Miscellany: Most Extraordinary Escape From The Gaudaloupe Ea...

We notice the arriva), nt the Aslor honse, of Professor Risley, and Iris little son of six years old, who made one of tlie most astonishing escapes in the Gaudaloupe earthquake, Ihal was ever recorded in verse or prose.- Mr. Risley has a most remarkable and original genius for classic gymnastics, and iiis linie son is a perfect prodigy. We shall now give some remarkable pariiculars of that great earthquake.. as ncarly as possible in his onn woriis. 1 nnd my little boy had been at Point Petre, Gaudaloupc, four days previous to the earthquake, which occurred on 'the mornin of Wednesday, thceighth of February. I was there on a short professional engagement. I was tsking my lodgings at the American cof fee house, and my meals at the French cofTee house, in different places, according to the custom of the countrv. Wednesday morning, the eighth, was one of the most beautiful that could be magined - the sun shone out in all itB splendor, a soft and pleasant breeze carne in from the sea - and every thing seemeü in a state of natural peace and quiet. There was estimated to be about seventyfive persons in the French coiTce house, where I wns tnking my meals. We had all sat down to breakfast on that morning as usual,nnü were quietiy taking our morning meal, chatling and tolking freely upon the thousand trivial subjecla that come up on such occasions; indeed, wn had all nearly finished breakfast. For myself I had finished, nnd was sitting, partl.v sidewaya at the tablo. as one would naturull sit after ealing - conversing1 with the gentleman wlio sat opposite to me. I had the in my hand turning it about and carelees-ly playing with it. The first thing which attracted my attention was a sudden jar, acompanied by a rumblingr sound like disiont thunder. I had some two weeks before this, been nt Port Royal, in the island of Martinique, nnd seen the effects of a similar visitation, and T nstantly knew what it meant. So sudden was the shock that within two seconds froni the instant l first feit the jar, I looked up and saw the whole building, commencing nt the farlher end, fallïng upon the people - thejoists opened, and all began to come down with an awfu! crash. - I instantly utlered the word "jump! ' - the man who sat opposite to me turned his hcad, and looked ivp sidowayp, but never rose from his 6eat - and at precisely the eame moment, and without stopping to turn myself about, I started frorn my seat, and actually jumped, sklew.aye, out of the window through glass, sash, and all, landing spme ten or twelve feet in the }'ard below. ] thiuk it could not have been over ihree lo five seconds from the insiant I first feit the jar3 to the instant my feet struck the pavement. My impres.sion on touohing the ground was its i:;describably rapid tnotion"- I can compare l to nothing, unless it might be that of a sieve of a thrésning mili, in its most rapid motion. I ehould judge, from the distance I was thrown, first one way, and then the ot her, that the lateral motion of the earth must havo been from eleven to fourteen feet. I succeded, nolwithstanding, in retaining my feet for some eight or ten seconds, lili T got away from the building to the distance of thirty or forty yards into an epen lot of ground. While l was walking the distance of thirty or forty yards, I saw the buildings of the whole city tumbling into one mass of ruins - nnd also the earth opening in t.he lower part of the town, and gpouiing up immense volumes of waler, to the height of an hundred and fifty feet. The mukitude of thoughts which passed ihrongh my inind during these few seconds is utterly inconceivable and incredible.If tliere could have beenany first thoughts amid such an nstantaneous flood - my first I thought was of my boy. In relation to him, he was not with me on that morning. At about half-past eight o'cloclc, Mr. Montagua, a friend of mine, ho.d by previous arrangement, ! called (br him, and taken him awny to breakfast with some friend of his - where or who it was, I knovv not, and neither does the boy know. But knowing the reputniion of Mr. Montagua, I3 of course, feit tliat Master John was safe, and gave myself no uneasiness about him, Master John tells his story tluis: Mr. Montngua took me to the distance of som six or eiglit blocks from the coflee house, where I left my father, to the house of some iriend of Mr. Montaguo's, whose name I do not know. Therc was a store kept nnder tho house, and I was taken up to tho seoond floor. There was one young lady vvho was plnying upon the piano, ond severol others wcre also present, who had been invited tliat morning. The whole party was waltzing - I was also waltzing with one of the young ladies. JBreokfasl ivas nearly ready, and we were just going to 8it down to it. A minute or two before tliis, a littlc boy,belonging to the lady of the house,r went up stairs witli his grandmother, where we had before this been phy'wg wilh a little wagon. The firstthing wbich called my attention fi-om the waltz, was hearing a noise, a sort of rumbling which I took to be the Jittle boy up stairs, drawing his waggon over the floor, which had no carpet on it. At the same moment, I saw a very largo looking-írlasá which hung up against the wail in the room where I was, fall upon the floor - it wás hroken all to pieces - the sofa was upset, and the table, too - and every thing in the room was ell shaken, and upset together. All the family, young ladies and all, feil upon