 wounded, 7,S44
houses washed aWaV or wrecked