Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1876-08-24
Correspondence GalliDolis Journal.
LETTER FROM EUROPE.

VIENNA, AUSTRIA, July 81, 1876.
WM. NASH, ESQ.,, EDITOR JOURNAL,
GALLIPoLIs, OHIO.
Dear Sir:-Time is fast travel
er, and it does not seem possible that
two months have passedNway since
my areival here; still dates are the
best proof. Whether the life l am
leading is one that makes time appar-
emily fly faster than the routine of
business life I have followed for
eighteen years previous, l am not
able to say; though this mode of liv-
ing is by no means an idle one, for /
in reality take more physical exer-
else here in one day than my busi-
ness called for in three.
I shall however soon leave here and
wend my way towards sunny Italy,
and only pray that it may not turn
out too stormy; for there are some
days there that are hot enough to
compel one staying in the house af-
ter 9 o'clock in the morning, and not
to venture out before 6 in the even
ing.
/ cannot expect to find every
thing to suit me to the L. T.;
travellers must not be too choice
with their selections, and a cheer
full disposition has much to do
with comfort. Still with all that, it is
sometimes not possible to keep up
the spirits-like it happened Mon
day, July 18th, at 1:15 P. M. was
lying on sofa reading paper, my
wife occupying seat at the escri-
toire, engaged in writing q letter.
Being stretched out full length on
that sofa, 1 was aware of peculiar
feeling. apparently like an electric
shock running down my spinal COL
umn, and imagined heard distant
rumbling. 1t was SO very peculiar
that / involuntarily raised on one ell
bow, and was about calling attention
to this phenomena to my wife, when
two sharp and extremely uncomfort-
able shocks of earthquake, followed
in rapid succession, causing furniture
to move, dishes in the kitchen to be
upset, bells to ring, my wife being al
most thrown BACKWARDS off her chair,
in fact, for the few seconds it lasted,
Ifelt extremely uncomfortable, know
ing that should anything happen, the
chances for safety were none. living
as we do on the Sd floor of such
colossal palace.
The damage over the city proved
to be greater than first anticipated,
and also the report Of the Hospitals
from persons injured. That it was
an earthquake of considerable ex-
tent, was shown by the reports from
other parts of Austria, and that there
were seUere shocks is proven by the
facts that several workmen on roofs
were shaken or pitched of, light ex-
press wagons pitched forward SO as
to throw the driver from the seat,
dial plates on several of the public
clocks dropped of, many houses
cracked, one tumbled in, great panic
on the Merchants Exchange, where
some 1000 persons were assembled;
also panic in a school-house, and
several children injured. All beer
gardens, coffee-houses, restaurants
and other places of that kind, were
speedily deserted, and the occupants
rushed out into the stree.-ln fact it
was sight not easily to be forgotten.
So much about that scare.
In my search for something new
and interesting, l came across very
duplicate clock to the one Thomas,
the wholesale murderer, made use of.
This clock was manufactured in Ger
many, and has the manufacturers Ger.
titled certificate as to its genuineness.
II is made very strong and of metal,
with two steel springs 80 feet long,
which connected with hammar.
This clock was wound up, and by a
dial plate showing figures one TO ten,
designating the number Of days it
takes vessel to make the trip. The
clock being now set (similar to an
alarm clock say to number seven,
Tor seventh day out from Europe on
that very day the hammer would
drop with a force of "a pounds on the
cap or explosive fuse, connected with
the contents of the barrel, and the re-
suit may be imagined. Fortunate
ly, however, Though the loss of life
was even great them a little lever was
in the construction of this clock not
made sufficiently secure, and an un-
usual shock IN loading the heavy bbl.