Connecticut western news., 1906-08-23
0NE THOUSAND DEAD
City of Valparaiso, Wrecked by Earthquake, In Worse Plight
 Than San Francisco.
LOSS MAY BE S25O,OOO,OOO.

Practically Every Building In tho City
 Destroyed or Damaged-PeopIe Sleep
 ing In the Open Air-Many Other
 Chilean Towns Wrecked-Eishty-tw two
 Distinct Shocks.
 Valparaiso Chile, Aug. %. - This Sity was practically destroyed last Thursday night by an earthquake which shook the whole Chilean coast, killing a vast number of persons and doing incalculable damage. One thou sand is a conservative estimate of the number of dead in Valparaiso.
 The property loss is enermous-prob- ably $25O. 100000. Most of the build ings were either demolished or dam- aged.
 Fire, which started immediately aft CT the first shock, was the principal cause of the loss.
 Worse Than San Francisco.
 The captain of a steamship which has arrived from San Francisco says that conditions here are worse than they were at San Francisco after the catas- trophe there.
 The whole population Is sleeping in the hills, the parks or the streets. The nights are very cold and windy, and people sleeping in the open suffer greatly.
 Eighty-two Distinct Shocks.
 The earthquake began at 7:52 o'clock last Thursday evening and was of great violence. During that night eighty-two shocks were felt.
 The railroads are all destroyed
 These towns are reported to be In ruins:
 vina del Mar, three miles from Val paraiso, having a population of over 10000.
 Quirihue, 225 miles south; population, 2,5oO.
 Salto.
 Limache, fifteen miles northwest; population, 6,5OO.
 Quillota, twenty-five miles northwest; population, 10000.
 Villages all around were wrecked.
 First Shock Followed by Storm.
 Order Is being maintained with the utmost severity by the military. police and armed citizens patrols, w<no are empowered to shoot looters on the spot The authorities are showing the utmost energy in the protection of property.
 With the first terrible shock of the earthquake buildings collapsed, their walls falling with tremendous noise. The inmates in many cases were un- able to escape. The shock was fol- lowed almost immediately by a fierce storm, the wind prostrating walls that had been weakened by the earthquake, and these broke trolley wires, which flashed incessantly. The second shock was even heavier than the first.
 Fires Start In All Directions.
 Five minutes afterward fires started in every direction, and immediately the whole town, which had been momen- tarily in darkness, was illuminated with the lurid splendor of gigantic flames. The firemen made a desperate fight, though there was but little water, as most of the mains had been broken by the earth tremor. The Victoria theatre and the Naval club were de stroyed by the earthquake and the Ma tional theatre succumbed to earth quake and fire. The Club de Setiembre, the Church of La Merced, the buildings of the French fathers. the navy depart ment building, the city hall and many other buildings were destroyed by the earthquake. The destruction by fire. however, was infinitely larger, and probably 60 per cent of the commer- cial houses were totally ruined. In Brazil avenue alone nearly thirty blocks of buildings from three to five stories high were destroyed.