The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-04-09
THE CALIFORNIA SHAKE.

THE CALIFORNIA SHAKE.
4 L4DYS LIVELY ACCOUNT OF THE
RECENT EARTHQUAKE.
The Sensations Of ssGrace Greenwood
as Described by Herself.
"Graee Greenwood" (Mrs. Lipplncott, In
her letter dated from Sacramento, March
18th, to the New York Times, gives q
very interesting account of her earthquake
sensations and experiences in that city during
the recent terrible visitation:
have q new sensation 10 chronicle to-day
an event which I hope will remain among the
experiences of my life-alone, apart, unique.
One of the kind will do. Early this (Tnesday)
morning We had an earthquake, the most Sc
we're earthquake ever known In Sacramento,
which indeed has hitherto been singulariy K
empt from such unwelcome visiLations. 1t &C.
and then the clock stopped. It was late when
I weHt to bed last night. :! was tired and
weak from recent illness; yet l could not sleep
for q long time. I fancied the air was heavy
and snltry. With a window wide open In my
large chamber, I still had a strange feeling OF
| oppression auQ dppTeucusiOuY LnouSu all WILL
out was profoundly quiet-a dead stiffness.
After long tossing and weary waiting, slept
it seemed but a little while. I dreamed / was
at sea, and that the ship suddenly struck upon
a rock, and shuddered and shivered and creak-
ed fearfully. I woke to feel the rocking,
straining motion of the ship, and the roar OF
the winds and waves. had actually some
moments of vague distress and terror before l
realized where was, and what was The strange
tumult and shock, and knew that the fearful
power that was shaking the great solid house
and ratlling the windows and swinging tne
| chandeliers about me was neither OF the ar or
sea-that the dull, appalling roar was ne e !
the sound of q '!mighty, rushing wind" nor
the ssyoice of many waters"-though 1t was
like to them both-nor could 1t be taken Tor
| thunder, or the rumble OF cars, or the tumult
of battle. It was something peculiar, strange,
terrible, unfamiliar, yet impossible to be mis-
taken-a nameless horror Of sound, muf1el,
portentous and all-pervading. 1t did not seera
to ne to belong to The earthquake. It seemed
In the air, not under the ground-it was not
| the growl of imprisoned tkunder-but the
ominous. defiant roar of some unknown ele-
| ment of death and destruction, flying all
abroad" It was more terrible to me than the
rocking and trembling all about me.
What moments were those for swift, solemn,
| yearnlng Thoughts! Before I rose from the
bed, which shook and seemed to surge under
| me, I seemed to pass In spirit over thousands
| of miles, aud to stand by the bedside of my
| dear ones, sleeping In peace and security.
Something gave me strength, andI rose quiet
~, went to a window and looked out, expect.
ing 10 see the ground heaving like the waves
of the sea, and people running frantically
from falling houses. But all seemed strange
ly still, except the swaying. trees. Nothing
was disturbed, aud few people were then In
the streets. It almost looked as though the
earthquake were confined TO this house-con.
tracted for by the rampant enemies OF the
Central Pacific. The moon shone through o
mist, with a peculiarly cold, almost ghastly
light. This effect, I heard afterward, was
no connection with the earthquake, yet
it increased the Fantastic terror" of the
scene. My dear hostess came 10 me to try
to give me aid, or rather comfort, but as
the shocks came In swift succession, running
into each other, she was herself almost over
whelmed with terror and apprehension. Yet,
alter her tender, unseldsh way, she seemed TO
luffer most from fear for the fate Of friends In
San Francisco. "If 1t is so severe here. 1t
must be terrible there che said, and my own
distress was very great for many dear friends
pictured flying from their falling houses and
wandering through the streets. But, thank
Heaven, they escaped the awful visitation this
time almost entirely. We seem to have taken
the full brurt Of It. We hear to-day that many
people rushed from their beds into the streets,
and remained till the ehocks were all past.
My host, Governor Stanford, was perfectly
calm, and his courage proved contagious.
When he told me that II was not after all q
irst-class earthquake, I believed aud trem.
bled, respecting mis- long Pacific coast expert
ence and not being q Judge of earthquakes
myself. When he assured me that the worst
was over, / went quietly 10 bed and there re.
malned as quiet as my bed would allow
me to be. The shocks became much less
violent and frequent, and at last were so gen.
tie, that, worn out By strange emotions, said
to the dear old earth, / never had feared be-
fore: "Rock me to sleep, mother"-and she
did 1t. At about six o'clock I was wakened BY
q smart shock, the last severe one We have
had. During the day we have had several
starts aud tremblements, 80 slight that 1t is
probable we should not have noticed them
had we not been on the Qui Uiue. We are b.
ginning to take some credit to ourselves for
good behavior, as we hear Of many In all parts
OF the city who were utterly penic-strlckeD,
rushing Into the streets 10 their night'clothes,
sbrieking aud sobbing aHd praying, and doing
young man, very airily clad, leaped out of a
third-story back window of q hotel. He
alighted on the roof OF an old shed, which
gave way, aud let him down gently Into q
spring wagon. So he escaped with his life,
but has, they say, gone into retirement aud a
VI FlACSol ouu PSPohs wv Ste
assured that we were as safe where we were
as we could be outside, and not q soul left the
house.
Buckle, I believe, says that there is nothing
that so takes hold on the Imagination as an
earthquake, and very likely my Imagination
exaggerated the peril. the heaVing. the roar
ing, as I afterward found 1t did he duration of
the shock. All the accounts I have ever heard
or read of earthquakes zane back 10 me-the
dreadful stories of the destruction Of CatanIa
and Lisbon 10 the old school books, with their
more dreadful pictures, and the later horrors
of South American commissions. There Is In an
earthquake all the elements of panic, OF wild,
mad terror. especially In Its utter unexpected
ness and uncertainty. Nothing in nature gives
you warning that 1t Is coming, nothing assur-
ance that 1t is past. You cannot know during
the first great shock whether 1t Is subslding
or eliminating. Still, we were more solemn
lied than terrified, at least after the bewllder-
ed waking out of sleep, and the first surprise
and alarm. There Was something 30 mysterI.
ous, 80 stupendous, so almost gradd 10 that
shudder of the solid globe, that nightmare of
the sleeping earth, moaning and tossing under
the still bright heavens. We were hushed
and humbled; with a sense of the most utler
helplessness we could but try 10 look beyond
nature to natures God, silently to appeal from
her pit%llessness to His pity, from her restless
ness to His rest.
Now, In the brave light of day. we feel