The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-10-08

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been on | should have persisted. AS
IL was, 1 tried 10 get some coal oil. and
went 10 a store and asked for II. The
merchant vas out in the street, He
told me that there was a fve-saIIon
cah IN the rear Of the store and that
! coulu nave II FOR nothing If would
prins II out. but, as for him. he
would not venture. ! went in and got
the can. but il held only a quart"
And what did the people 90 for
quarters that night"
We did our best TO get out Of
the city and later on We had tents
"nicn We lived III unui We could ind
"HtFe we were. Many of the resi-
have coffee plantations or
country estates and some went 70
them. A relief train and physicians
came III from San Jose the next day.
and the dead were gradually taken
out. A few Of the buildings have
since been repaired. The town has
now perhaps one-sixth the population
II had two years ago"
How the City Looks Today.
And now let me tell you something
OF the Carriage of today. have spent
hours wandering through lis almost
asserted streets and tramping over
the ruins of the homes Of the past.
Everywhere one goes he sees the
foundations Of buildings with a pile
of debris inside of them. The Church
of San Nicolas. not far from the
station, is being repaired, but the
tower IS down and the walls are
cracked and broken. The bells have
been put up on oles at a shed at the
side and are now rung by hand. The
great cathedral opposite the public
park and the market, which was
built at a cost, | venture, Of a half
million r4so, has been cracked and
destroyed beyond hope Of repair. It
Is a stone structure covering almost
an acre, with walls ten feet in thick
ness. Others of the churches have
entirely disappeared.
A Town of Tin and Scraps.
Walking through the streets one
sees the despair of the inhabitants in
the buildings which have been erected
to take h places OF the substantial
houses Of the past. There are shacks
everywhere made up of pieces of
galvanized iron roofing, boards from
dry goods boxes and the scraps Of old
lumber which fell with the quake.
The town now reminds one OF Nairobi
in Africa, which is contemptuously
called the tin town. The houses are
made up Of all sorts of makeshifts.
| The roofs and walls are of galvanized
iron OF half iron and half tile. In
the several houses l saw the sheets
of iron laid on the walls with the tiles
dIOuLu Li1c euSCS O1 me SIleetS 10 keSI
the rain from running through tn
cracks.
The market now consists Of a large
number Of sheds made Of debris anG
rooted with iron and tin. Today is
Sunday and the people from all parts
Of the country about have come into
the market. There were a thousand
hours ago. Many Of the market
women sat on the ground with
oranges, bananas, potatoes and onions
piled about them. The butchers
stood inside their tin Shacks and useC
! sheets OF galvanized iron as counters
upon which they cut up the meat fol
j the customers. There were tailor
shops and shoe shops in store-boy
like Sheds, and I saw women sewing
at machines out in the sun. In many
cases the merchants sold their goods
ont in the open, sitting on the ground
as they did SO. AT thepresent time
about two blocks away. a new marke1
is building. This is a building Of
steel with a galvanized iron roof. /
must cover several acres. and it is
ia pidiy approaching completion.
4 Look at CarneSie'S Peace Palace.
walked down the street following
a stream Of mountain water which
flowed through the gutter to the, site
Of Carnegie's great building which
wax ~ team pSaAC W t1VSC SSIltl q
American republics. The scenes abou
it are now peaceful enough, but the,
are the peace Of d~esolaton. I vii
not say Of despair, for I understand
that Mr.. Carnegie has offered to give
an extra hundred thousand dollars t
erect a new building, and that thi.
will shortly be put at the capital
San Jose, which is about five hours
walk away.
AS to the first structure. 1t lie:
where it was stricken down by thu
stony hand OF old Mother Earth. Thu
wallis and the root have been reduced
to a pile Of stones and the founda.
tons are intact for, perhaps, eight o.
ten feet above the ground. Every
thing else has fallen as far as III.
floor OF the great central court.
i climbed up the steps and walked owe,
the patio. This is intact, but weed
ana grass are growing in the corner
where the fountains were to hav.
been located. and there is a wild