Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1906-08-19
QUAKE OF EARTH
WRECKS CHILEAN CITY
Fire Vdds to Horror...Hundreds
of Lives Lost.
BODIES BURIED AMIDST RUINS
Cable Communications With South
America Are Cut Off and Details
Are Meager-Disturhances Record
ed at Washington and at Honolulu.

ed at Washington and at Honolulu.
Valparaiso, Chile, Friday, via Gal
weston, Tex.-Without the slightest
tremor of warning an earthquake Wis
| tied this city at o'clock last night,
| bringing instant death to hundreds OF
| persons and leaving many hundreds
more imprisoned in the ruins, many
Of whom were burned to death before
aid could reach them, fire started i'm
mediately after the first shock, and
every branch of the city's service
was paralyzed.
Panic and CONSERVATION indescriba-
BILE followed those who escaped death
and injury became frenzied with fear
and could render but little assistance
to the unfortunate victims.
| The business section of the city is
almost entirely destroyed and fires
are still raging. We are suffering a
repetition of the horrors of San Fran
cisco AS night comes on the city
| presents everywhere a glow Of unob-
structed fires, and clouds of smoke
and vapor settling into the streets and
houses where throngs of homeless
ones are wandering about crazed by
the awful calamity.
1t Is almost impossible to ascertain
how wide an area of country the Wis
itation has laid waste. Nothing has
| been heard from Santiago, the capital
city Of Chile, and it is feared that the
fate of that city is faring worse than
Valparaiso.
Telegraphic communication is cut
off in every direction and every one
| here is too much depressed by the ca
lamity at home to seek information of
| other places.
No trains have arrived in the city or
I left ii since the first shock came, as
/ all of the railroad tunnels are filled
and miles Of track on the surface are
twisted and rendered useless.
1t is only known from general ac-
counts that death and destruction are
on all sides visible.
| There were two distinct and terrif-
ic shocks, the second one following
almost instantly after the first, and
completing the work Of destruction.
The day had been unusually calm
and pleasant. At o'clock the city
suddenly seemed to swing backward
and forward, and then came to a
| sudden jolt of such mighty force that
rows of buildings toppled to the earth
as if made of brittle plaster.
While rows of buildings went down
| and in a few seconds after the sec
ond shock had suDsided it became
known that the business part of the
| town was doomed
From the Bell Avista section little
was heard, but before midnight fires
were soon burning there, and it was
learned that that section of the city
also was doomed
The city stands on a formation OF
granite gneiss which seemed to accen.
tuate the force of the struck. Before
the stunped people were given time
to realize the magnitude of the calam
ity, again the city was shaken with
a violence greater than before The
earth in places lifted, and pitched the
buildings forward. In other places
there was a heavy tremor that shook
every building to the ground This
shock continued longer than the first
When 1t had subsidized fires were blaz
ing up and thousands of terrified per
sons were praying for the panic-swept
city
Many landslides have occurred
around the city, and scores of lives
have been lost. At present it is i'm
possible to state the number of dead
in the entire city, but it is believed
there are several hundreds, many Of
whom are still in the ruins 1t has
laid waste the best part of the bust
ness portion of the city and has doubt
ful put Chile back many years in
the scale of civilization The cap
tain of the German vessel Yran, which
arrived today ait COquimep, stated
that when 20 miles at sea he could
see the flames raging in Valparaiso
Many inhabitants are terrified with
fear Of other shocks, and the work Of
rescuing the bodies is proceeding
very slowly.
The Bell Avista district referred to
which is on the hills behind the city