The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1868-06-26
A Tale of Terror.

" " AN"'S A"iSAy tOoo a ETdDulC
descripton''of terrible scene than the
following extract from letter from
Hilo, 'Sandwich Islands, in reference to
the recent earthquake there:
On this day april 2d) at p. M, says
the writer, an event occurred which de-
ties description. SuGh shock has no
record in the memory, the history, or
the traditions of these Islands. 1t last
ed from two to three minutes, and was
terrific. Houses Jared, cracked, sway
cd, slid, rose and sunk upon their foun-
dations. Many buildings in Kau, in
GLIDING nearly all the churches, and
some in Hilo, fell. Many others which
stood are so racked and broken as to be
nearly useless. Most of tho stone build
ings, including the Hilo Jail, were de-
stroyed. Trees swayed and fell thou
sands of yards of stono fe,son mnat
down: great boulders were rolled and
tossed about like footballs Landslides
were numerous, and precipices fell
laundering into the sea. The earth rent
in thousand places--fssures opened
from one inch to six, eight and ten
feet in breath. The streets and fields
of Hilo cracked, and seams opened all
around us, where we had supposed that
volcanic forces had long ago left their
final traces. Riders and horsemen were
thrown to the ground, and multitudes
of men were prostratedby the shock
In Kau the commissions Of the earth
were so tremendous that men had to
steady themselves by holding on to the
shrubs and rocks, in order to avoid be-
ing bruised against the ground. Our
streams ran mud. Our houses were
strewn with debris from garnet to cell
lar. Bureaus, tables, cabinets, book
cases, wardrobes, glass and earthen-
ware-all movable things in short
were thrown pell-mell. My largest
bookcase, which stood nearly east and
west was Frustrated toward the north
while my cabinet of shells, which stood
at right angles to the former direction,
remained standing; seeming to prove
that the most violent internal oscilla-
tons, at least, were in the direction of
the magnetic needle. DR.. Wetmore's
drugstore was thrown into utter disor-
der; the whole house fumed with the
mixture of incompatible acids, the floor
was covered with the wreck Of glass
bottles and retorts, and it is marvel
that explosion and fire did not occur
The confused noises, the dust, the aw-
full throes of the earth, the falling of
rocks into the sea, the CONSERVATION of
men and animals, made scene which
battles descriptions scene OF terror
such as our Islands have never witness
ed before. The crust of the earth rose
and sank like the sea in a storm. 1t
seemed as if che rocky ribs of the noun
tains and che granite walls and pillars
of the world were breaking. At this
moment the ground was suddenly rent
open in Kau, between the lands of
Messrs. Reed and Richardson and Judge
+, S. Lyman. AS quickly as the dis.
charge Of a battery or the explosion of
shell, a vast eruption of mud, rocks
and earth-not heated-took place, dis
gorging mass three miles long and
half as wide, which simultaneously bu.
ried village with its thirty-one native
Inhabitants, and 500 or 600 head Of cat
tie The discharge was so sudden that
there was no escape for those within its
range. At the same time the sea rose
and fell rapidly all around the shores of
the island, coast circumference of 200
miles. In Hilo Bay it came up to Front
street. aheight of six or eight feet above
high water mark. In the district of
Pma IL rose from ten to fifteen feet,
sweeping away number of houses,
and drowning one person. But in Kau
the tidal wave came in twenty or twen-
iy We feet high, destroying all the vii
l%e and churches of the lower shores,
ana drowning scores of people. Men,
women and children, with all their
earthly substance, were swept away in
an Instant. Nearly one hundred people
in all were killed, and seventy or eighty
escaped wounded from the scene of the