The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1907-01-25
SEA MAY HIDE
FATED ISLAND
Current Report Says Stricken Ja-
maica is Gradually Sinking.
HORROR IS INTENSIFIED
Latest Dispatches Indicate that Catas-
trOphe Will Rival Frisco and
Valparaiso CaIamitieS.


Wireless messages received at the
station on Anastasia Island, Florida,
Thursday by Chief Electrician Elkins
say that Kingston and the Island of
Jamaica are sinking gradually; that
many holes and cracks one hundred
feet deep we're formed by the earth
quake and that grave fears are felt
shat the entire city will slip into the
bay.
Other dispatches state that the dis
aster is as great as the calamities Of
San Francisco and Valparaiso. Thou
sands of persons have peen killed and
the dead bodies are being taken from
the debris by hundreds. The whole
town is in ruins.
Communication with the islam dis
Communication with the island is.
that comes through brings fresh de-
tails of the appalling catastrophe
The number of dead is placed va
riously at from five to twelve hun
dTed and the number of mildred runs
into the thousands. The danger Of
famine mas Increased and with it
stands the specter of pestilence. There
is urgent need of supplies of all kinds,
and energetic efforts are being made
in this country and in England to send
aid.
The business section of the city has
been wiped out and the estimates Of
the damage range from ten to twenty
five millions.
Among the dead and injured are a
number of prominent English persons
and almost every dispatch adds new
names to the list.
Eight Americans are reported as
missing. It is said that many tourists
undoubtedly were crushed by falling
walls in the shopping district.
The American battleships Missouri
and Indiana have reached the scene
and American officers and sailors are
standing by to render every assist
ance in their power.
A new horror was added to the stu
abion by reports that the city seemed
to be slowly sinking into the sea.
The contour of the bottom of the
barber has materially changed and
two lighthouses at the harbor en-
trance are said to have disappeared.
The ships in the harbor are crowd
ed with injured people and the death
list is being increased daily. Corpses
lie in the streets or are being thrown
into trenches.
The calm official recital of the ac-
tuad conditions at Kingston sent III by
Sir Alexander Swettenham, the Brit
ish governor of the Island, realizes the
worst fears Of the earlier reports and
brings home to the British public in
a manner the press messages failed to
do the terrible nature Of the calamity.
Some graphic details Of the disaster
are given in one of the latest dis
patches received, dated from Holland
Bay, January 10.
According to this report, the whole
city of Kingston seemed to snrivel up,
buildings crashed together and fell in
a crushed mass under the first shock.
The business streets at the time were
well filled with tourists, and, accord
ing to this correspondence, no doubt
many of them were caught in the fall
ing brickwork and buried In the de-
bris.
Fire broke out Immediately after the
crash at three separate points. The
fire department station was wrecked,
rendering resistance to the flames i'm
possible. The conhagration continued
unchecked until wednesday morning,
by which time the whole business
quarter of Kingston had been wiped
out, the damaged area comprising
about a square mile.