The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1909-01-01
GREAT EARTHQUAKES.

OF all the mysterious forces Of ma
ture. the earthquake is the most terri
flying and resistless. The solution of
the mystery which attends this phe-
nomenOn has paffled scientists for
ages. Small wonder it is that the
ignorant and Superstitious have al
ways attached special significance to
this peculiar manifestation Of force.
since the world began, millions OF
lives have been destroyed by these
commissions of nature. Italy, the scene
of the most recent disturbance, has
been particularly afflicted from this
source
The tidal wave is a usual attendant
of the earthquake though not always
occurring in the same locality. In
the present instance the wave fol-
lowed close upon the seismic disturb
ance and in the same immediate vi
cinity. The loss of life has been enor-
NOUS; its full extent will probably
never be known.
America has had within our own
generation her own Affections from
wave and quake. 1t was in 1900 that
the CITY of Galveston was destroyed
by a tidal wave and in 1906 San Fran
cisco was destroyed by the earthquake
whose terrible traces have not yet been
entirely obilterated.
The destruction of Pompeii and Her
culaneum by an eruption of VeSuV1uS
in the year 20 is the first authenticate
ed historical catastrophe of the kind of
which we have any knowledge. But
the story of the destruction of SodOm
and Gomorrah by earthquake is gem
orally accepted as historically true.
Lisbon was destroyed by the earth
quake in 1855. In this disaster more
than sixty thousand people persisted.
1.-The earth opened and swallowed
them up" is the way a contemporary
historian described the calamity. The
entire southwestern part of Europe
was affected by this shock. which was
followed. as in the present instance,
by a vast tidal wave.
EARTHQUAKES have obliterated islands
and have created new ones. Ignatius
Donnelly wrote an enchanting tale
about Atlantis, a mythical continent
that is supposed to have disappeared
beneath the Atlantic ocean. The
earthquakes horrors have inspired
some of the greatest pens Of the world.
One of the masterpieces of our lam
guaga is Bulwer's description of the
destruction of Pompeii.
In 1857 Naples was visited by an
earthquake which destroyed more than
twelve thousand lives. In 1891 the en-
tire coast of Japan was afflicted and
the loss of life exceeded ten thousand
This calamity WIS a succession OF
quakes, following closely upon each
other and the loss of property was q
serious blow to the island kingdom.
In 1856 more than a thousand live
were lost in the Charleston earth
quake, and the South Carolina city
was awfully devastated. Ischia, g
a Mediterranean island, not far from
the scene of the present calamity, was
devastated in 1888. In 1887 all o.
southern Europe was shaken by earth.
quakes and the loss Of life exceeded Z
thousand.
Great earthquake shocks shook Car
acas in 1872; Aleppo in 1922; Mt Ar
arat in 1910; Brusa. Asia Minor. il
1855: Mendoza. Argentine, in 1860
Manila in 1868; Peru in 1868; Here
ford. England in 1896; and Inverness
Scotland. in the same year. In eacl
of these cases. except that of HEREFORD
there was grave loss of life. In a.
there was serious destruction of prop
ertV.
There has been no end to the the
cries advanced by scientists as to tn