“Extract of a letter from a gentleman”
Date
5-9-1812
Newspaper
Western Spectator
Page and Column
Page 3, Column 1 and 2
Newspaper Location
Marietta, Ohio
Serial Number
1299
Abstract
Account from Laguria for the March 26, 1812 earthquake.
Transcript
Extract of a letter from Laguira, to a respectable merchant of this city, dated April 2, 1812. "Many times in my life have I experienced the goodness of a merciful God towards me, but never so conspicuously as in my preservation during the tremendous exertion of his power, which has shaken the mountains to their foundation, and leveled the greatest part of this city, as also that of Carraccas, with the ground. Thousands and tens of thousands have been buried, and most of them now [unreadable] beneath the ruins! The stench arising from the dead bodies is intolerable-such of them as could be come at, have been thrown into the sea, or collected into heaps and burnt to ashes. It is imagined that seven-eights of the houses in this city are demolished-and of those which still stand, there are not perhaps twenty that will be found tenable. The custom house, which was built very strong, is not much injured-The house which I occupy, is three stories high, and was likewise very strong-it stood the shock without falling, but it was so much injured that I do not intend to sleep in it, especially as we are constantly kept in a state of alarm by the frequent shocks which have daily taken place ever since the 26th ult. When the first shock occurred, I ran out of my house in amazement, I turned round, and beheld it rocking like a cradle, which, with the roaring of the Earthquake, the screams of the people, and the crashing, perhaps, of a thousand buildings, made the scene horrible beyond description!"
Recommended Citation
"“Extract of a letter from a gentleman”" (1812). New Madrid Compendium Far-Field Database. 1235.
https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/cas-ceri-new-madrid-compendium/1235
