The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-07-17
NEW MADRID EARTHQUAKES.
The Great Shake as Described by an
Eyewitness.


The Great shake as Described by a,
Eyewitness.
The earthquakes that shook south
east Missouri in 1811-12, scanning th,
face of the country with yawning CULTS
and submerging it with new lakes
Atill indicated by vast tracts of swamp
are like a thrice-told tale of an old
crone, Eauttered by winters fireside
to the eldezs of st Louis, but beyond
these, comparatively few are in any way
familiar with the iaats. To the rising
generation and those Who have brought
to us their industry from foreign lands
absolutely nothing is known of that
event to ninety persons out of svery
hundred. The destruction was =
thorough and widespread, and the eff
| fects of the general devastation upoI
| the settlers of New Madrid of tha
early day were SO fatally and ruinously
felt, that the visitation became as i
were interviewer inseparably with the
history of st. Lonis. Believing that 6
brief account of these occurrer ces viii
prove of interest to our readers, We
have complied the following statement
from an account of the events as they
occurred, written by Mr.. Godfrey LIE.
sieur, an eyewitness of and participa-
tor in these terrible scenes of more than
sixty years ago:
During the night of December 10Th,
1911, the first shock of the earthquake
was experienced. It came upon the
senses of terrified people in mutter-
ings and tremblings of the earth at two
o'clock in the morning, and was repeated
at intervals Of half an hour, the shocks
being comparatively slight and doing no
further damage than the shaking down
of some log houses and cabins. At z A.
NJ. the mutterings grew into thunder in
the west, and were Immediately followed
by rocking and vibration of the earth,
SO that in places where the shock was
most violent, few were able to walk or
even stand erect. This horror did not
last long. Perhaps minute. But while
it continued, an age of terror must have
been crowded into the briefness. The
earth rolled like waves of the sea, with
crests and troughs between; the waves
burst suddenly open, and from their
mouths great volumes of water leaped
high into the air, mixed with blocks of
charcoal, all coated with a substance
smelling like sulphur. When the wave
of earth had sHbsided and the volcanic
eruption had ceased, the destruction lay
before the people in all its awfulness.
Cuffs or assures from four to ten feet
deep, and running north and south, were
opened parallel for miles, in some in
stances for five of them. The terror
that sprang up in the minds of those
peaceful people can scarcely be con-
ceived, but they hoped for the best, and
set about repairing the injury which had
been done to their settlements and the
ruin which had fallen upon their primi-
tive homestead.
On the night Of January 7, following,
the ruin was more widely spread and
more devastating in its results. Again
the earth rolled in huge waves and the
waves burst into floods of water. and
the sulphuretted charcoal falling in
showers, seemed to fuse into an inextri-
cable chaos. From this until the 18th
of February, slight shocks were felt
from time to time, and then convul-
ion of nature again occurred which ex-
ceeded in it's fury those of previous
occasions. Cults and assures broader
and deeper, were opened, until high
land was sunk into hollows, hollows
made high lands, lakes emptied them
selves into the miles of assures, and
where ground previously had been un-
touched by water there were to be
seen broad sheeted lakes. The face of
nature was changed.
The extent of country covered by this
fearful conflict of the hidden forces OF
nature did not embrace larger circum-
ference than hundred and fifty miles,
;aking the Indian town of Little Prairie,
near charlottesville, as the center. To
1uote Mr.. Lesieur ga very large ex-
;ent of country on either side OF the
White Water, called Little river, also |
IN both sides of the st. Francis, in this
,tate and Arkansas, was sunk below its |
ormer elevation about ten feet.
Remarkable to note, there were few |
osses of life, during this convulsion. |
\ Mrs. Lafont died from fear, and Mrs. |
Jarvis was crushed from the falling OF |
cabin log. The loss of life on the |
liver must have been greater than on
and. It was the age of flat-boats which
the river villages with provis-
ons. These were found for miles,
wrecked in company with barrels of
,ork, flour, whisky, and such other ar
icIes as would float. The crews of
hese were in all probability many of
hem lost, and it is known that Ten
wife and seven children were
IL drowned, himself barely escaping
" a plank, after the boat capsized,
While another family named Glascock-
ix in all persisted miserably in the
torn at Island No. 16. In a correspon-
Ience between Prof. A. d. Hager, of
IT. Louis, and Mr.. Lesieur, in 1871, on
his subject, the latter gentleman states
here were indications on the surface of
he ground that there had been no earth
luakes previous to 1911, or at least not
or centuries. Old chiefs of Shawnees,
Jherokees, and Delewares had b >en
Questioned on this point, and all agreed
hat they had no traditionary account
f any such visitations.
Within the past six months, the river
ront has fallen in more rapidly than
n any preceding six months in the past
en- years, as an evidence of which the
iver at one point has encroached one
hundred and twenty feet in three weeks.
The result is that the residents who
ave been moving back for years, con-
inue to do so, to a location which is
allied the park, one-fourth of mile
rom the river bank. But they are used
o it, those good children of New Mad
III and its vicinity and are iustly proud |