Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/481

Rh other places, and more particularly felt in its effects at the port of Acapulco. On the 28th of March, at about seventeen minutes past eleven in the morning, the capital felt some of the severest shocks that ever befell that city. They lasted nearly six minutes, and the vibrations from north to south with some inclination to the north-west were so heavy as to cause much injury to the buildings. A repetition of the shocks occurred at 12:15, sometimes from east to west, and at others from north to south. During the rest of the day five more took place.

In Oajaca City the effects were, if possible, more alarming. The first shock was very strong at 11:15; the second being no less severe, the endangered citizens rushed to the plaza mayor as a place affording some safety. The damage to buildings was at once seen. The new and strongly built casas reales showed large cracks in the walls, and some of the cornices had fallen. The prisoners in the jail, some two hundred and twenty, implored removal, which was attended to with the requisite precautions. Measures were promptly taken by the authorities for the protection of life and property, and to avoid unnecessary confusion. During the whole of that day and the 29th the quaking of the earth ceased only at short intervals. It continued with increasing force on the 30th till 11:30 in the morning, when it stopped, but only to begin anew more severely at four in the afternoon. A more tremendous shock than the first one of the 28th took place at 11 o'clock that night, and