“Extract of a letter received...”
Date
4-24-1812
Newspaper
Alexandria Herald
Page and Column
Page 3, Column 3
Newspaper Location
Alexandria, Virginia
Serial Number
1174
Abstract
Account from Laguria in the Caribbean about the March 26, 1812 earthquake that occurred there. Credited to a newspaper called the Sun
Transcript
Extract of a letter received per schooner Independence, arrived at Baltimore from La Guayra. "A few days prior to our arrival, this town was almost destroyed by an Earthquake; it commenced about four o'clock P. M. on Thursday the 26th March; its duration was about 4 minutes, and its effects horribly destructive; since my arrival, there have been a few shocks, but no material damage done. Such is the alarm of the inhabitants that the town is entirely deserted, and they are now living without the walls, beneath little tents and huts, which are erected merely to shelter them, from the rain and heat of the sun. "It is not within the compass of my ability to describe to you the misery of these people; fear and despair, grief and ruin, have completely overwhelmed them. Parent have escaped, with the loss of their children; children with the loss of their parents, and very few without the loss of their property. Already five hundred persons have been found, and the probability is, that a greater number still remain buried beneath the ruins. The destruction at Caraccas is much greater; 2500 bodies have been thrown upon the funeral pile, and burned already, and it is supposed, that from 5 to 10,000 souls are lost.-Out of 40 churches in that place two convents only remain standing. Such is the lamentable situation of these two places, that it will be a long time, before they can be reinstated. No business of any nature is doing. All the Americans here will go to Puerto Cabello."--Sun.
Recommended Citation
"“Extract of a letter received...”" (1812). New Madrid Compendium Far-Field Database. 1127.
https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/cas-ceri-new-madrid-compendium/1127
