The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-03

wonders OF 1abled Atlantis, which Jules
Verne has described with such wealth ~
imagery in his Twenty Thousand T,eagues
Under the Sea" But Atlantis was prob
ably myth. while Port Royal is NOT
The traveller who visits the capital of Ia
maica should pray for clear weather. win
out wind. When the water of the har-
Dor is ruffled by breezes the hidden cit,, ia
obscured from view. But on a cloudless
still day, when the surface of the sea IL
perfectly smooth, the ruins of the phan-
tom CITY may be plainly seen in the dentbs
of the transparent water
The spire of the old cathedral is the mos
prominent object. In the clear wafer vo,,
can see the fishes, lazily swimming in En5
cut among the ruined turerts, more slIo-
gestive of owls and bats than of the fin7,-
Inhabitants of the sea. OccasjonaII
glimpses can be had of the ruins of otbsr
Notwithstanding which for more than
two centuries have kept their CHASTITY Sc
crets and will keep them until the end of
time
Down there, in that peaceful depth lie
the bones of 5000 men, women and chill
dren, carried down into the sea with their
homes on that awful June day in 1892 An
earthquake, suddenly and without warn
ing, smote the prohigate city of Port
Royal, which slid into the sea The wa
tiers opened and swallowed it up and
there, beneath the silent waves, was hid
den the wickedness and debauchery of a
community described by historians as be-
ing almost without parallel.
The survivors said it was the vengeance
of God, and lil1ened 1t to the destruction Of
SodOm and Gomorrah. And in very truth
the history of the city seems to show the
unceasing wrath of divine power. From tie
richest city of its time it has dwindled in
to insignihcance, until now il is a most
wretched place, used only a naval sta
ton. Disaster after disaster has over
taken it.
After the earthquake the town was re-
built, only to be completely destroyed by
fire in 1903. On Aug. p, 1722, it was swept
into the sea by hurricane. It was once
more reconstructed, but again, in 1915, it
was reduced to ashes, and as recently as
1880 it was visited by another hurricane
Every disaster was attended by great loss
of life.
The city of Port Royal was originally
built upon a narrow strip of land extend
ing out into the sea. which accounts for its
strange disappearance at the time of the
earthquake. Like the house of the foolish
man of Biblical lore, which was builded
upon the sand it literally slid into the wa
ter when the earthquake shock came.
Previous TO that fateful 9TH day of June,
1852. Port Royal had been known as the
finest town in the West Indies, and the
richest spo' in the world" 1t was, as it
now is, a British colony, but there was lit
tie either in its government or Its customs
of British morality. We are told that it
was a place of luxurious debauchery; that
in their eXcesses the colonists riValed the
profhgates of ancient Rome.
Buccaneering and piracy were recogniz-
ed industries The treasure ships of Spain
were legitimate prey. The riches of Mexico
and Peru were levied upon and the people
of Jamaica were literally rolling in wealth
and splendor. Vice and debauchery held
away. Bacchanailan revelS which might
put to shame the dwellers In the Orient
were of nightly occurrence. There was no
virtue.
And like the crack Of doom came the
earthquake. The thunder of the elements
sounded in the ears of the needless revel-
ers. The earth opened in great assures, and
closed again like the jaws of a mighty
trap. And in closing it gripped many of It's
victims in the middle, leaving their hands
above ground. Then came the awful slid
ing, grinding noise as the city, built upon
Its foundation of sand sank into the ca
ressing embrace of the sea, which forever
closed upon it's wic1edness and will for
ever keep its dread secrets.
The shock came close on to midday. The
air was hot and sultry. The sky was with
out a cloud. A great stiffness seemed to
hover over the city, and then, without
warning, the earth trembed. Men and wo-
men left their houses and ran into The
streets, only to meet death In the bowels
of the earth or In the hidden recesses of the
sea.
In his annals of jamaica" published
in 1923, Rev. Mr.. George William Bridges
quotes from letter written by one of the
surViVOrs-a rector-two or three DAYS aft
er the disaster, which is, in part, as fol-
lows:
After I had been at church reading,
which I did every day since I was rector
of this place,to keep up some show of re-
igion, and was gone to place hard by the
church where the merchants meet, and
where the president of the council was,
who came into my company and engaged
me to take d glass of NORWOOD wine as
a whet before dinner, he being my very
good friend. I stayed with him. upon
which he lighted a pipe of tobacco, which
he was pretty long in taking, and not be-
ing willing to leave him before it was out,
this determined me from going to dinner
to one Capt. Rodents, whittier I was in
vited, whose house, upon the first con-
cussion, sunk into the earth and then into
the sea with his wife and family, and
some that were come to dine with him.
Had I been there 1 had been lost. But
to return to the president and his pipe of
tobacco; before that was out I found the
ground rolling and moving under my feet,
upon which 1 said unto him, Lord, sir,
what is that?' Tt is an earthquake. Be not
afraid; it viii soon be over -
Despite the presidents assurance, he
disappeared, and was never heard of again.
Continuing, the rector wrote: 81 made To-
ward Morgan's fort, because I thought 10
be there securest from falling houses, but
as l was going saw the earth open and
swallow a multitude of people, and the
sea mounting upon them over the FORTH
cations. Moreover, the large and famous
burying ground was destroyed, and the
sea washed away the carcasses. The har-
bor was covered with dead bodies, floating
up and down."
An Accidental Success.
ESrOv,o NTuneav'c MaOazipe