| Show from from prom the mercurio Mer cario carlo del lapir of santiago BURNING bursing OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN SANTIAGO oter OVER TWO pep rep sons PERl TEHI SIll A dreadful visitation has fallen upon us truly this thia is a day of trouble and rebuke for tor blasphemy the voice of 0 lamentation ia Is heard all over the landl land the bitter weeping of fathers husbands brothers and lovers for those who were the jo joy and brightness of their life that refuse to ke be comforted because they are not hundreds of young girls only yesterday gadient and beautiful in the luxa bloom of the fresh hopeful spring of life are today to day hideous corpses horrible horri bies bles loathsome to the bight impossible to be recognized tiie the sch of december was a great triumph for the clergy clerga of the church ot at the jesuits in santiago an n enthusiastic audience filled filed every nook there were hardly any men 1 en there but three thousand women comar comprising I 1 sing the flower the and fashion of the cani al were at the feet of 0 the ecclesiastics very many man against the will of fathers and hus ban lanas lands i a but that of course only showed forth the he power and might of the gospel never had iad such been seen before twenty housand thousand wats lights mostly in long 1 es toona of colored globes blazed the church into a ball of fire buethe but the fhe per performa performance forma n c a had yet begun began when the crescent of fire at the foot oot of 0 the gigantic image ot at the virgin over the he high alter overflowed and climbing up be the draperies and pasteboard devices to the wooden roof root rolled a torrent of flame the suddenness of the fue fire was awful the danse dense mass of women frightened out of their senses numbers fain fainting tinz and all entangled by their long ong swelling swell g dresses rushed as those who knew that de death ath was at their heels to one door which soon became choked up fire was everywhere streaming along the wooden ceiling it flung 7 the lamps hung in rows there among the struggling gling women in a moment the gorgeous church was a sea of flame michael ari ail angels Angel anzel elos cs fearful picture of hell bell was the rebut exceeded help was all but impossible a hercules might have strained his bis strength th in vain to pull one from the berrid mass of frei trel frenzied wretches who piled one above the other ss as they climbed over to reach the air wildly fastening grip I 1 a of darath death upon any aay one escaping in order hat that they might be dragged out with them those who longed to save them were doomed to bear the most harrowing bight that ever seared human eyeballs to bee see mothers sisters tender and timid women dain that dreadful death that appalled the stoutest heart of man within one yard of salvation within one yard of men who woud would have given their lives over oyei and over gain again I 1 it t wab was mad denn dening the screaming and wringing of hands for help helb h 1 I p as the remorseless flame came on and then while some already dead from fright were burned with ghastly indifference others in their horrible agony some in prayer were tearing their hair and battering their f faces aces women seized in the embraces of the aames hames were seen to undergo a transformation as though by an optical illusion fiot flot dazzlingly bright then theu borri torri horribly bli bly lean and shrunk up then black sta statues t C ifie y filed fixed in a writhing atti alli attitude altitude tude 1 I he fire imprisoned by the immense thickness of the walls bad devoured everything combustible by ten and then defying the he sickening stench people came to look tor for their lost ones ob oh what a bight sight the fair acid acad moon looked down apont upon closely lacked crowds of distorted forms forma wearing the fearful expression of the last pang lang whose smile was once a heaven the ghastly phalanx of black statues twisted in every ivery variety of agony stretching out their arms aa as if imploring mercy and then of the that bad choked up the door multitudes with their lower parts entirely untouched and some bome all a shapeless mass but with an arm or a foot the silence after these piercing screams were hushed bushed in death was horrible it was the he silence of the grave unbroken but by tho the bitter wail or fainting cry over two thousand souls had bad passed through the ordeal of ot fire to the judgment of god |
