Arizona republican., 1900-12-09
NIGHT OF TERROR IN CARACAS.
Story of Recent Earthquake Which
 Did Much Damage.

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 Some interesting details of the re- cent earthquake at Caracas, Venzue.a, are given in the following from the Venezuelan Herald:
 "On Sunday, the 18th of October, the town of Caracas celebrated the Saints Day of Simon Bolivar. The festivities were somewhat dampened by rain, which fell in torrents during the day, but toward evening the weather again became serene, the stars came out, and all retired without the slightest suspicion that the night was to be other than tranquil. At 1 o'clock in the morning of the 29th the thermom- eter marked 21 degrees centigrade, the sky was cloudless and the air ccol and still. At 4:45 terrible cracking awoke the town; the cracking was succeeded by a succession of sharp shocks of short duration but exceptional vio- lence, while from the interior of the earth arose a dull, strange, indefinably mysterious noise, the character of which it is impossible to analyze.
 AS described by an eyewitness, the scene at this moment was one of eX- treme terror and confusion. It was the hour just before the dawn, and pitchy dark, a darkness so deep and oppressive that it produced the sensa- tion of being beneath the earth rather than on it's surface. The noise made by falling houses, the breaking of glass, the terrified cries of dogs and other animals, and, rising above all, the screams of the people overcome with terror, produced a din which will never be forgotten by those who were in Caracas during those terrible mo- ments.
 "The movement of the earth lasted about thirty-one seconds, the direction being from east to west. There were two distinct shocks, each sufficiently violent to throw water in an ewer or basin for a yard in every direction. Be- tween the two, according to several witnesses, red light illumined the sky.
 After the first few moments of stu DOT had passed and people began to realize the importance of sle disaster, the entire population poured into the streets, and men and women, old peopie and children, in the most unusual and fantastic costumes, were gesticulating,
 
 the remainder of the night.
 At 5:25 the day broke with its accus- toned splendor, just as if nothing ab- normal had happened. The town was still covered with a thick cloud of dust but it could presently be seen that it had escaped annihilation, although it had suffered greatly-hardIy a house having been left uninjured while many had their roofs fallen in, others their walls wholly down or fearfully crack ed. The loss in property was very great but the number of fatalities was much smaller than had at first been feared. Only ten lives were lost and thirty-one seriously injured, among the others Gen. Cipriano Castro and Father Nunez, the curate of Altagracia and one of the candidates of the arch bishopric. Two French women and two Italians were among the dead, but the American, English and French colonies escaped without injury.
 "Alomost all of the public buildings were seriously injured. The ministry of the interior is now installed tempo rarily in the elliptical hall of the fed eral palace, the ministry of encourage ment at the show rooms of the Ameri- can association. The churches of Al tagracia, Santa RosaIia, San Jose and Calvary are ruined, but the cathedral which withstood the earthquake cf 1872, suffered but little in this one.
 From October 29 until Nov. the city remained in a state of chaos and for the first twenty-four hours ofsthis period the shocks continued at inter- vals, though with much less violence than before; indeed, they did not whol- ly cease before Nov. Il. On the morn