Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1812-02-28

Estract efa letter. from gentlemen IN Charles
ton (S- c. to a gentleman in fhiladelhhia,
dated Fe6rnary7, 1912.
"The whole town is to day again in great
dismay--Fear and anxiety are depicted in eve
ny countenance, and nothing of a cheerful ma
tIre occupies, the conversation of any OF the
people. On the 5th inst. at o'clock, P. NJ.
Q shock OF an Earthquake (too slight for US to
ieeD was perceived by several with whom we
were that evening III company. Yesterday a
trembling Of the earth was observed .fOe times
by gentleman who was all day engaged in
whiting, and by Matchmaker, who had to de-
sst from some nice work he had been employ
ed at. Neither of these vibrations, however,
were generally perceived But, at few mi
nutes after O'Clock this morning, a shock,
far exceeding any of those of December and
January, awoke us from our sleep. Good
God! how awful are thy visitations,! how
dreadful are thy warnings to the hardened
hearts Of men The bed shook as severely as
If two men, one OH each side Of 1t, were Jirk-
ing it to and fro 1t seemed to be tossed up
and down, as well as from side to side the
posts and cornices made dismal rafting, and
the handles of the drawers and door fright
full noise the whole house rocked like ship,
and we were for at least a minute and an half
under the awful impression that we should be
buried In It's ruins. or swallowed up in the
earth to those who have never felt a severe
earthquake, words can scarcely convey an l.
dea of the solemn & terrific impression which
it produces the idea of being buried alive is
sufficient to appal the stoutest heart, and make
hero tremble. AS you may suppose, the.
higher you are up stairs, the more sensible is
the vibration. A gentleman who slept in the
room above us, says, he Jumped GU. of bed
under the full impression that the house
would fall into rulsls.--lNo noise was heard by
us until after the motion ceased, when roar
ing like the troubled sea, occasioned by mo-
mentary perturbation of its waters upon break
ers, was heard very plainly. 1t is remarkable
thut the weather at the time of the three prn-
cipal shocks, viz on the 9th December, 23d
January, and to day was very similar. 1t was
IN ali three cases, cloudy, calm and damp, with
the wind no:theasteriy. The shock OF to-day
is supposed by some to have continued two or
three minutes Ny opinion IS, that making
all allowances for fright ard alarm, its dura-
ion WAS not short OF mlnute and half. One
Of the town clocks, as well as almost all the
house clocks, we're stopped at about seven mi
nutcs past four. The peHdulums In the case
ct the skock Of the 2Sd of January, struck
violently against the Cases, and | presume
they must have done the same more violently
this morning. The man who is stationed In
tie church steeple, to look out for fires and
cry the hour at night, at the time OF the shock
III December, was so alarmed at the rolling Of
the steepie, that he called out 70 the soldiers
At the guard house, that the stcepe was ial-
ling, and then descended preclpltately, and "a
oandoned his post. | have not heard 10 day
what were his impressions, as it raincd very
hard, and l have not been out--God only
knows whether we Shall again be visited by
so awful a messenger, and what may be the
result is only within the scope OF his wisdom.
| fully trust however in his mercy, perfectly
satisfied that he does not shake the foundation
of the earth for nothing, and that he will not
DESTROY his creatures unless 1t be tor their c.
ternal welfare.
The being who can lift up whole city, by
the might of his power, and Can set 1t down
again, without overturning its eoihces-must
know how to govern the world. 1t would
therefore, be vain and presumptuous III man
10 attribute to chance, the destruction often
times attendant upon these convu!sions OF ma
ture, and il Coo is their immediate author, he
must needs produce them through his divine
mercy. The newspaper mentions, that the
captain ofthe city guard, who was upon duty
at the time, says the earthquake continued ex-
actly tzyo minutes, that 1t caused most OF the
house bells to ring, and was preceded BY.
hollow rumbling noise for three hours at IN
tervals every lew minutes.
In postscript dated the 9Th it is mentioned,
that throu, shout the preceding day and night
the earth appeared to be continually trembling
and two shocks, one at nine o'clock, and the
other at; / P. M. were very sensibly felt,