Albuquerque weekly citizen. (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1891-19??, 1902-05-17
Worlds Earthquakes

and American tourists. was totally de.
strOycd
Those IN the village who survived
the falling walls rushed to the beach
TO put out Co sea in boats. The waves
came IN and washed victims from the
sands by the hundreds.
The full extent of the disaster has
never been calculated. because several
small islands Indefinitely settled were
involved. but more than $1,000 people
are known to have been killed.
In 1891. and again in 1894. China and
Japan were both visited by terrible
earthquakes.
The island Of Hante of the Grecian
group suffered terribly in 1884. when
5000 were killed and as many more
made homeless The Grecian archipel
ago from time mmemorial has been
the home of earthquakes.
Central America. like Mexico. is in
constant commotion. and this has been
urged frequently against the feasibility
of an stnman canal Grenada. Cen
trail America. has been destroyed by
earthquakes six times San Salvador
ten times and San Jose and Costa RIGA
five times.
Some of the most destructive earth
uuakcs have occurred In New Zealand
which is "A vast lava bed.
In 1895 Alaska suffered a terrible
shaking up which destroyed whole
Alaskan tribes of Indians.
During the terrible disturbances of
the earth the Yakuta Indians were told
by medicine man that human sacri-
fee was necessary to appeasc the
wrath of the Great Spirit At the next
shock an immense gap opened in the
ground and an Indian woman advanced
and threw her baby In tn chasm. The
walls closed q" it instantly.
/ This, as IL happened. was the last of
the seismic disturbances and since
/ then Alaskan Indians have drawn the
/ inference that human sacrifice is nee.
essary to stop earthquakes.
/ The most notable earthquakes In the
/ United States have been those of New
/ Madrid. Mo, in 1911: California in
/ 1868. and Charleston. S. c., in August.
| 1856
That at New Medrid was the most
singular disturbance in earthquake his
/ tory. in that it extended over period
of three years. Repeated shocks fol
lowed from months TO months and
whole forests sometimes were seen to
wave like a green sea. strip of land
u lake. which in recent years has been
partially drained. Loss of life was in
considerable owing to the fact that the
country was very sparsely settled.
Earthquakes of 1868 involved the en-
tire coast of California and destroyed
millions of dollars worth of property
In the famous Charleston earth
quake on August 81. 1856. thirty-two
people were killed. 100 injured and
property to the extent OF $6.000,0 900 de-
stroyed. Nearly every house in Char
lesion was damaged. and for weeks a
large part OF the population lived in
tents
1t Is q strange fact that science has
never determined exactly the cause of
earthquake phenomena.
The most generally accepted theory
IS that water breaks through crevices
and penetrates the pockets of molten
matter in the earth. Steam is gener'
ated which finds vent in volcanic erup
tlons and earthquakes
Father Timateo Bertelli. an Italian
and other inventors, have devised and
improved the seismograph. which rec
ords the vibrations OF an earthquake
II is also valuable in that it frequently
gives warning days before the catas
, trophe occurs.
Sometimes a shock Is preceded for
days by minute earth vibrations not
perceptible to ordinary senses. The
delicate needle of the sesmograpf
! traces these movements upon sheet
of smoked paper unit. the whole looks
like skein of tangled silk.
II the changes are constant ant
abrupt IL can he determined that al
earthquake of grave import may oc
cur.
Animals appear to possess sixtt
sense which often warns them OF al
Impending earthquake. Some times
fowls are in panic for days before 1
sesmetic shock. horses become timit
! an weak, and cows refuse the usua
, quantity of milk.
! Some people also are so delicatel
organized that they feel danger in tn
o air. A woman living in hotel a
, Amalf. Italy. left there the day befor
= the last earthquake, driven by some In
: dcfnable terror. and at Nice and Al
: ram people were known to fee fror
a those cities before disaster came.