Perth Amboy evening news., 1907-01-19
DEAD BODIES
BY CART LOAD
Horrors Of Earthquake Wreck at
Jamaica Have Been Underes-
timated-- Big Steamer Ashore
AMERICAN TARs GUARD CITY
Late Dispatches State That Not for
$50 Years Has Jamaica EXperienc-
ed Such Violent Earthquakes
First Shock Was Followed by Is
Others-English Member of Par
lament Tells Story of the Ruins.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19.-That the
horrors of the earthquake and fire in
Kingston, Jamaica, have been greatly
underestimated is indicated by the re.
ceipt of dispatches from the stricken
city which have been delayed.
These state that thousands lost their
lives and that not for 250 years has
Jamaica experienced such Il violent
earthquake. The first heavy shock was
followed by fifteen others of lesser in
tensity.
The streets of Kingston are row
picketed with American guards. Ad-
miral Davis. at the request of the Brit
ish authorities, having landed Il num-
ber of marines from the baJtlcships
Missouri and Indiana.
Six hundred bodies have been recov-
cred, and more are being constantly
found
Dynamite is being employed to clear
away the debris of shattered buildings.
Because of their long immunity resi-
|dents of the island had begun to build
brick houses, which crumple easily,
and this accounts for many of the
deaths.
A ghastly procession of carts passing
|all day long through thel streets to the
cemetery reveals in all its horror the
|extent of the earthquake devastation.
in patches of twenty the dead are be-
ing buried as hastily as possible. Gen
.erally speaking, the whole city has been
and there, which remains a monument
to the freakishness of the earthquake
and the fire.
Rivers of black mud are slowly
forming and spreading through the
streets. Several of the most impor-
tant thoroughfares already are blocked.
The mud comes oozing up from great
assures in the earth.
So nauseating are the odors now aris-
Ing from the bodies buried deep in the
wreckage that Governor Swettenham
is seriously thinking of abandoning. the
city until conditions are more health
full. The torrid heat has FASTENED the
decomposition of the bodies of men and
beasts, and danger of epidemic is i'm
minent.
Within an hour thousands of persons
were made homeless, and hundreds
were enduring agony from broken
heads and limbs under the open sky.
The city doctors were busy all night
amputating limbs and dressing wounds.
The worst cases We're taken to the pub
lie hospital. where the staff of doctors
attended to them, but many expired
before morning.
The work of rescuing entombed peo-
ole was continued Tuesday and We'd
nesday, and fully 400 corpses were re-
covered, but many more were burned
to ashes in the fire. Attempts at loot
Ing were made by the rabble, but the
military guards stationed at the prin-
.ipal corners succeeded in restoring or
der
Efforts are being made by the gov
ernment to clear the debris from the
streets. but the laborers are afraid OF
the ruins and of further shocks, and
consequently slow progress is being
made.
On Monday night fifteen distinct
shocks were felt, but they did no dam
age. On Tuesday there were twenty
shocks, and on Wednesday there We're
ten.
A dispatch from Captain w. p. For
ward, the Hamburg American agent al
Kingston, says:
"Prinz Waldemar stranded at . this
morning near Plum point. Merritt
Chapman wrecking steamer Premier
gone TO her rescue"
Plum point is lighthouse point
about ten miles east of Kingston
whittier the steamer was bound wheT
she. struck The Prinz Waldemar lefl
Port Llmon the day of the earthquake
The shocks having DESTROYED the lights
CONTINUED on page 81.