El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-12-28

Copyright 1912, by Frank J. Carpenter)
: NAMED in existence for ESQ vars, whel
lit was again destroyed by the same vol
cano which had brought on the flood.
The new capital was laid out with the
idea that it would be the metropolis of
/ North America and for generations it
1 was the center of culture and learning
/ of southern North America It was de-
/ stroyed in 1873 by earthquakes and at
/ that time it had 40, 900 people. In
a city of wood.
This old capital of Guatemala was a
city of stone and stucco- Its streets
were paved with stones and it had
buildings which covered acres. It had
40 churches. four of which were parish
churches, whose priests were under the
government, and the others had been
established by the Spaniards, who built
them IN gratitude for the prosperity
given by the Lord There were also
eight great inconsistencies five converts,
two big. hospitals and three massive
jails- There were palaces galore, and
outside the city were 70 indian villages
surrounding 1t like the setting of
diamond.
In the center of the city was a great
plaza. upon which faced the cathedral
900 feet long and 40 feet deep. This
was lighted by 90 windows. and over
its grand altar was a dome 20 feet
high, supported by Is columns Of stone
faced with tortoise shell and adorned
by bronze meda1lions of wonderful
beauty
Destroyed by Earthquakes.
Then came the earthquakes and erup-
tons. In 1858 there was a plague, and
in 1886 there was a great earthquake,
which destroyed large part of the city.
In 1901 there was another plague and
so years later the earth trembled again,
and masses Of rock rolled down the
mountain slopes into the city.
About generation later the plague
came for third time, and then after
a respite of 80 years the volcano had
another eruption during which the
earth shook and the thick walls OF the
churches cracked like egg shells. The
last earthquakes were those of 1873.
AT that time the mountains seemed to
on continuous shake, the tiles flew
from the roofs Of the houses like
straWs blown about in q gale of wind
bIed.
The domes of the churches were split.
the roofs of the mOnasteries fell in
ana many monks at prayer were buried
IN the debris At last the final earth
QUAKE was on the 18th of December,
lttS- This destroyed so much of the
CITY that people decided to move. The
king of Spain took it up and sent out
his orders that the site of the capital
be changed He was obeyed and the
Guatemala city of today lies on a little
plateau 30 miles away. 1t is so sur
rounded by ravines and gorges that the
earthquakes do not trouble it 1t was
laid out on the plans of the old cftv
but 1t has never reached its magnifi-
cence, ana the population now is at
least 10000 less than was that of the
old capital at the time of the removal
now more than 139 years ago.
The Antigua of TO-DAY
I wish I could show YOU the Antigua
OF today as it lies about me. Some of
the old buildings have been repaired
ana new ones erected, so that we have
now mere population of perhaps 5000.
made up of indians and whites. The
most Of these people live in low one
stored buildings of brick. covered with
stucco and rooted with red tiles Much
Of the material has come from the old
CITY and the windows have antf0uated
balconies which extend out over the
street and which are barred with