Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-28
MA TIVES ARE
TERRIFIED BY
MANY SHOCKS
AMERICAN WOMAN KILLED IN
THEATER PANIC
OPERA HOUSE IN VERA CRUZ
ToTTERS
Reports from District Tell of Success
siVe TembIors-III Fated City
Cut Off from Outside
World
BY Associated Press.

BY Associated Press.
CITY OF MEXICO. March 27.-Gov-
ernor Damian Flores. chief executive of
the state of Guerrero, who is at present
in this city, this evening received the
first official advices from the town of
Chilapa. said to have been DESTROYED
In the heavy earthquake shock which
occurred last night
The message to the governor saws
that although number of the build
ings of the town were leveled to the
ground no lives were lost. The police
quarters and the mayors office were
destroyed and the jail badly damaged.
Great assures were made in the streets
and open fields
In the neighboring town of Ometepec
the Jail was destroyed and thirty pris-
oners made their escape. Troops are
guarding the public buildings that are
standing in Chilapa. but perfect order
prevails.
Town Destroyed
Later returns from Chilapa show.
however that the dispatch received by
Governor Flores was ultra conservative.
The town was practically destroyed.
though no lives were lost. Most of the
buildings that were leveled were resi-
dences.
Thirty-four shocks have been recorded
during the past twenty-four hours by
the seismograph at the national OBJ
| servatory at Tabuyaca. Most of these
shocks, however, were imperceptible ex-
4 fs, h. 1AIs.
strument
Mrs. Emma Jeanette Dorville. an
American, lost her life in a panic in
the Tubucio theater in the city of Vera
Cruz which followed the earthquake
News of the panic and the one death
reached this city tonight. When the
quake came the audience rushed for
the exits, and many persons were Sc
Verely bruised but none seriously in
jured. Mrs. Dorville dropped dead from
fright.
In this city a gendarme was killed.
fifteen persons were slightly and one
fatally injured by falling beams and
walls. All of these belonged to the
working classes.
| Early today FL impartial, the govern
ment organ, received a dispatch from
| it's correspondent in the town of Chill
pancingo saying that the town of Chi
lapa. thirty miles distant from that
place, was totally destroyed by the
earthquake and that fire broke out in
the ruins and was completing the work
of destruction. The people of the town
were terrorized and many were praying
in the open plazas and in the fields ad-
joining the town.
Reduced to Ashes
Some hours later the same corre-
spondent sent the following dispatch:
Later returns confirm my first tee-
gram; Chilapa has been shaken to the
earth and reduced to ashes. l avoid
the sending of Details
| This correspondent is the only one
working near the scene. The Associ-
ated Press unavailingly tried through
out the day to confirm the news of the
total destruction of the town.
Chilapa has population of some II, 900
people and is the largest town in the
state of Guerrero. To reach the place
it is necessary to travel one day by train
and then four days over rough noun
tain trail on horseback. Telegraphic
communication has not been inter-
rupted with Chilapa.
Reports coming in from various
points in the republic show that the
quake was felt over a very wide area,
but that in no place, with the possible
exception of Chilapa, was there a con-
siderable loss of life or property.