The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-01-10
FEARFUL QUAKES.
Two Persian Towns Completely
Swallowed Up.
Kurds and Armenians Meet the
Same Fate.
THOUSANDS KILLED.
Eight Hundred Lives Destroyed
in the City of Col.
One Thousand Houses Com
pletely Wrecked.

TEHEREN. Persia, Jan. 10. = Two
earthquakes have occurred in the
district of KahlhahL. The first was on
the night of January 2. The large
village of Janabad was destroyed,
several others were partially ruined
and 300 persons were killed.
The second earthquake occurred the
marning of January and was felt
over an area of 100 miles. The
thousand houses were demolished.
In addition, great damage was
done to many villages. The loss of
life was very great. There were 500
persons killed in Col alone, and large
numbers of cattle and sheep also per-
ished.
The town of Col, or Khoi, which has
thus been wiped out by earthquake,
was one of the best laid out towns of
Persia in its modern quarter. The
district of Kahlkanl, in which the
earthquake seems to have done the
most damage, is in the province of
Azberbijan, in the extreme north
western portion OF Persia, immedl-
ately adjoining the province of Van in
Armenia.
Col lies in SO degrees IS minutes
north latitude and As degrees and Is
minutes east longitude, seventy-seven
miles northwest of Tabriz and about
as far south of Mount Ararat, and
was before its destruction on the
great trade route between the Eux1ne
and Persia and on the Kotura, a trib-
utary of the Aras, which was crossed
here by a seven arch bridge. It had
quite an elaborate system of fortitica-
tions, which were, however, in a ruin
Gus state, and an inner high wall
hanked with towers, the intervening
space being occupied with gardens
j tt
trail portion of 1.-THE city that its beauty
lay, cool streams and lines of willows
running along its broad, regular
streets. There were a few good build
ings, including the governors palace,
several mosques, a large brick bazaar
and fine caravan serai. The chief
manufactures were copper wares and
worsted socks. In September, 1881,
Col was visited by series of violent
earthquakes, the seismic waves rum
ming northwest and southeast in the
direction of the main mountain
ranges. --a
The population numbered about
80, 900, including many Armenians who
occupied a separate quarter of the city.
The district about the city consists of
an elevated plateau sixty miles by
ten or fifteen, highly cultivated by a
skil1ful system of drainage and irri-
CATION, producing a series of fertile
GASES laid out in meadows, gardens
and tillage and yielding rich crops of
wheat and barley, besides apples,
pears. cherries, walnuts, chestnuts
and unrivalled ulberries
The province of Azberbijan is one of
the most fertile in Persia, and travel
ers give enthusiastic descriptions of
it's orchards and gardens, and the de-
licious fruits which they yield. The
population is of a very varied charac-
ter, comprising Kurds, Armenians,
Assyrians, Tartars, Persians proper
and other tribes. and is roughly esti-
mated at 1000, 600. The Persian army
is largely composed of natives of Az
berbljan and the province is under the
government of the heir apparent to
the Persian throne.