Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1911-06-08
Note Of Tragedy Injected into
Day Of Pure Rejoicing at
City of Mexico.
HALF TIE DEAD ARE SOLDIERS
Most Serious Shock Capital Has
Suffered in 20 Years-Poor-
CT Part Of City Dam
aged Most.

Mexico City. June 7.-Sixty-three
persons were killed. 70 wounded and
property worth $4,000 in gold was
wrecked to-day by on earthquake.
which shook the MaurrAn capital and
!nje ted q note OF tragedy over the ar
rival of Francisco I. Madsro. IT.
When the work of searching the
ruins is completed, 1t is possible that
tho list ot dead VIII bs increased sorne-
what, as hiding hare and thero
throuShou: the city there doubtless
are ma9" wounded, who, with tradr-
ticnal r'-" ot the authorities and
ro,"-' hospitals. are anxious to
ovaG. overy. The property loss
Is h;.f>'i OH calculations made by own
ers and contractors Little OF the loss
is covered by insurance.
It WAS 4:3e o'clock when the first
shock was felt According to the me-
teorolosical observatory, the greatest
intensity was reached at the end OF
tho FIRST minute, but the instruments
continued TO record the shocks for /.
minutes more.
More than half of the dead accounted
for were soldiers. They were caught be-
meath the falling walls of the artillery
barracks In San CosIna- Another place
where the earthquake took its toll OF
death In considerable numbers was at the
city power plant of the street car COM
rany. There six persons were killed and
six wounded.
FEW REALIZED MAGNITUDE
With these exceptions the death list was
made up of single cases. or in a few in
stances of two and three persons caught
beneath falling walls in unsubstantial
buildings
Although the shock was plainly felt in
all parts OF the city. few realized the
ma gnitude of the catastrophe until later
| in the forenoon because the casualties
were confined to a comparatively small
| area. Accustomed as the people Of the
| city ero to earthquakes which usually
| are harmless they were slow to realize
| that this was the most serious shock the
capital has suffered in a score of years.
| No property of Americans was damaged
and with the exception of one Chinese
| killed no foreigners We're injured.
| In the barracks where the soldiers
were killed, 70 women also lost their
| lives. They were the wives of artillery
men. who have the privilege of spending
| the night within the walls of the bar
racks an old structure. Seventy-two
soldiers We're sleeping in the house. The
bodies of 80 have been recovered. Three
are missing and 16 are wounded. a few
| severely.
| Those who escaped began the work of
| rescue at once without spreading the
alarm for some time. Women, whose
| soldier husbands were In the pile, stood
| l,1-u ri VI CllinC
| to their mothers dresses and stared
| curiously AZ the scene.
In the yards Of the Mexican Central.
Mt which Madero had been scheduled TO
| enter, three blocks from the barracks.
| long wall, separating these yards from
those of the Mexican railway was thrown
down. One engineer was crushed to
death. A warehouse of the Mexican
Central was mostly wrecked. About one
third of the roundhouse was torn down.
No casualties were reported there
The police reports of the quake to-day
and tonight did not record the death
of any person of prominence. The VIC
Tins were those whose homes were in
cheaply built houses, or shacks.
The fury of the shock was felt only
In the northwestern and the western
parts OF the city. The most damage
done was In that quarter known as Santa
Maria, although cracked pavements and
broken walls mark its course as far
, the south as Colonia Roma, inhabited
largely by Americans, In this quarter
however, little damage was done and
no dos '.s7 ave been reported.
CORES OF WALLS FELL.
Cracks show here and there In pave
ments throughout the area affected
and now and then asphalt is buckled
into ridges from three to five inches
high. Walls OF soft stone and adobe
bricks fell into open yards or into
streets that were bare OF pedestrians.
The water mains Of the city were
not injured and the light and power
/. company suffered little inconvenience.
Some damage was done to street car
tracks, but not enough to interfere
with traffic, except on one line
The projection OF the front wall OF
Belem prison was thrown into the
street. but no great damage was done,
A long crack reaching from bottom 70
top also was made in the front wall,
Two of the capitals old churches and
the national palace show effects OF the
shock. Long cracks appearec IN all of
them. The two churches are Santo Do
mineo and La Porfesa, The latter church
had been cracked by other earthquakes,
This morning the cracks were widened
and the building was ordered closed.
Three schools were considerably dam
aged but in none was there loss of life.
One OF the schools was the hceo Qua
dalupano, a fashionable boarding school
for sirs. That part of the building which
collapsed was far removed from the
' dormitory, The frightened children and
r their instructors fled into the street In
= their night clothes
At Mascarones College, the most fam
Gus Jesuit institution in the republic, a
long wall and roof, extending along nv
inclosed field collapsed The third sch
8 building damaged was the Cover
normal school