At about 4 o'clock next morning, the noise diminished and finally stopped, as several courageous soldiers and firemen had succeeded in reaching the centre of the conflagration and in fighting the fre from the remains of the walls, On the morning of October 21, the full extent of the disaster became fapperent. The right nave of the church had collapsed and the rear wall had been destroyed, Al! "the buildings of the mission showed big gaps; there was no plaster left any= where; the doors and windows had been smashed in, and in many cases the roof and ceilings had fallen righ! through. "Most of the furniture. and equipment had been destroyed, Most of the walls still standing had to be {torn down, as they showed crack: and were unsafe.
Tt was sheer good fortune that the explosion did not occur sooner, as the Jenureh would have been thronged.and there would undoubtedly have been numerous fatalities,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.