Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-16

but with diminished violence. From four
to five hundred persons were believed to
have persisted in the villages"
A letter written by a gentleman at Tai
cahanco to his friend in New Bedford is
copied from the Gazette Of that place, as
follows:
"On the morning of Friday. the Goth of
February, 1898. about twenty minutes past
II O'Clock. We were visited by one of the
most awful earthquakes ever experienced
by the inhabitants of this place. The first
shock lasted four minutes and half. caus-
Ing the mountains and valleys to roll like
the sea during the severity of the first
shock, which was great that a person
could scarcely keep upright.
looked around for a moment to meet
my fate, but am spared to be thankful. and
may consider myself one of the fortunate
in making my escape from the falling but
now PROSTATE ruins. Conception, a city
ants. is one heap of ruins. Being built prin-
, cipally of brick, there is not even one hab-
table dwelling left standing within the
| limits of the city and for leagues around
The shock came in a southeaSterly
course. prostrating everything in It's way.
A number of small towns have been heard
from IN Its course. Chilean, Talen, Are
dan. Congas. Erras. Peural. st. Carlos.
vallega and Angles have all met the same
fate. Talcahuanco. the port of Conception.
Is completely demolished. 1t was not only
shaken down. but the fragments Of houses
stores. etc.. were afterward swept away by
the sea, which retired about fifteen min.
utes after the first shock, leaving the ship
ping then lying at anchor in the harbor en-
| tfrely dry. 1t came In. rising to height of
twenty-five feet above the level, overwh=lm-
| ing the whole place.
"Men, women and children fled to the
| mountains, but many were overtaken and
swept to the ocean by the returning waves
which completed the destruction Of the
| town, depriving hundreds of families of
a second garment. Many of them We're in
| good circumstances, but are now destitute.
Furniture of all kinds was swept with the
houses. not even leaving a vestige to in
form the owner of the situation of his for
| mer habitation; and it requires an eye
witness to be convinced of the immense
deyasta ton 1t has caused"
The Mercury gave the following from an
eye witness:
1.-The morning of the Goth was clear and
serene, but 1t will prove an ever memorable
day to the miserable people now inhabiting
| the border hills in this vicinity. The first
shock commenced at twenty minutes after
IL o'clock and lasted, with but slight inter-
mission. for fOrty-seyen minutes. causing
the hills and valleys to rise and fall like
the waves of the ocean. small
schooner was driven from her anchorage
and drifted over the town." One on ship
board said the view from the shipping was
aW1uly grand ana Lerrlnc. The unusual
tumbling and agitation OF the ship, the
commissions and heavings of the mountains
and plains as far as the eye could extend,
the sight at a distance of the Inhabitants
fleeing, they knew not whittier. for safety:
the violent rushing of the waters over the
ruins OF a thickly populated town, sweep
ing the wrecks Of demolished habitations
, OF the rich and poor into one common
chaos OF ruin, was calculated to impress
deeply the mind OF the beholder."
In the same issue the Register states that
the ship Ann McKim had arrived In Balti-
more sxty-fve days from Valparaiso with
Information that the town on the Island of
Juan Fernandez had bean destroyed by an
l earthquake.