Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1874-09-03

"Reminiscences of the Earthquake,
in the Mississippi VaIIey-Hur
J ricanes and Shipwreck Oh tn.
i Atlantic COast-Our Grandfath
3 ers' Opinions.
New York Herald
The comet of 1911, Of which 81
little has been said, attracted
great attention in the United
States, and was'of extraordinary
brilliancy. 1t was attended by
some very remarkable convulsiont
of nature, and it was said at the
time that was 10! 10000 miles
Of the surface of the sun. 1t was
visible for the first time on the 7th
of September, 1911, and its situ-
alton was calculated by Professor
Wood. of William and Mary col
lege, Virginia, to be III the same
liue with the Polar Star. The
diameter Of its body, exclusive of
tail, appeared to be one.fourth of
the moon. From this time to the
i21st of September, its distance
from the sun increased, as well
as its brightness and tail. The
comet was supposed to have
passed It's perihelion between the
4th and 9Th Of the month with
the amazing velocity Of 100000
miles per hour. 1t could be plain.
Ily seen in the evening during the
month of October, Prior to it's
appearance there were unusual
connections in the earth and the
atmosphere in a variety of ways.
a severe shock of earthquake was
felt in Virginia. Both the A.
merican and European seacosts,
as well as many parts of the in
terror Of those continents, were un.
usrally harassed by tremendous
hurricanes and storms Of rain and
hail, and strange agitations of the
atmosphere were noticed. But
the most remarkable phenomenon
attending the comet of 1911 was
the earthquake of New Madrid,
in the Valley of the Mississippi,
which destroyed nearly 200 miles
of the navigation of that river,
1t presented one of the few exam
pies of the incessant trembling of
the ground for several successive
months.
FAR AWAY FROM ANY VOLCANO,
overa an extentof country stretch
ing for 800 miles from the mouth
of the Ohio river, the ground rose
and sunk, and lakes were formed
and again drained. The surface
burst open in assures that were
sometimes over half mile long,
from these assures mud and wa
ter were thrown as high as tue
tops of trees. During the con-
tinuance of these convulsions the
inhabitants distinguished two
classes of movements, the vertical
and horizental-the latter re-
garded as far more desolatlng
than the former. The distur-
bance, continued over what has
been since called the "sunk
country until March, 1912,
when they ceased. An eye-wit-
ness states that subsequently to
some of the severest shocks the
waters of the Mississippi were
so strongly impregnated with
the ef1iuvia of matter supposed
to have undergone combustion
as to be unfit for use; that the
bedof the Mississippi piwastbrown
upward in a number Of places,
formerly deemed unfathomable,
so high as to impede the naviga-
ton; that in a sandbar that had
lately made its appearance there
was discovered a large quantity
of coal, and that the forests ad-
iacent were broken down by the
abrupness Of the undulatory
movements of the earth. The
post road between Natchez and
Nashville was covered with sew
eral hillocks of fine white sand
which had been protruded up
ward to the surface of the
A considerable tract
of the country was inundated
with water waist deep, through
which the terrified inhabitants
were forced
TO WADE TO HIGHER LANDS FOR
SAFETY.
The water was so warm as to
evidence the previous action
of subterranean fire, and so
strongly tinctured with combus-
tible matter as to resemble fluids
impregnated with pulverized
gun powder, and a mountain Of
considerable height had arisen
in one night from the level Of
what had been before a plain