Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1872-12-21
OLYMPIA. SATURDAY MORNING. DEC. q. 1H..
TIE TOPIC OF THE WEEK.


ton on last Saturday night. All APP
pear to have felt lively interest in the
mysterious power and to have exhibited
no little concern for the result of the
unusual phenomenon. 1t twas a profita-
b visitation, from at least one point of
view. The PEOPLE have 81 aiken off
the lethargy peculiar to this season,
and have talked almost necessarily
our brother quill-drivers have exultant-
ly piled up quires of manuscript de-
scriptive of the event and its attendan:
incidents while the c'ergy have seized
upon the occasion to accentuate their
warnings with solemnity inspired by
The grand and mysterious throes of
mother Earth.
The shock occurred precisely at forty
minutes and thirty seconds past nine
o'clock, chronometsr time, and lasted
about thirty seconds, increasing in in
tensity until near the close Of the vibra-
ton. Its direction was from the South
to the North, and subsequently from
the Southwest to the Northeast. In six
minutes afterwards, three shocks were
felt, about one minute apart. At ten
and eleven o'clock, and on Sunday
morning at three, five and half past six
o'clock other light shocks were expert
enced. In fact for the period of twenty
four hours succeeding the first shock,
the vibration appears to have been felt
at intervals of few hours, but not of
sufficient intensity to create alarm, or
even to attract the attention of those
engaged in active vocations. No dam
age has been done in this vicinity, the
bank and county Jail, the only brick
buildings, not showing crack, and not
even a chimney has been overthrown,
although the shock has been pronounced
as heavy as many in San Francisco that
have caused no small damage to pro-
perry.
EARTHQUAKE INCIDENTS.
The shaking of old j" terra frma" was
productive of a frmer terror in the
breasts of some of our citizens than
any previous experience. One good
lady quaked in such perfect sympathy
with mother earth that her head is yet
swimming. Another most estimable
person, awakened at the first shock,
made of herself spectral tableau un-
der the moons pale light, her robe d.
mutt glistening in the frosty air. At st.
Johns church, large choir, assembled
to practice ancient hymns, had COM
menced to the noble tune Antioch,
"Joy to the world the Lord has come"
when they heard
- 1.-THE rolling of his car
The trampling of his steedS from far"
and rushed pell-mell into the street,
when the ladies enjoyed fainting bee,
until the chorister, agile from long ex-
perience in the Barnes Hook and Lad
der company, jumped over Ellis fence,
and made feint of turning the hose
stream upon them. One gentleman re-
manned in the church with his jaws
expanded from which the world" had
just issued, and watched with dazed
eyes the jig performed by a kerosene
lamp over his head until the shock was
over. One little boy became sea-sick
on short notice, another seized his lit
tie overcoat, and wrapping it around
the baby deposited the snug sleeper on
the undulating sidewalk. Many clocks
stopped at the same moment that the
door bells commenced to ringing. One
young lady was met rushing wildly
along the sidewalk near the public
square, carrying her hat and cloak in
hand. We might multiply incidents
indefinitely, but these are enough to
show that our citizens were somewhat
excited by the shake.
IT'S EXTENT.
Up to the present time, it has been
ascertained that the shock was felt sim
ultaneously as for south as Eugene City,
in Oregon, north as British Columbia,
and east as Lewiston, Umatilla and
Walla Walla, the intermediate region,
of course being affected at every place
from which reports have been received.
At Victoria, Port Townsend, Seattle,
Steilacoom, on the Puyallup. at Kalama,
Vancouver, and many other points the
description of time and manner is iden-
teal with that of this place. A gen.
tleman living on the Puyallup informs
us that the effect upon the tall fir trees
was startling and grand. They were
swayed to and fro by the irresistible
force, their entertaining branches rust