The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1907-02-21
KINGSTON EARTHQUAKE.
Karl Parrish Writes an Interesting
Letter Telling what he saw on
Landing on the island.

lduulUy Uu luC tSIdUus
Mrs. r. l.. Parrish, of Dcs Moines,
has received the following very in
teresting letter from her son Karl
Parrish, who arrived at Kingston,
Jamaica, few days after the earth
quake, or his way to South America
where he is engaged in extensive
mining enterprises. The letter was de-
layed a couple of weeks inreaching
her:
Kingston, Jamaica, Jan. Is, 1907.
My DEAR MoTHER:-
Arrived here this p. M, four days after
the terrible earthquake, which totally
destroyed Kingston. When the pilot got
on board today outside of the mouth of
the harbor, he said that an earthquake
had destroyed Kingston killing 1000
people. We could not believe it. Ap-
preaching the mouth Of the harbor we
could see two large steamers wrecked
on the beach. We passed very near
them. They both belonged to this line
and had sailed before us. The first one
Princess Louise, the much advertised
pleasure and tourist steamer. The other
was Prince Waldemar which was Just
ashead of us but was wrecked G, ran
ashore because the earthquake had put
the light house out of commission. We
were the first people to land in the pro-
per style direct from the States. In pass
ing "Port Royal" the old stronghold of the
pirate, during the time of Morgan, we
could see that part of the peninsula had
sunk into the sea. Tops of houses, trees,
etc. could be seen sticking out of the
water. 1t began to get exciting. The
yarn the doctor spun when he came
aboard whetted our appetites. AS we
steamed up the harbor of Kingston we
could see first that the church steeples
were on crooked; then that the houses
were split open, the roofs caved in;
finally that there wasn't whole house
standing; all seemed to be ruined past
ever repairing. After pitching a few
coins at the native boys who always
swim along side of the ship to dive for
coins, the ship was hove aside of the
dock and after considerable wrangling
we all pushed ashore to inspect the
ruins. 1t was an awful sight. A beauti-
full old Spanish City of about 10000
souls, completely destroyed; estimated
that about 1000 people had been buried
and burned on funeral piles, besides
what were not yet uncovered. The
earthquake happened about 1886 Mon
day. p. M, when the narrow business
streets, with business buildings entirely
of brick, were crowded with people.
1t was a beautiful afternoon, every
one was looking forward to the annual
tourist harvest. No warning was given.
1t must have been a terrible shake to
completely demolish every brick build
ing not only in the city but for miles
around. The narrow crowded streets
We're filled with debris, killing hun
dreds of people. The experiences as
told us by several who escaped was
awful. 1t lasted all the way from six
seconds to five minutes, according to
the person. No one seemed to know
anything only that he stood still or ran
as the case might be, and he saw
certain people nlangled or crushed as
the case might be. AS the mail is
supposed to be leaving shortly | can't
go into details.
We picked our way through the
ruins along Kings Road, the principal
business street, where the smell of the
dead was often almost uncomfortable.
Scores of laborers were working clear
ing the streets in fact where there had
not been patch cleared, the streets
were practically impossible to people
on foot. Carriages were out of
question.
Two American warships are in the
harbor and the work our boys are doing
is receiving praise from every source.
The first part of our crowd came passed
a place where our blue jackets just un-
covered well dressed white woman.
A letter was found in her hand and as
there happened to be priest in our
party he took the letter and will look
up her relatives. The question the
laborers wanted to know was that if
she were native she would be putin
the funeral piles, several of which are
kept burning in the main streets, if a
tourist she would be buried in the
long trenches which are being dug out
side of town. From several such sights
we passed Oh down to the famous
| Myrtle Bank hotel where we had plan.
ned to spend tonight. 1t was total
wreck. Twelve people having been
killed by the falling walls. After hear
| ing few more stories we passed on
and inspected more ruins. Finally the
dust, dirt, ruin and especially the odor
| was too much, SO we returned to the
| steamer. On the way we passed
through the large beautiful Victoria
Park in which We're encamped hundreds
of people, mostly negroes. Several
crowds were singing hymns and peay-
ing. 1t was very pathetic.
You might forward this letter or a
copy to the Campbells. It will save me
writing them. Suppose you will tell
the Thomases, SO it will save another
letter. Love to all.
| Your son,
KARL.
| We sail for Savonillie tomorrow.
| MillSan.DrvOr.