Connecticut western news., 1872-04-12
The California Eartbuuake.

J such catastrophes, tue shocks were con- tinuous ever since the first crash and although each successive one was less violent than it's predecessor, they were enough to create great alarm among the inhabitants for miles around. On ac- count of the mysterious coincidences of these fearful shocks, generally with vol canic eruptions as terrible as their ef fects, a sense of vague terror pervades the whole surrounding country, none the less uncomfortable from the continuity of the shocks and the uncertainty as to what will happen next.
 Unlike many earthquakes which have taken place in former years and in mo1 e tropical climes, there was little warning given of the disaster. No unusual ap- pearance of the sun or atmospheric haze had been noticed, and no strange and unaccountable action of brutes remarked :; neither did startling stiffness of the air precede immediately the first shock. Refugees from the lnyo district say the terrible crash came with scarcely a mo- ment's warning.
 An awful explosion suddenly occurred, accompanied by loud rumbling, which was heard hundreds of miles distant the ground was shaken violently, lifted upward, and thrown forward, the sur face rent in chasms of great length and varied width.
 Houses were crumbled into ruins, in the midst of which the inhabitants were buried; cattle, and sometimes human beings were hurled into Assures of i'm measureable depth rocks were torn from their places and thrown violently into the chasms, carrying death and de- struction to everything animate and in- animate before them.
 Whole villages and mining camps instinct with life a moment before, and tenanted by unsuspecting denizens, lay in one chaotic mass of ruins, while from the mountainous pile of debris on every side arose the screams of the wounded, the terrified shrieks of those wild with fear, and the agonized groans of the dy- ing.
 The scene at this time defies any at tempt at its description. Those who escaped unhurt, by some miraculous means, instantly thought of the fate of their friends and relatives. Children were running about at their wits end, torn from their parents by the convul- sion, and seeking them with loud cries for assistance. Parents half mad with fear and half wild with grief were over hauling the shapeless ruins of what an instant before were their dwellings, in search of their offspring. A gentleman whose life was saved, he knew not how, and who has at last reached terra frma in earnest, relates that he noticed one old woman, with white hair flying about her head, sitting on broken piece of furniture and gazing absently into the chasm, at the bottom of which lay her grandson, boy of ten years or more, with his face uppermost, having fallen on his back and evidently breaking it instantly. "Why don't you get up, Henry ?" said the crone in low mourn full tone.- "Why don't you come and tell me what this horrible noise is all about ?' The awful explosion and the sickening sense of utter helplessness, the rumbline and the shaking of the earth had crazed her. This, said the eyewitness, was hardly an exaggerated example of hun dreds of similar cases The shrieks oi mothers as the mutilated remains ol some child or husband was drawn from beneath the debris, the teas rolling down the cheeks of weather-beaten miners at discovering some dead com rade lying with beam across his face, were heart-rending. What added not 8 little to the general confusion and awe was the continuance of the shocks The first, which sounded like park of artil lery fired directly beneath the town, was immediately followed by three others in quick succession.
 Over three hundred distinct shocks were felt between balf-past two o'clock and sunrise. For more than three hours indeed the earth in all the neighborine terrified inhabitants knew not whicE way to fly. Death seemed to stare then in the face on every side.
 An immense chasm yawned at thei1 feet, extending some thirty-fve mile. down the valley, and ranging from three inches to forty feet ill width, into which shallow in some places and almost bot tomless in others, enormous quanti ties of debris were buried. As soon a. the snow disappears sufficiently to allow any exploration it is expected that huge Assures will be found in the mountains which indeed hardly admits of reason able question. Although the rumor ha not yet been authenticated, it is reported that volcano in active operation has been seen from the summit of Manhood Mountain, sixty miles south of Vizalia The Indians in the vicinity have all fled terror-stricken, and imagining the catas trophe to be recurrence of the genera convulsion of nature, which, according to their traditions, occurred in this re zion hundreds of years ago, and whicl created what is known as Owens Rive valley, the bed of the latter being before a chain of mountains. The consequence which might have resulted had the dis trict been densely ly populated are beyond imagining. As it was they are dreadful enough, in a country but sparsely inhab ited, mainly by people engaged in work ing the silver, bearing lead mines.
 One very remarkable circumstance Ii that only a slight shock was felt in Cen tral and Northern California. Cerre Gordo was badly damaged, several build ings being thrown down and one mar killed. A few names of those killed have been ascertained, although as yet tht greater part remain unknown of course Lone Pine appears to have been directly over the centre of the upheaval, anc among the killed of it's inhabitants was MT. Grey, aged 40 years, and native O Texas. The remainder were all Spanisl Americans. Colonel Whipple, who wa. in the second story of an adobe house a the time of the shock says he had hardly time to jump from bed and get to hi doorway when the whole house, from tol to bottom, seemed to crumble beneath him. He was instantly buried in the ruins, from which, with great difficulty and almost superhuman exertions, he fl nal]y extricated himself, after having sus tanned several severe and painful, but no