The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-12-22
HupsoN VALLEY EARTHQUAKE.

HUDSON VALLEY EARTHQUAKE.
ALARM AMONG THE VILLAGES OF w~EsTCHEs-
TER COUNTY AND IN Z JERsEY-A NIGHT
OF TERRoR
The New York Sun of the 18th inst. con-
tains the following account of a recent
earthquake in that region: On Thursday
evening at lO:S0, Prot. White, of Kursteiner
| q Whites Academy, Englewood, was sit
ting in his study writing notes of history.
By his side on the table was q Students
lamp. His attention was suddenly ar
rested by a rumbling that sounded
like a very heavy wagon roll
ing over frozen ground. Then
| the building began to tremble, and an mex
| press;ble feeling of awe took possession of
| the professor. The chimney OF his students
lamp began to rattle, and the lamp itself be-
gan to tip over. He extended his hand to
| steady the lamp, and as he did so the rum
| bling ceased and the house again became
steady. The rumbling lasted only about
| FIVE seconds, and the professor realized the
fact that for the first time in his life he had
felt the shock of an earthquake. Yesterday
| morning the students who attend tne Engle-
wood academy all had a wonderful story
| Nyack, Piermont, Sparhill, TaPpan, Newry,
| Norwood. ClOster, Delnarest, Cresshlll,
| Tenahy, and Highland. Each had felt the
| shock, and each had a diferent theory In
regard TO the phenomenon. The academy
| is a boarding school, and many of the stu
! dents live in the building. Several of them
were lust going to bed in the upper story at
| time of the shock. In one of the rooms a
| bed was moved from its place when the
building swsyed, and lamps and windows
ratified.
WHERE H SHOCK WAS HEAVIEST.
In Nvack, thirteen miles north of Engle-
wood, the shock was more perceptibly felt
than in Englewood. Mr.. John Curran
was sitting in his parlor in Burd
street. Suddenly he heard the rumbling
noise, and the house began to tremble. He
started from his seat, and gained the door
lust in time to see the ceiling give way and
fail to the floor. Mr.. Townsend, who lives
in Main street, was sitting reading by a kero-
sene lamp, and the lamp was thrown to the
floor. In the Commercial building, a brick
structure three stories high, the town
| trustees were in session, and while one of
the trustees was talking the rumbling
was heard. The honorable trustee
oaused. Silence reigned in the
| hall, broken only by the terrible rumbling,
| Which sounded like distant thunder. the
trustees sprang from their seats and rushed
into the street. There they found hundreds
of their fellow citizens who, .Ik them
| selves, were terrified. Never before was
| Nyack so numerously represented IN the
| street at 1890 at night. Men, women and
| shildren, some slightly clad, having just
Jumped from bed. were in the thoroughfaTes,
questioning each other with regard to the
| phenomenon. Only n man could explain
IL. and that was Bob Williams. On a side
hill west of Nyack is the mansion of Mr..
John w. Towt. The old gentleman heard tue
| rumbling and felt the shock. He thought
that somebody had blown up his safe in the
| basement, and his son Edward went down
stairs to see. Tn safe having been found
| intact, the old gentleman thought that the
| safe of his neighbor, Commodore VOORHEES,,
| had been blown open. The commodore is
absent on a yachting trip, and three weeks
| ago burglars entered his house. Mr.. Towt
| wished that Edward should go to the COM
modore's house and see what had happened.
In all the villages between Nyack and Engle-
| wood, a distance of thirteen miles north and
| south, and as far west as Spring Valley, seven
| miles from Nyack, the shock was felt. In
Spring Valley the ceiling OF one
Rentleman's house was shaken
down. The earthquakes motion was
| from northeast to southwest, along the val
ley, which runs parallel with the Hudson
| river. at Is not at all surprising" said Mr..
Charlton, editor of the Rockland County
Journal. "rhese hills are all compos q OF
igneOus matter, and the only wonder is that
we have not had a shock before" In Sing
Sing the shock was very percepGlDle. In the
prison the convicts had all retired. The
massive walls of the prison rocked and
swayed, and the rumbling awoke the pris-
oners. They jumped from their beds, the
first instinct beingto fly, but the heavy iron
doors would have confined them had the
prison tumbled down. In a few seconds the
excitement was over, but very few convicts
slept after that fearful experience.
THE TRRRoR OF THE BRUTEs.
The duration Of the shock in Westchester
county is variously estimated from ten to
sixty seconds. Mr.. J. o. Miller, of the Sur
ragate's office, who lives in Mount Kisco,
noted the time of the shock at 1924. 1t was
a rumbling from the west, a sound like an
explosion followed by the same rumbling
diving out in the southeast. His house
trembled from its foundation and the cheeks
of it's occupants paled as the shock passed on
and was followed by the barking and
whining of frightened dogs and the
cries of distress that were uttered
by other animals. Surrogatei Coffin
said that in Peekskill the shock
was very severe. The Hon. Edmonds
Odell, congressman elect, felt the shock in
his house in T~arrytown; but he can not be
minute in bis description, his whole atten-
ton having been given to his frightened
children. The Register from Katonah re-
ported that window glass was broken at
Green's Hotel in that village. In White
Plains village the shock was very severe.
Into the street poured the panic stricken
men and women, and there they stayed
until the cold rain drove them back. Mr..
Hodsou, the Waterman of the court house,
a massive stone building, says that it trem-
bled. In the Standard Hotel, just opposite,
the pool balls rolled hither and thither
on the bevelled table, and the play
ers ran into the street. Mr.. Joseph Sniffen
OF Sniffen's hotel, likened the noise to that
of a heavy barrel rolling along the floor.
The shock was severe in Spuyten Duyvel.
Mr.. William Lewis describes it as a low,
rumbling noise, somewhat resembling, yet
too intense for thunder. 1t lasted about
thirty seconds, and he thought it was an
explosion at He'll Gate. Mr.. Rogers, who