Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 July 1896 — VICTIMS OF THE SEA. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

VICTIMS OF THE SEA.

■ — 3 r ' Thirty Thousand People Drowned by the Tidal Wave in Japan. Thirty thousand souls hurtled to eternity,; thirty thousand lives blotted out in five minutes; probably the' same, numltor of emaciated sufferers stalking hungryeyed ajtout the ruins of their former homes—that, briefly.. is the story of the great wave that swept up from the sea and engulfed the coast of the island of Yez.o, Jap.wi. Following is the summary of the results of the disaster: Iwate —25.413 deaths, 1.244 wounded. 5,<»3(.l houses swept a way or destroyed. Miyagi—2,337 deaths, 505 .wounded. 68S houses swept away or destroyed. Aomori —346 deaths, 243 wounded, 484 houses swept away er destroyed. Totals—2B,4l6 deaths, 1.1192 wounded. (>,202 houses swept away 1 or destroyed. ()t various towns and villages’’that were visited by the caUirhity Kiimaisb: and Taro suffered most. In the formes 4.700 out of 6.337 people were drowned, while in the latter 2,655 out of 3.747 were killed. it was shortly before 8 o’clock on the night of .Monday, June 15, that dwellers near the coast heard a strange sound that came out from the sea, swelling on the calm evening air. The 1 dreaded tsunami (sea wave) was not altogether new to Bomb of those who were so soon to become its victims. But it is asserted that the people were exceedingly sldw to realize the immensity of the danger that threatened them. “Tsunami!” cried a terrorstricken fisherman, and “Tsunami!” passed the echoing wail swiftly from man to man ujrffl the silent fishing hamlets rang with the cry. Mad with terror, that 1 lent speed to their flying feet, the dwellers

forsook their frail, thatched huts, and rushed for the bluffs {opping the sleeping villages. 1 Some of the first to flee gained places of safety,saw’the phosphorescent waters clamor and toss timbers and human beings almost at their feet, and heard them sullenly, relreat, with, their ghastly burden. Others caught by the sea and beaten most cruelly by the debris which it bore on its crest were yet left behind when it withdrew. Blit by far the fiiost were swallowed up and their poor bodies are now only being thrown back on land. The town of Kamaisni, situated a few miles from the iron mines of that name, was almost wiped out, only a few bouses standing on high ground behind the town being spared. In this town 4,700 persons, out of a total population of 6,557, lost their lives; 500 were injured; 1,080 out of 1,213 houses were destroyed. Taro was -a--vfflage..-.0t....2,500_.,.p0pu1atj0n, _Tliree Hundred persons escaped from the catastrophe. At this point the wave appears to have been most destructive; some of the survivors declare it to have been eighty feet high, and the marks left oh the rising grounds show it to have been

of such a height that it is a marvel any human beings survive. The loss of life would have been greater, but for the fact that over a hundred of the Taro fishermen were at sea and knew naught of the disaster till they returned. Owing to the destruction of the telegraph lines along the coast it was not till late next morning that news of the catastrophe began to spread, and for three days, it was all but impossible tdafford official aid to the survivors. Meanwhile the weather had grown warmer. Decomposition of the bodies had set in and it began to be a dreadful experience to venture in the vicinity of those spots where formerly there had been human habitations. But. worse than the awful scenes to which one could never become accustomed, in passing near the ruined houses was the spectacle of groups of swollen once-human forms rocking to and fro bn the sea almost within reach of the shore, while on the bench itself other similar awful objects were rolled over and over in rows by each succeeding wave as it reached the strand. There can be no exaggeration of this frightful calamity or of the never-to-be forgotten scenes that have followed and are yet coming in i|s wake. It has been found extremely

difficult to secure laborers to assist in locating, recovering aud.decently interring the dead, ami the gravest fears are entertained that disease will be bred by the presence of so many decaying bodies. It would lie idle to discuss the causes ot this extraordinary visitation. It may have originated in some tremendous volcanic outburst far away in* the Pacific oedti'n, or it may have been* caused by a displacement of the ocean bed£k the hither edge of the Tuscarora D<4*p, which was discovered by'Admiral Belknap -tn the 'ftscarora, and stretches a mighty abyss, live and one-third miles deep, off the Japan coast yea “waves have invaded Japan before, but never-with aUeh disas-

trona results.- It is well within the memory 6f those still alive thpt in 1854 the harbor of Shimoda was visited by three 'iruge'v'aves.'whieh -destroyed many, lives and much shipping,;Jedv'ing thg Russian frigate l*iana a total wreck. Moreover; -smhlb •brought little dCsWicfion, was experience I in parts <!’ lift very regions that ha'fF r.ow been devastated. >- 'T!:e Emperor and Empress promptly g'avCi 14.990 yen, to be devoted' to the relief us the sufferers, and. foreigners and Japanese are subscribing to funds started for a similar, purpose.

SHIZUKAW AFTER THE WAVE PASSED OVER IT.

BUINS IN ODACHI.