164 SPORTING ADVENTURES 



Fortunately, owing to the previous shocks, 

 many of the residents had left the place, and 

 the others were mostly living in the courtyards 

 of their houses, or had camped out in the plaza, 

 so that the loss of life, though considerable, 

 was not nearly so great as it might have been. 

 Mr. Biddle, the resident minister for the United 

 States, had a very narrow escape ; his house had 

 fallen like the rest, and he had barely time to 

 save himself and his five little children by rush- 

 ing into the patio, before the walls fell. An 

 English lady had also a miraculous escape ; she 

 was sleeping in the consulate when the great 

 shock took place ; the walls fell, and the room 

 she was in was completely wrecked, she must 

 have been killed but for some of the beams 

 which lodged diagonally across the room, and 

 thus prevented the walls from crushing her. 



Accounts differed as to the number killed and 

 wounded, and the truth could not be ascer- 

 tained, as many bodies lay buried under the 

 ruins. In the hospital many poor wretches 

 owing to their infirmities were unable to escape, 



