■in-^ 



'IIIK ami: I! lew MISI'IM ./Olh'XAL 



Jiients to \ icw witli ecjuaJiimily any 

 change wliicli would tend to decrease 

 property value, and tlicy l)irtei'ly olj- 

 jeeted to the ])roposed c!ian,::c. Kut in 

 spite of this o])position the matter "went 

 slowly forward. 



Koyal engineers were sent over from 

 Spain, and after due delibei'ation ;md 

 stvidy a new site was chosen in the next 

 valley, twenty miles east of the former 

 capital; and in 1776, the third city of 

 Santiago de los Cahalleros de (Guate- 

 mala was formally founde<l liere. al- 

 though the government itself was not 

 moved ovei' until three years later. 

 Again, as in the case of the first city, 

 the second was not entirely abandoned. 

 Many people refused to leave their 

 homes, and under the name of Antigua 

 the place has been occupieil down to the 

 present day. It is for all that, however, 

 a city of the past: its magnificent 

 churches and public buildings are in 

 ruins, and its population has shrunk 

 from sixty thousaml to less than ten 

 thousand. 



The third city of Guatemala was lo- 

 cated where it now stands because of 

 the supposed immunity of the place 

 from earthquakes. And when the site 

 Mas chosen there were some grounds for 

 such belief. There had stood here since 

 1620. on a little hill in the midst of the 

 ])lain. called the Cerrito del Carmen, a 

 small church and monastery, which had 

 weathered successfully the numerous 

 shocks of the seventeenth and eigh- 

 teenth centuries. The site, moreover, 

 was surrounded on three sides by steep 

 l)arrancas or canons. Kightfully or 

 wrongfully the royal engineers be- 

 lieved these canons to have been re- 

 sponsible for the immunity which the 

 little church ami the sni'i'ounding ])lain 

 had enjoyed. 



In due course of time and in >pite of 

 repeated shocks, 1827, 1830, 1852, 

 1853, 1855. 1858. 1861, 1862, 1870, 

 1873. 1874. and others of lesser inten- 

 sity since, a new and still larger and 

 more beautiful city grew up. A hand- 



some cathcdi-al wa> built: cluin-h and 

 government buildiug> wci'c <'rccted. 

 The i)lace finally cauic to lia\c a hun- 

 dred thousand inhabitant.- and Kecami- 

 known as "The Pai-is of ("cntral Aiuer- 

 ica."" 



'I'hc procnt "family"" of earth([uakes, 

 which culniiualcd iu the gi'cat shocks 

 of Dcccmhei- 25 and 21). r.H:. and of 

 January -■). I!»ls. began as fai' back as 

 the middle of XovcMuber: and indccil 

 are probably to be correlated more I'c- 

 motely with th<' same subtci'i'aiican ac- 

 tivity as that which caused the dotruc- 

 tive earth(pud\'c and \dlcanic ciniptiou 

 in San Salvador six month> cai'licr. ou 

 June 7, 1917. 



On the evening of Xo\ember 17 last. 

 (Juatemala City ex])erienced a brisk lit- 

 tle shake but of short duration. During 

 the days which followc(l. scarcely a 

 week went by without some slight 

 li-cnioi' of the earth being felt. Imt noth- 

 ing came of it. The people became 

 inured to these tciiiJ/Jorritos or "little 

 shocks"" as they were called, because of 

 their very fre(|uency. and ceased to 

 worry al)ont them. It >eemcd that cm'U 

 Mother Earth could cry tlie wolf too 

 often. At seven o'clock in the e\'ening 

 of r)eceml)er 24 there was a second 

 brisk little shock. Dishes rattled on the 

 tal)les. electric light fixtttres swung 

 back a]id forth, people even I'an from 

 their houses for the moment : but again 

 nothing came of it. exce|)t one wise 

 order from the government that there 

 l)e no performances in the moving pic- 

 ture theaters on the following evening. 



Christmas evening al)out seven we 

 felt a slight tremor but scant notice was 

 taken of it. Perhaps by relating my 

 own experiences in the few honi-s that 

 followed I can best descril)e how the 

 shocks came and how the city reacted 

 to them. I had been out to dinner that 

 evening and was returning to my hotel. 

 The night was cold for the tro]ncs. 

 about 55° Fahrenheit, and a bi-illiant 

 moon was in the sky. 



Suddenly and without previous warn- 



