The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1872-05-09
The California Earthquake.

'ooh piacc, writes the following account
OF his personal experiences in private
letter. 1t gives an excellent idea what a
real earthquake is like y: .-.-..-...
L had my first earthquake at 2. 10 this
morning, and | will set down for you my
impressions while they are still fresh, as
l know you will be curious to know how
1t seems. We got to this place yesterday
afternoon, and having my blankets /
chose to sleep out of doors. Two of us
went to sleep on the -veraudah of the
agents house about 1880. 1t was most
brilliant moonlight night, aud l was not
much inclined for sleep; when did sleep
twas, think very heavily. Twas awaken
ed by the violent rattling of, the windows,
and by noise which did not at the time
distinguish, but which proved to be the
rolling OF pieces of the chimney down the
long root. My first impression, as | half
awoke, was that | was being jolted over
an extremely rough road, in a stage. The
noise was just that of a Broadway stage
as it rattles over the rough pavement. |
was not thinking Of string, only drowsily
grumbling at the rough road and the noise
when my fellow traveller jumped out of
his blankets, and heard him say, Its
time to get out of this" This woke me,
and my second thought was one of inter
est and pleasure. thought, why here
is real earthquake" got out of my
blankets as quickly as | could, climbed
over the railing of the yerandah on to the
ground, aud stood there for an appreciable
/ length of time, wobbled about all the time
I by the motion, before the rafting of the
windows ceased. Only then l thought
of my watch, and that ought to have
timed the shock. / looked, and it was 2. 10.
Meantime all the people had run out
of the house and while we were still
talking, the shocks recommended, but so
mildly that we presently all aud went into
the house, to sit by the fire, as it was
little cool. We lett the door open, aud
/ put glass ful of water on the table, which
very plainly showed the oscillations. At
$50, aud again at 3.05, aud again at $40,
the shocks were so violent that we all raH
out of the house ; and the continued sue,
cessiou of small shocks produced present
ly an uncomfortable sensation, because it
was still night, and no one could tell
where the thing would end. At 3.24
there was another severe shock-all these,
however, were shorter aud less rough
/ than the frst-and at 3.52, after some iD-
terval of quiet, another. At 4 L thought
the thing had ceased TO be amusing, and
/ got into my blankets again on the YER
andah, but was twice startled out Of my
browsing by shocks. We slept-we out.
siders--untl 6 then the rafting of the
J 10 ha
Of the house, and | got up. | was told
there had been five shocks in the two
hours while l slept Milder motions con
tinued during the whole forenoon, one
while we sat at break fast, aud little be
fore 2. p. M, while was sitting with sew
eral people in the house, shock came
which made the house groau all over, and
which was different from the rest, and
like what had imagined an earthquake
to be. 1t was motion, lasting but Sc
cond or two, as though a light wave or
roller had passed under the house. This,
by the testimony Of all, was entirely diff
ferent from all its predecessors. The
house, an adobe, was cracked in half
dozen places heavily; the plaster or clay
of the walls and chimney crumbled of,
outside and in pieces, none of much
weight, falling either on the roof or on
the floor and the ground outside. The
general consent made the shock-the first
and most seyere-last about three quar-
ters of a minute 1t seemed very much
longer to all of US minute aud half
was the first guess but we reckoned up
about how long it would have taken us
to do what each did, and thus arrived at
three quarters of minute. Two persons
in the house who happened to be awake
and up when the shock came, assert that
it was preceded by rumbling, as OF
thunder, the noise rapidly approaching
the listeners, and apparently from the
North. This is confirmed since by others.
! did not hear it aud woke up but SLOW
/ Iy under the noise and jerking about
| If you have been on street car when 1t
ran off the track and was dragged over
the cobbles, you may easily know the
sensation it was not quite SO rough, but
very nearly SO and it actually shook me
about in my blankets. a lamp IN the
house was thrown over. The Indians
rushed out of their abodes, aud sat around
| their outdoor fires the rest OF the night.
[ have given you all the times aud events
from note book, which | kept 10 my
hand SO that you have the material Tor
your Imagination to make picture OIL
1 wish you had been here. Ii had been
in the house, or, worse yet, upstairs Ia
hotel, or if it had been dark, think l
should have been uncomfortable, for 1t
was a weird and unwholesome thing as
it was. But the interest of it filled my
whole mind and while | think |, as well
as the rest, looked serious-for the earth
might crack open aud swallow us all up,
YOU know was SO engaged in trying to
lose not single atom of what was pass
IL lnl.rkt Iualpd-