MAIL NEWS.

Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 353, 1 March 1902, Page 2

MAIL NEWS.

EARTHQUAK [■: SHOCKS. MANY PEOPLE BECOME INSANE FROM FRIGHT AND GRIEF. Per R.M.S. Sierra at Auckland. (By Telegraph). SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 9. A second earthquake shock on January 18 shook the Mexican town of Chiljancinge, already devastated and terrified by the .shock of the 16th. Great fissures opened 'in the streets, and many people were killed in the surrounding towns. On the following day it was announced at the Government observatory that the volcano of Ci lima was again in eruption. Renewed tremors are reported. Subscriptions are being taken 'in the city of Mexico for the sufferers. The Governor of Chiljancinge and family are sheltered in a stable. It is thought that the Government will contribute thirty thousand dollars for rebuilding the city. Many people are reported ‘o have become insane from fright and grief, because of the loss of friends. It is proposed to rebuild the city on a new site. GREAT FIRES. ENORMOUS DAMAGE DONE. PANIC-STRICKEN PEOPLE. (Per R.M.S. Sierra, at Auckland.) Waterbury, Conn., Feb. 3. For ton hours last night and this morning llames, fanned by a high wind, held sway over the business portion of this city, causing a loss that will exceed three million dollars. The best busiuess portion of the city, forming a triangle bounded on the north by Exchange Place, on the West by Bank street, on the south by Grand street, and the east by South Main street, was almost wiped out. The first fire, which started in the big building of Reid and Hughes, dry goods company, on Bank street, was not considered under control until about two million dollars’ worth of property had been destroyed. About the time the firemen supposed they had the flames under control a second fire broke out in Scovil House, the city’s leading hotel, and the establishment was completely wrecked. The occupants of the hotel were forced to seek the street in their night clothes. With the ringing of the second alarm the whole city was thrown into a panic. There was a fiece gale blowing, and sparks from the burning hotel were driven in showers over a great area. The occupants of the buildings located in the path of the wind prepared to leave.

Although the Waterbury Fire Department was reinforced from near-by cities, it was for a time impossible to stay the progress of the flames. The fire entirely burned over four acres of city—the best business section. Among the prominent buildings totally destroyed are the blocks occupied by Reid and Hughes Dry-goods Company, the plant of Waterbury, the American Masonic Temple, Seovil and Franklin Houses, W. L. Douglas Shoe Company, Johnson’s block, and the Salvation Army buildings. In all about one hundred of the most prominent business houses are burned out.

Rarely have firemen been obliged to contend against worse conditions than those which prevailed from first to last in this disastrous conflagration. The wind was blowing a gale, and the cold was intense. It seemod at one time as though every structure in the heart of the city would be destroyed. In some instances the work of the firemen proved of no avail. The Waterbury Bank buildings at the corner of Bank and Grand streets, was saved, although the New England Engineering Company’s 1110,000 building but a few feet away, and the Masonic Temple on the north side of the Bank buildings, were wiped out of existence. The city is practically under martial law, tho blue uniforms of the National Guardsmen appearing on every side. Details are changed every two hours. Tho Armory, the City Hail, churches, and other public places have been turned into temporary shelters, hundreds of people being rendered homeless.