Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1843-06-30

ed in my hand, and my boy in my arms
how he came there ! know not, nor does
he know, nor are we ever likely to know
what brought US together, for at that time
there was no living being in sight. We
seemed to have been saved purely by a mi
raculous preservation Of the Almighty
AS 10 my own clothes, my coat was literally
torn off Of me my watch was mashed in
my pocket, both sides of it being broken in
my vest open and torn, and my pantaloons
badly injured. | was obliged to borrow
clothes to get out of the place. My hair
was completely filled with lime, and | was
altogether covered with dust and dirt. l
received, however, no visible wound, but
for two weeks was very sore, and hardly
able to use my limbs. By the time had
escaped to the distance ofthe thirty or forty
yards which | spoke Of, the first shock had
seemed to abate a very little, but was all
most instantaneously renewed again, with
far greater violence than before: and then
it was that | lost all consciousness until !
found my boy in my arms. When | thus
partially recovered my senses, | first began
to feel the arms and limbs of my child to
see if any of them were broken, and find
inc that we were both of us safe, | got up
and began to look about me-. | was still
so entirely bewildered that | scarcely knew
what had happened, or whether it were not
all q dream. | then began to look about
me and saw various individuals, men, wo-
men and children of all classes and ages,
wandering about, half frantic like myself
Some were in search of a son or a daughter
Others Of a father or a mother-some Of
brothers and sisters-others of friends and
relatives-all weeping or in the Utmost con-
ceivable agony-pitching and falling about
among the ruins aud dead bodies. They
would 90 from one dead body to another,
ovcrhauling them to see if they could find
the person sought for; and if not success
full pass on to another.
At this time, the whole city was in one
vast pile of ruins, the awful appearance OF
which it is utterly impossible to give even
the faintesl idea. Even the place and direc-
ton Of the streets were in many cases OBJ
liberated, and could not be found.
Subterranean fires now began to burst
forth in different parts of the CITY, consul
ming everything combustible, and destroy
ing a great number of persons who might
have been saved.
At this time also the earth opened along
the line of the wharves, as | afterwards
learnt from other persons, throwing up vol
umes of water aud then gradually closing
again-and supposed to have swallowed up
a great number of individuals.
Everybody Immediately went to work ne
groes, sailors and all, to dig out the dead
and dying from the ruins, wherever they
heard cries of distress. In one instance we
succeeded in very nearly extracting a man
from the ruins, having gotten him all out
except his legs and the lower part of his body,
when the fire broke out and burnt him TO
death before our eyes. At the same time
and place We could distinctly hear the cries
of eight or ten others who had been over
whelmed in the same ruins, and who were
all consumed in the subterranean fire. |
call il subteranean fire because il broke
all over the city, and it is well known
few Of the houses in that country were
likely TO have any fire in them at that time.
From the place where | first recovered
my consciousness | suppose | could have
thrown a stone over at least 800 OF the dead
and dying. As TO the whole number of
persons who ultimately persisted by that
earthquake, ! should Judge there must have
been ten or fifteen thousand, | have no doubt
fifteen thousand. The population of the
was said to be twenty-thousand, and
could never see over two or three thousand
of the whole podulation, who were out and
about looking for their friends.