Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1910-05-27
IN DEVASTATED CITY
Former BrattIeboro Men First to
Reach Carriage
Every Building Was LeVeled and Hun
dreds Were Buried in the Rulns-Let
ter from Charles Rennle.

Every Building Was LeVeled and Hun.
dreds Were Buried in the Rulns-Let-
ter from Charles Rennle.
Charles Rennie, formerly superintend-
ent of motive power for the Central YER
mont railway in Brattleboro has written
from San Jose, Costa Rica, concerning
his experiences in the terrible earthquakes
which destroyed the city of Carriage. Mr..
Burke referred to is the former we'll
known local station agent A part of Mr..
Rennie's letter is as follows:
Wei, of all the nights of trouble
ever had the night of May 4 was head
liner. l have turned my household into
box car. as the house was practically
ruined and the next day l built a shack;
that is where 1 am living now, and l
presume it will be my abode the next
two months. As soon as l could get
the folks quoted down l went to the
railroad station. All wires were down
and we could get no news from any
other town. The station was crowded
with people, homeless and half crazy.
1t was a hard mob to deal with; they
simply did not know what to do, or
where to go. The shake was a fearful
one was scared by the first one april
49, but scare was no name for this one.
station and made inquiry we found San
Jose had escaped being demolished,
seemingly by miracle. although every
house is badly damaged.
The next question was, how about
Carriage? 1t is situated at the foot of
a volcano and grave doubts were eX-
pressed about it. Our worst fears were
realized about 10 o'clock when two men
arrived on horseback with news that
Carriage was fiat to the ground, and that
200 or 300 people were buried under the
ruins. A special train was ordered by
the government right away, but We had
gone out from the city only about seven
miles when we found the track had
sunk about two feet for a distance of
nearly 100 yards, and a little further
along we found one of our bridges moved
about Is inches, and one stone abutment
sunk about six inches. This meant walk
about seven miles and we all started
out, the president of the republic being
one of the crowd.
Carriage was reached about in the
morning and a sight was presented that
would bring tears to a stone. Little
children who had lost mother and father,
women who had lost husbands and chill
1ren. men who had lost their wives and
children, were found on all sides. Pan
demonium reigned Eighteen doctors
had come on the train, but nothing
could be done until daylight, and after
that but little until the trains were able
to get through. Saturday afternoon one
of the police officials told me they had
buried S12 on Thursday and Friday, but
he was sure there were as many more
under the ruins.
We got the track through from Sar
Jose the next day, about in the after
noon. Mr.. Burke Formerly station agent
in Brattleboro) took charge of the rail-
road business at Carriage and worked
like a trooper None of us got any rest
dos fy1Af xrhn n hot n RI
settle a little. We had all the wounded
taken here Ito San JOSEF by that time
I could not say just how many, but 2OO(
or 5000 anyway.
Some of the escapes were miraculous
We had a conductor and his wife buried
a piece of furniture, which fell before
the roof of the dining room, where they
were having dinner, came down. The
piece held the roof up just enough tc
keep its weight off them. The woman is
a nervous wreck and has gone to hel
home in Canada. The man is still al
the front. They lost everything they
had, were left with only the clothes they
were wearing, and these were badly torn
We also had an engineer buried, witt
one of his little girls about y years old
but with the exception of a few scratches
both were uninjured. l will send a few
post cards with views of the ruined city
and you will then wonder how anyone
escaped.
The houses are mostly adobe with
walls about two feet thick, and thi:
weight coming down on people buried
them completely. Two little boys were
dug out Saturday without a scratch or
them, but they were pretty hungry
These two were orphans, but they seemed
to be quite CHEEKY after they were res
cued. Mr.. Burke has been using my
Office to sleep in as it is a frame building
and the earthquakes don't bother it.
The reports today say the worst is t.
come yet If so, the Lord help most o
the people down in the city. We hav'
about dozen shakes every day, but nom
of them are very strong. What make
the situation worse now is the rain. TIL
rainy season has started and lots o
people have no shelter. If it were tn
dry season everyone could sleep on tn
ground and be none the worse for tn
experience, but now 1 am afraid W
shall have epidemics.
1 would like very much to take tn
boat for Boston Sunday, but my Scotc
wont allow me to fly, so I guess 1 wi
see it through, as 1t is a poor soldier VIII
flukes going into battle. The official motto
says no one is to sleep indoor befor
June II.