The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1876-01-06

The Earthquake Shocks at RichmAnd,
Virginia.
At one o'clock a. m. ] visited nearly
every quarter of the city, in order to as
lcertain accurately the extent and effect 81
the earthquake. The result was that il
turned out to be much more serious,
startling and perhaps dangerous than
was aware Of Everywhere the citizens
were walking about the streets hall
dressed, or congegated on the corners,
discussing the events. Some of them re.
NAMED in their houses with the doors
open, prepared at the first. symptom OF
another rumble to rush to the streets for
safety from the impending danger of fall
ing houses. Few were courageous enough
to retire again, and those who
did SO kept their clothes on to
be ready for flight in any emer-
gency, and numbers chose the seemingly
safer alternative of walking about all
night. Never in the history Of this city,
so famous for disasters and terrible catas-
trophies, was there such dismay and con.
sternation depicted on the countenances
of the populace as they stood in their
doorways or in the streets, tremblingly
looking forward to calamity more awful
than anything they had yet experienced.
From interviews had with persons of in
telligence and cool judgment it is now
certain that the city and vicinity were
violently shaken by three distinct rum
blings OF an earthquake, accompanied by
noise resembling thunder, rushing
sound in the air, and the shooting Of
thousands OF meteors through the heavens
Everybody agrees that the first of the
shocks was the most terrific and startling
OF them all, shaking and swaying the
houses like the rocking Of a cradle, rat
thing glasses and glassware, ringing bells,
and, in many instances, throwing persons
from their beds with force and violence to
the floor. This latter incident occurred
at several of the hotels and numbers of
private dwellings, ami the effect was at
once to produce panic and the widest
CONSERVATION that can he imagined. Men
and women alike rushed into passages and
streets, screaming with terror, unable to
realize such an awful visitation, and in
the confusion and uproar which ensued
escaping the effect of the seconds shake, ("
which followed in about three minutes
after the first.
This latter shock was less violent, but,
like the first, it came with the same rum
bling, and as if suppressed, sound of thun-
der, the same rushing noise, like whirl-
wind, and the same shooting of meteors in
the empyrean, which was filled with cleo.
tricity, producing the most brilliant and
at the same time the most astounding ef-
fects. Those who were calm and col
lected enough to witness the latter display
in the streets became terribly impressed
with this extraordinary demonstration of
nature, and there was many mental res
olution, tending to a reformation in the
future, made in the few minutes that it
lasted.
! In about twenty minutes from the first
shock the third occurred, and this was
still less violent than even the second, but
accompanied with the same atmospheric
phenomena as the preceding two.
After that there was the usual midnight
or early morning stiffness, unbroken save
only by the wanderings of the panic
stricken citizens and their speculations
and discussions as to the recurrence of the
remarkable and exciting events of the
night. Nothing further happened, and
many were becoming quoted and retiring
again, when, as some say, at little after
three a. m, still another slight and feeble
shock was felt and heard, but so very
slight that but few noticed it, though many
vOuch for it as an actual fact.
The incidents in the city are numerous,
amusing and often singularly dramatic IN
their character. A poker party of five
young men were quietly enjoying their
game when one, who had lost aconsidera-
BILE amount, exclaimed in despairing tones ::
"Oh, l wish an earthquake would shake
these cards up" The words had scarcely
died upon his lips when the laundering
rumble and shake came, and, looking in
each others faces in speeches. terror,
the party broke up and fled to the street
In the dock of the James River the water
was singularly disturbed and agitated,
and so great was this that two tugs, one
schooner and a heavy barge parted their
lines and cables and drifted a considera-
bic distance down in the river. At other
places on the river seamen, dOckkeepers
and watchmen observed the water to be
vislbly agitated, and in such a manner
that they tancied there was an upheaval
in its bed. Persons on the lower por-
ton of Belle Isle, the famous prison of
Federal soldiers during the war, imagined
the island was sinking and was about
to be engulfed in the rushing waters
OF the James. The Ballard and Exchange
Hotels, two buildings on each side Of
Franklin street, and connected by COW
cred bridge constructed of iron and wood,
were rocked with such force as to threat
en- the dissolution of the connecting link
between them.-Richmond dec. 23) Cor.
N. Y. Herald