Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1923-10-12
AFETTER FROM JAPAN.
ASP Shinshin, Karuizawa Japan,
Sept. 10, 1928

To the Shen. HERALD:
The great earthquake and fire o
Sept. 1st, has carried unutterable de
structionable in its train. shall brief
ly relate for the benefit of my friends
and readers of the HERALD, my ex
perience in connection with this dis
aSter.
KdruizaUa. The Summer Retreat Of
most Missionaries in Japan, lies JUS
go miles Northwest from Tokyo. For
tunately for the cause of Christianity in
Japan, the missionaries had not yet
returned from the mountain top to
their several stations. A high-noon
Sept 1, we experienced here in Kar-
uizawa a tremendous earthquake shock.
Our houses trembled and creaked and
were tossed like small boat on the
high sea. We all ran out doors, and
the ground under our feet rose and
fell in waves like the ocean 1t made
US almost reel like a drunken man.
Never has the like been experienced in
Japan in the memory of any one liv-
ing. Fortunately however, the loose
formation of the soil, and the CON-
paratively loose construction of our
wooden cottages here, saved our COM
munity from any serious damages.
Several chimneys were tumble d to the
ground, beams and rafters were slight
ly disl coated but no personal injury
was sustained, though our nerves were
somewhat shaken up. We naturally
imagined the centre of the disturbance
to be Mount Asama a large active
volcano, about 5000 fit. high, just nine
miles from our village, and always
clearly visible from my summer home.
Soon, however, reports reached us that
the centre of the trouble was in the
region of Tokyo, and that both Yoko-
hama end the capital city were in
ruins. Latest reports indicate that
Oshima Island in Tokyo Bay was the
real seat of the earthquake. Though
Mts, Chichihu San and even Fuji
San have been thought to be the cause.
Indeed, the real forces at work may
never be fully known, but the effect
can be seen and estimated.
Reports at first seemed so wild that
waited until Monday Sept. 8, before
visiting the scene of this most terrible
The means of communica-
lion were positively cut off it seemed,
and this fact indicated something very
serious. At last one man had made his
way from Tokyo to Karuizawa, arriv-
ng on Monday at about ten a. m. Hell
confirmed the first rumors, we had
heard. and Rev. A. j. Stirewalt,
of Luray, Va and determined to 90
at once to the scene. We boarded al
train at 1:20 p. m. with bag of rice,
about half bushel, bottles of water
and provisions for ourselves and
started out to be of service to curl
brethren as we'll as to see the |
dimensions of the disaster. Ordinarily |
he trip from here to Tokyo requires
only five hours, but it took us thirty
hours to reach there. 1t was neces-
;ary for us to walk for ten hours, be- |
cause from Omiya Station the Railroad
track had been twisted, bridges dam
aged, signal stations and signals dis
Lurbed, making it impossible for trains
to pass. Ten hours walk, with the
load on our backs in the hot sun was
itself rather strenuous, but the crowds
Of refugees streaming from the
stricken area, the extremely excited
state If the public mind. The devas-
tation, dead along the way-all tended
to make the journey difficult We
learned only later how dangerous it
really was. The populace armed with
clubs, pointed bamboo sticks were on
the lookout for dangerous, or doubtfu
characters. Many japanese them
selves, as well as Koreans lost their
life in this way. Often a mans skull
was cracked before he could explain
who he was. This is not fancy but
fact. 1t is a great pity that such horrors
should be added to the general de-
struction, but mob violence is also
known in our own beloved land. On
the whole the people here, especially
the refugees, conducted themselves in
an admirable way. The heat of violence
was aroused by,false and narrowing re-
ports, of bombs and poisoned wells etc.
We finally arrived at our destination in
Tokyo on Tuesday evening at dusk.
Mr.. Stirewalt's house had been badly
shaken, much of the plaster fallen, a
number of tiles shaken from the roof
but comparatively intact. being outside
the city limits.
The earthquake had damaged more
or less every building in and around
Tokyo, but the great downtown Sec
ton, including at least half of The en-
tire city is completely destroyed. The
The falling buildings from the earth
quake caused conflagration which
completed the destruction. Now re
ports at this early date of course cam
not be accurate, but the estimated loss
OF life in Tokyo alone is 100000 one
hundred thousand lives. This in my
opinion is conservative. AT one place
alone in Hojo-Ku, thirty-four thousand
persons fled to large open space for
safety from the earthquake, but were
surrounded by fire later and not a
single soul is known to have escaped all
were burned and smothered to death.
This fact is confirmed by newspaper
reports as well as direct eye-witnesses.
Not only Tokyo and its vicinity, but
also Yokohama, Kamakura, Shizauks
have suffered greatly. Yokohama just
seventeen miles from the capitol, has
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