Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1868-11-13
The Recent Earthquake.

ga shaking or violent agitation of the
earth, which is often attended with de-
structive consequences, and is one of the
most formidable Phenomena of nature"
These phenomena are very curious in their
manifestations. Sometimes the earth
simply opens and swallows up cities. AT
other times boiling hot springs bubble up
from the ground, islands disappear into the
depths of the ocean, the air is full of
strange, low mutterings, the sea rises and
falls rapidly and great tidal waves sweep
over the inland, carrying everything be-
fore them During the present year these
earthquakes have been common in South
America ard along the Pacific coast OF
/ North America, and have been sometimes
attended with terrible loss of life, and
widespread destruction of property. The
earthquake of Tuesday last, however, ex-
ceeds all others, both in the extent OF ter
ritory it covered and the irretrievable ruin
| it caused. Every part of the United States
was visited by it, from Maine to Califor-
MIA, and its effects were felt to greater or
less extent in every village and city of
| the country 1t would be impossible to
conceive of an earthquake, in fact, which
could Involve greater disaster and it is
! to be presumed that, in the future, men
| speaking Of earthquakes will compare
them, in point of extent and destruction,
with that of Tuesday, and that ths Gill.
dren Of 10 s05sSz d., fifty years from nog, will
ssy TO their grand children, as they read
in the press Of some contemporaDeous
earthquake: "Oh that is nothing. You
should have seen the earthquake of No
vember Sd, 1868"
There were warnings of this earthquake
s~x no+a so1x w a,
Vermont, Connecticut, Pennsyl vania,
Indiana and Ohio. Those States were
violently agitated and there was palpa.
BILE shaking and trembling. In some in.
stances it was attended with destructive
consequences, and yet, in. spite of this
warming the late Democracy, like the ir-
reverent individual who scoffed ut Noah
and his ark, refused to give heed to it.
The great earthquake commenced at Z
O'clock a. M on Tuesday and lasted until
6 D. m. without intermission. 1t was q
constant succession of shocks, accompas
MED by an incessant shower of ballots,
and when the sun went down it looked
upon q widespread scene of disaster The
great tidal wave, which was one of the
| formidable phen0mena, seemed to carry
everything before it. All the relics Of
slavery and the outcroppings of rebellion
were washed away. The great fabric of
| Reputation, which the Democracy had
reared, crumbled to pieces before it. All
the preposterous roorbacks which they
! had invented vanished in day. The
| losss of life was not inferior to the loss
of property. The earthquake did not
| leave enough Democrats alive to bury
their dead. Here and there body of
some White Boy in Blue has been re-
| cognized, but the late Messrs. Seymour
| and Blair, and all the leaders, have not been,
and probably never will be, seen again.
In our own city, the destruction was COM
plete. Not soul was left to tell the tale.
And where on Monday night. there were
revelry, and boasting, and festal process
sions, the blaze of fireworks, the glitter
of uniforms, and all "the pomp and cir
cumstance" of war, on Tuesday night
there was only a confused, shapelcss and
| promiscuous mass of torches, calcium
lights, rent flags, smashed transparencies,
unpaid bills, here and there dead body
without money enough on the person to
pay his bets or give him decent burial, and
| here and there mournful creditor, seek
| ing amidst the wreck for something of suf
| ticient value to satisfy his claims. Earth
quakes are sometimes very fantastic in
their effects. They nave been known to
cook fishes in their native streams and
boil clans on the bottom of the sea. The
earthquake of Tuesday was no less fantas-
tic in its effects. Every one of the vic
Tins thus far discovered had his backbone
completely broken, so that restoratives
were of no avail. The completeness of
the destruction is not the least remarkable
! feature of this earthquake AS there is nop
a single Democrat to be found &c. day, we
are compelled to the mournful conclusion
that every one of them was overtaken and
overwhelmed by the great tidal wave, on
whose crest the Republican ark was rid
ing, with the great Captain at the helm
and Schuyler at the masthead.
! And after the earthquake came She still,
small voice, saying 1t Let us have Peace"
and all the people answered, ave have
it. = Chicago Tribune.