The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-04-15
CITY OF MEXICO Is
STARTLED BY QUAKE
EARTH ROCKS IN LONG, SWING
ING MOTION FOR FOUR MIN
UTES-PEoPLE THRoNG THE
STREETS IN NIGHT ROBES.

City of Mexico. April 14-An earth
quake lasting for four and a half
minutes startled this city tonight. The
earth rocked in a long swinging motion,
terrifying the inhabitants, but doing no
damage so far as can be learned in this
city. Clocks in the city stopped at 1884
Mexican time, which is SO minutes slower
than American time, and the perceptible
, motion of the earth ceased at IL :3S1s. Tel
egraph wires were put out of commits
sion for a short time and the city was
in darkness owing to the failure of the
electric lights. One wall of the Asso-
ciated Press office was cracked from
floor TO ceiling.
The asphalt on corner of one of the
streets was cracked open for distance
of ten yards.
The shocks is pronounced the heaviest
here in years. People are thronging the
streets, many having fled from their no
tells and dwellings in their night robes.
Representatives of the Associated Press
made tour in cabs over the streets of
the city but could find no damage be-
You'd cracked walls and small assures in
the pavements.
At the police stations no deaths had
been reported up to 12:40 a. m.
I A wall on San Santiago street collapsed
killing a number OF horses and wounding
five men. No reports have yet come from
the American colony, but it is not believed
that serious damage was sustained there
although the houses unlike those in the
old sections of the city are not built to
withstand earthquake shocks.
AT the time of the first shock the cafes
and theatres We're filled and for time
! panic was feared, but owing to the
peculiarly steady swing of the earth's
movement the crowds left the buildings
| in comparative order. The shock was
preceded by two bright electric flashes
which lit up the sky to the northwest of
the city.
Up to this time the property loss is
reported as very small. number of
walls in unsubstantial buildings collapsed
The unusual length of the shock has not
been officially verified from the govern
ment observatory at Tacabuya, commune
cation with that point being cut off.
reporter of Eldario, morning paper,
held a watch during the shock and says
the earth rocked for four and one-half
minutes. If this is true it is the longest
earthquake ever recorded in this city.
The city is comparatively quiet, although
the streets are yet thronged with people,
many refusing to enter their houses,
through fear of more serious shock to
come
| The official record of the meteorological
| bureau gave the duration of the shock as
| four minutes. The movement was from
| east to west in an oval shape The
| needle first described ten centimeters and
/ later twenty-one, then it swung COM
| pletely out of the dial, leaving the exact
| strength of the shock a matter of con-
i lecture The observer declared that the
center of the shock was probably to the
southwark and it is feared that towns
in that region may have suffered greatly.
No communication from this city has
! yet been established and probably will
not be until tomorrow
Various police stations state that no
| lives were lost and no one injured.
A driver of circus wagon who was
| taking paraphernalia to a nearby railroad
! station was thrown from his seat by the
shock. He was uninjured beyond slight
| bruises received, but every one of the
| four mules he was driving were killed.
Ielegraphic communication as far south
as the cities of Maxaca and San Juan
Benista has been established now, but be-
yond the report that shocks were very
heavy in that region and along the gulf
coast nothing more was learned. From
the city of Vera Cruz, south, the shock
is reported to have been very severe.
At the meteorological bureau 1t Is said
the shock was the heaviest experienced
here since 1882.
From what is known at this time the
shock extended from the city of San Luis
Potosi on the north to Oaxaca on the
SOUTH a distance of 500 miles,