Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1907-01-19
$4,000 HOMELESS
Stricken Jamaica Threatened
With Famine and PsStII0nCs
Latest Reports Give the Loss Of
Lives at Over 1000 and a Property
Loss Of More Than $4,000, 900
Admiral Evans is Rushing From
Cuba With His Fleet to Render Sue
cor and Assistance to the Authorl-
ties in Preserving order.

Washington, ID. C-Although previ-
GUS reports have been conflicting and
widely at variance regarding the loss,
official advices have leaked through
stating that in Kingston, Jamaica, the
loss of life from the earthquake OF
Monday, and the subsequent fire, will
exceed 1000 in dead, while thousands
OF persons are injured and $4,000 per-
sons are homeless. The property loss
In kingston Is more tnan $1o,o0o,Ooo,
while outside the city the plantations
have suffered to the extent of about $5,-
000, 900.
Kingston Is described as being an
absolute inferno. Negroes are looting
the smouldering remains, and the ashes
OF what were stately residences and
mercantile buildings, alike with the
humble dwellings of the natives, are
Joined in vast crematory,
The stencil from the city is over
whelmiDg. Whites and blacks are be-
ing ordered away from the place, and
strong military guard is rapidly
marching overland. From Port Royal
no word has been received, and 1t is
feared that it, too, suffered destruction
in part at least.
The big hospitals were there, as well
as the headquarters Of the British
army. .----.-.,->--
Relief plans are under consideration,
and the German lines have wired that
they will gladly transport free all sup
plies gathered by the Red Cross.
Admiral Evans Is rushing from
Guantanamo, Cuba, with his feet, and
he will do all in his power to succor
the stricken and aid the British au
thorities in preserving order and taxi
ing up the task of improving condi-
tions.
The United States consul has reported
that the consulate was destroyed but
he believes the papers and state docu-
ments, In a fire proof safe, will prove
to be intact.
There is no food in Kingston, and
famine Is added to the horror OF the
situation, while all the water supply
In town has been polluted. The aque-
duct conveying the drinking supply
from the mountains has broken, and
the conditions among the stricken citi-
zens are simply indescribable.
The heat is intense all over the Car
ibbean Sea, according to meteorological
reports, and this, Of course, will add to
the misery of the islanders.
The various steamship agencies re-
port that all their passengers are safe
at Port Antonio, 40 miles across coun-
try, or at other unaffected portions of
the island.
Messages from Jamaica are coming
via st. Thomas, Danish West Indies,
and give but meagre details, beyond
the single epitomlzatlon, "Kington is
wiped out; conditions appalling"
There have been, all last week, about
1000 American tourists In the vicinity
of Kingston, but not one is reported
thus far in danger.
This, in a measure, is due to the
tourist agencies keeping constant watch
over the parties travelling with them.
Then, too, the tourists would not be
around the town In the heat of the
afternoon, when the catastrophe came
A great majority of the city's popu-
laticn of $4,000 is black, and the cas-
ualties will be heaviest, II not almost
totally confined to the dwellers in the
little thatch covered homes that proved
source of delight to the tourist and
camera enthusiast.
Precedence is given to British col
onial Office messages. Governor Sir
Alexander s. Wettenham and Hamar
Greenwood, M. p, are in charge Of af-
fairs, and st. Thomas cable operators
intimate that an absolute dictatorship
has been declared. Military rule will
begin Thursday, when sufficient force
will have been modified.
There were about 40 black soldiers
burned to death in a military hospital
just outside the city, and orphanages
and other institutions in the suburbs
have been destroyed, 1t is feared.
The radius Of the cataclysm Ia said
to have been about ten miles. Tele-
graph lines have been restored to with
in five miles Of the city, but the con-
ditions prevent operators from reaching
within the city.
The governor has issued orders to
shoot looters without warning.