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Show GUATEMALA IS NOW DESTROYED Eighty Thousand Rendered Hpmeless by Earthquake Shocks of Great Force. SAN SALVADOR, Dec. 30.-i-Guate-mala City, capital of the republic of that name, has been completely destroyed de-stroyed by an earthquake. Many persons per-sons were killed In the disaster, some In their homes and others in the street The Colon theater, which was filled with people, collapsed. Thoro were many casualties among the audience. Various hospitals and asylums and tho prisons were badly damaged and many patients and prisoners were killed. The railroad depot, sugar mills, post-' office, the American and British legations, lega-tions, United States consulate and all the churches in the city have been leveled. lev-eled. Deep fissures opened In the middle of the city. The inhabitants in panic havo fled from tho capital. More than 80,000 persons aro homeless. The stock of provisions in the city is scant and aid is required promptly. . The Salvadorean government has suspended the official New Year celebration and entered into mourning ' in sympathy with Guatemala. 1 l BRIEF DISPATCH ANNOUNCES THE AWFUL DISASTER WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 The series of earthquakes began Christmas day i and culminated last night in violent 1 shocks which completed the work of destruction. Following is the brief dispatch ' which brought the news of the catas- j trophe. I "Bad earthquake yesterday finished the work of others. Everything in ruins and beyond description as a result re-sult of last night's shock. One hun dred and twenty-five thousand people are in the streets. Parts of the country are very cold and windy. Tents are needed badly. Quite a number killed yesterday by falling walls." The machinery of the American Red Cross has been r i-i !n motion to relieve the earthquake sufferers. In response' to an appeal for assistance from Alfred Al-fred Clarke, chairman of the Red Cross chapter at Guatemala City, ai preliminary appropriation of $10,000 has been authorized for the purchase of relief supplies. Materials for temporary shelters are being assembled, but mildness of the climate In the devastated region mini- mizes fears of suffering likely o be I caused by exposure. . At a gulf port large quantities of flour, potatoes, crackers and other sta pie foodstuffs as well as disinfectants and stores of galvanized iron for temporary tem-porary buildings already are being loaded to sail for Puerto Barrios, on the east coast of Guatemala. Earthquakes have been prevalent in Guatemala since the day after Christmas, Christ-mas, when shocks were general throughout the republic. With each recurrent shock the damage in Guatemala Guate-mala City, the capital of the republic, has grown more extensive. Last Thursday Thurs-day It was reported that from ten to forty persons had been killed In the disturbances of the previous night, while dispatches of Friday and Saturday Satur-day Indicated that 80 per cent of Guatemala Gua-temala City had been demolished and that thousands of persons were homeless. home-less. Mqrtial lawjiad been declared .and good order was said to be prevailing. Guatemala has been the sceno of many disasters, the, results of earthquakes. earth-quakes. .Since the settlement of the country in 1S22 there has been more than fifty volcanic eruptions and in excess of 300 earthquakes. Tho original orig-inal Guatemala City was destroyed in 1541 and 8000 of the inhabitants were killed By a deluge of water from a near-by volcano, which was rent by an earthquake. "The second capital was destroyed by an earthquake in 1773. The houses of the present capi tal wore built low in consequence of the liability to earthquakes. Guatemala City has a population of nearly 100,000. It is situated on a plain at an elevation of 4S50 feet bove sea level. In the groat square stood the old vice regal palace, the cathed-rnl cathed-rnl and archbishop's palace and government gov-ernment offices. The capital Is the center of the trade of the entire republic. |