their knees, or were thrown flat upon the floor. I instantly made for the stairs. And as I was going io the stairs, J caught sight of a large church through Ihe window- part of it falling one way, and part the other- the steeple was the first thing which feil. I tkovght ofmyjathcr - but don't remember any thing more till I found myseïf' in my father's arms. I had no senses at all after that - I don't know how I got down stairs at all - nor do I know wbere I went öfter I got ont of doors - nor how long it wa3 before I was in the arms of my fat her. I liad no hat on - the buttons were torn from my clothes, and uiv clothes, too, werebadly torn. I was not otherwise hurt. ; Mr. Risley says: - When I recovered my conscioussess, I found the towel-ring crushed in my hand, and my hoy in my arms - how he carne there I know not, nor doea he know, nor are we ever likely to know what brought us together - for at '.hat time there was no living being in sight. We seented to have been fiaved purely by a miraculous preservation of the Ahr.ighty. As to my own dollies, my coat was literally torn off of me; my watch was mashed in my pocket, bolh sides of it being broken in- my vest open and torn, and pantaloons badly injured. I was obl'ged to borrow clothes to gel out of the place. My hair was completly filled with lime, and I was altogether covered with dust and dirt. I received, however, no visible wound, but for two weeks was very sore, and hardly able to use my limbs. By the time I had escaped to the disiance of the thirty or forty yards which I spoke of, the violence of the first shock had seemed to abate a very Jitlle, but was almost instanlaneously renewed again,with fargreater violence than before; ond then t was that I lost nll conscioiiEness, until I found my bov in my arms. When I thus partially recovered my senses, I first began te feel the armsanu umus or my cinid, lo see ït any oí them were brokon, and that we were both of ua Eafe and sound, I got up nnd began to look about me. I was still so entircly bewiloered. that I scarceJy knew what had happened, or whether it were not al! a dream. I then began to look about me, and snw various individuals, men, women, and children, of ail classes, and all iges, wandering about half' frnntic, like myself. Some werp in eearch of a son or a daughtej - others of a fa; her or a mol her - some of brothers and sisters- others of friends and relatives - all weepirg, or in the utmost conceivable agony - pilching and falling about among the rnins and dead bodies. Tliey wonld go from one dead body toanother, overhauling tliem to see if they could Jind the person sought for - and if not successful pass on to nnother. At tlüs time, the whole city was in one vast pile of nnns, the awful appearance of whicb it is utterly impossiblu to give even the faintestidcn. Even the place and direction of the streets were in many cases obl.terated, and could nóí be found. Subterranean fires now begsn to burst forth in different parts of the city, consuming every thing combustible, and also destroying a great number of persons, who might otherwise have been saved. At this time, also, the earth opencd alongthe line of the wharves, as I afterwards learnt from other persons, throwing out volumes of water, and then gradually closing again - and 6iipposed to have swallowed up a great number of indviduals. Evervbody immediately went to .woWf, negroes, sailors, and all, to dig out the dead and dying, from the ruins, wiierever they heard cries of dislress. In one instance we succeeded in very nearly extiicating a man from the ruiiiF, having gotten him all out except his legs and the lower pirt of Jiis body, when the fire broke ou(, and btirnt hi.n lo death befure our eyes. At the same time, and place, we could distinctly hear the cries of cight or ten others, who had been overwhelmed in the same ruins, and who were all consumed in the subterránea n fire. I cali it a subterrnnean fire, because it broke out all over the city, and it is well knowu that few of the houses in that country, were likely to have any fire in them at that time. From the place where I first recovered my consciousness, I suppoee I could have throwu a stoneover at least 800 of the dead and dying. As to the whole number of persons who ultimately perished by that earthquake, I should judge there must havo been ten or fifteen thousand. The population of the town wns eaid to be 22,000, and I could never eee over two or three thousand persons of thewhole population, who were out and about, fortheir frends. On the morning of Frida)-, the lOíh, I was forwardèd by the mayor of Point Petre, who was forionately saved in a man-of-war, to St. Pierre, nf Martinique, where I was kindly received by P. A. DeCrancy, tho American consul of tbat town. He had the day before I arrived,fitted out a vessel loaded vvith provisions and othfir necossaries at his own expense, and de9patched it to the relief of the 6ufierers al Point Petre. I lost S4000 in gold,and in all $G000, os the American coffee Iiouse, where I took my ]oügings, and wherc was all my personal prdperty, was totally deslroyed. One of my trunks was found seventy -five ynrds from the Iiuiel, mashd entirely to piece?, and the conlents destroyed, excepting my portfolio. The above intensely interesting and touching narrative, we have taken down from Professor Rísley's own lips, and also from the lips of his litlle boy,Master Jfhn,both of whom have called at our office. The particulars may be relied on vith confidence.