THE EARTHQUAKE IN JAMAICA.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXI, Issue 8718, 18 January 1907, Page 2

THE EARTHQUAKE IN JAMAICA.

The Harbour Closed. q h Panic-stricken Blacks. o Press Association —Copyright p London, January 17. i Injured soldiers at Kingston are chiefly natives. . 1 Major Hardyman was amongst the seriously hurt. Latest American accounts indicate that the panic is subsiding, Kingston harbour is closed to shipping. < The nature of the obstruction is not £ stated. s The natives at first were too frightened j to flee, many perishing through falling houses. AVhon the shocks continued, they fled, screaming with terror, to the hills, and yelling that the end of the world had come. Black preachers followed the refugees, exhorting them to repent. Many did not stop till they reached Holland Bay. Sir James Fergusson was deputy chairman of the Eoyal Mail Company. Complete Destruction of the CityFamine Imminent. Misery IndescribableLondon, January 17. Sir Alfred Jones telegraphs that all the houses within a radius o£ ten miles of Kingston are damaged, and most of the houses in the city destroyed, lire having completed the destruction. It is estimated that a hundred persons were killed and a thousand injured. The public offices and hospitals are ruined. Sir James Pergusson and many prominent merchants and professional men and a great many natives wore killed. The business quarter is ruined. King Edward and Queen Alexandra have telegraphed to the Governor, Sir J. A. Swctteuham, their horror at the terrible catastrophe and their sympathy with the sufferers. Havana, January 17. The American warships Missouri and Indiana and the destroyer Whipple, with ! Admiral Evans, arc hastening from Cuba to Kingston; also two provision supply vessels attached to the American Atlantic fleet. ' London, January 17. Everybody has been warned away from 1 Kingston, the stench being awful. A famine is imminent. All shops are 1 destroyed. ' The hanks aro burned hut the vaults are supposed to bo safe. The misery of the people is indoscribable. Many persons were buried in the smouldering ruins. A Hew Terror. ? More Shocks. - London, January 17. > It is reported that an extinct volcano ! at Portland Point, Jamaica, is showing ’ signs of activity. There is no nows from the interior of the island, communication being very 3 difficult. 1 The Press Association’s representatives 3 with Sir A, Jones’ party state that several 7 additional shocks and fires were ox- ' perienced on Tuesday. * Negroes aro looting the rum shops. ‘ At least live hundred were killed. I Forty-five invalid soldiers were burnt to death in the military hospital. 5 Another Estimate of Deaths. “ Lunatics at Largs, i B New' Vokk, January 17, The’ New Pork Herald’s Kingston cors respondent states that MrHcnnikcr Heaton f estimates the deaths at five hundred to a g thousand. Many others confirm the latter e lignin. The damage is estimated at two to three - millions. e Owing to the destruction of the asylum many lunatics arc at large. Thousands of homeless natives arc living i on bananas and sleeping in the streets, i Eight hundred of the principal buildings, 1 including churches, banks, public offices, ? and warehouse:-, are hi ruins. ' 'Tho .-hips in tho harbour when the . eauliqunko commenced slipped their l anchors and proceed., d j,o S;-a, thus oscap- * ing tho centre of tho shock, 1 The tremors were much lighter hilt fit [ Bull Bay, a distance of ton miles away, and were scarcely felt at Holland Bay. i Sydney, January 17. ; The Orient Company’s lings are at halfu,au, in respect to the memory of the late Sir Jus. Fcvgusson. Four Minutes Duration. Water Mains Broken. Relief Coming In. London, January 18. Sir Alfred Jones and his party wpro attending a conference in the Collegiate Hall. At tho first shock the building rocked, but all present refused to take refuge on the ships. Tho earthquake lasted four minutes. Tho water mains wore broken and the firemen paralysed. Tho debris on the water front took firo and the flames spread rapidly, assisted by strong \yinds. Pour streets were soon L. flames, The wind changed on Tuesday, and tho fire burnt itself out. Fruit is abundant and neighbouring towns and Trinidad and other islands aro sending food. There is great scarcity of medicine. Scores of bodies have beep buried for sanitary reasons without identification, Scores of bodies are still not extricated from the ruins. There aro 9000 persons homeless. j A relief fund has boon opened in Now j York. j Palling masonry killed Sir James Per-, gusson. | A tremendous windstorm, accompanied by partial darkness, forewarned tho whites of tho disaster. They rushed into tho * flpmi. and hence their death roll is comparatively niiiaJJ. 1

Natives took shelter in the poorer quarters, whore the chief fatalities ,0(J currod.

A battery at Port Royal was submerged and two gunners killed.

A relief fund has been started at the Mansion H.ousi*.

Captain Porgusson, It.hf., to-day st* coivotl a cable message confirming the nows of the death of his father at Kingston.