Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-03-06
FL TsmbIOr.


From the California News Letter.
At twelve minutes pm. on Thurs
day, February 18th, occurred one OF
those terrible commissions Of nature
which always accompany the blowing
up OF Blossom Rock in the harbOr.
As was 70 have been expected, the
newspapers took it for an earthquake,
and as these were successfully deliY-
cred by the carriers, the scene beg
cared description il the usual man
ner. Men and women rushed tumult-
Ously into the streets, as If they were
not wanted there; horses tainted upon
the sidewalks, and little girls hOwled
like a Methodist pandemOnium in the
dark ALLEYS. The iamp-pCsts were
much agitated, and it was with diff
Guilty the rising emotion Of the pave
ment could be Tepressed. The usual
gentleman who had selected that pre-
else instant to perform extreme ablU-
ton, and the coordinate lady who
had retired early, held the customary
interview in front Of the DC
eidental Hotel, and enacted the
scene proper to the occasion,
with which we have become
so familiar that the phenomenon may
be accurately calculated andits phases
noted in advance. The oscillations,
as determined by observation at this
Office, were from the editorial rooms
to the middle Of Montgomery street,
and, after an interval OF several hours,
back again. some unimpOrtant VI
bratiOns are registered by our chirOg-
raphy ever az the present writing,
tWenty-fOuT hours after the principal
event. That We have sustained no
material damage IS attributable to the
fact that our foundations are cOnstrue-
ted in the most substantial and cOlOs-
sal manner. Other public Institutions
have suffered severely. The Mer-
camille Library had a half d0z-
en- heavy mortgages nearly shaken
of; the City Hall lost a fine brazen
ornament just as Judge Sawyer glided
into the street; Michael Reese drOp-
ped a heavy ten cent piece into a
flying contribution box and was IN
able to recover it; he has since kept
his bed, but there is no telling how
soon that may 90 /; Brother Scudder
lost his head-piece, and the finder was
so much affected that he had 70 be
taken to mad house. Real estate
fell an inch, and Government and
other securities were much sought
after. Some Central Pacific bonds in
the pocket Of a broker Went up a
high as the top Of Telegraph Hill.
About five hundred hOusesO on Dunbar
Alley were utterly demolished, but
we learn that they were about to be
destroyed anyhow, their owners hav-
inc decided 10 put Mansard roofs on
them. Oakland was entirely over
thrown, only Oue3 man, and
he a notorious Liar, was left
TO tell the tale. We cannot,
in Justice to the parsons, omit
to state that their trust in Providence
did not fOrsake them. Funeral seq
vices were being held in all the
churches. and in not single instance
did a clergyman run; they simply
flew. The man who was not at all
frightened, and who was heard 90 ex-
plain exactly what be was doing when
he felt the first shock, Is wanted at
I this office; his mendaeity aud vOlubll-
/ ity amply qualify him to instruct the
public, while the undertaking mat
tentiOn and fixed indifference Of his
I auditors point him out as a born edi-
tor. Such, dear readers, was the
I tsgabyOr Of last Thursday, an event
/ which will long be remembered from
/ its marked similarity to nearly all
previous ones, both in quality and IN
/ notwithstanding Us all out OF the
/ small mOdicum of sense with which
we are afflicted, and doing absolutely
no damage whatever.
About half past twelve O'Clock last
Thursday afternoon, February Ilthi
the 7OtrR CFier might have been seen,
without coat or bOOts,seated IN the &c
OmetricaI center Of the plaza with a
! sheet OF greasy fOOlscap on MS knee.
: Another greasy fOOFs-eap hastily
/ s7atched from the head Of the prOprI-
I etOr of this paper, disigured his
: brOW.) Upon the paper he had traced
with a DaIsied hand and the wrong
eud Of a stumpy pencil, some Of the
most beWildering hierOglyphlcs ever
| seen outside the nelghbOrlng village
/ of Ninevah. His haggard aspect. bis
/ neglected nails and disheveled mus
I taehe. his wild, startled air, and the
strange CLEAN Of This solitary eye,caused
I him to be regardedby the crowd on the
sidewalk with aliyeiy indifference. Al
last the proprietor of this paper passed
That way-prObably looking for his
esp-aud was implOred by the Chief
Of Police to secure that maniac before
he committed something hendish.
Having heavily armed himself with
a stick of stOVe-EOOd, that gentleman
advanced cautiously behind the IN
suspecting sufferer, busy with his spi-
der-tracks, and raising his weapon
Was about to prepare his subordinate
in The usual manner for conveyance 70
the office, when his eye was arrested
by the manuscript, when his famu1ar-
ify with his.OWn ehiFography enabled
him to deciPher. 1t ran thus;
ssAbOut a quarter past twelve pm, on
I Thursday. this city WAS visited by a
slight tremOr of the earth, which
[ GIIegible). Our citizens have be
| come too well used to these
/ phenOmenOmenOmen0mena (Se) 70
be at AL alarmed, as IL Is
well known that they are at all times
under the absolute control Of the king
in the Board Of Supervisors, and ser
ence has demonstrated that they IN
| crease the stability of buildings by
shaking them together 50 as Lillegt-
bIe.7 Nobody was frightened every
inducement viii be extended to make
immigrants comfortable" Here the
lines had wandered of upon the WI
ter's pantalOOns- Faithful servant!
exclaimed the proprietor Of this paper
atlet me embrace one SO devoted 70
the materiaIinterests ofthe country. .
But the T0bH Crier had risen, and
casting upon the wOuld-be embraeer a
look of whitening sc0Fn, he vanished
ike the baseless fabric Of a vision
which he in no other respect resembles
The His * Mark Explained.