The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-08-28
EARTHQUAKES OF THE PAST.
some of the Grandest Upheavals the World
has Known.

has been thoroughly fevOlutlon!zeu, auu
the ingenuity of scientists has made the
subject 30 interesting that it is perfectly
practicable withthe aid of "seisometer"
TO accurately measure the duration OF q
shock even to the fraction of second.
To show how thoroughly earthquake
records have been preserved, it may be
added that the British Association has an
seartbouake catalogue" which gives a
list of between 5000 and 1000 earth
auskes between 1906 B. G.. and A. D..
ls42. From 1912 to 1880 these records
have been added to by Mons. Perry, q
Belgian, for the use of the Belgian Acad.
emy. So that we have a complete list of
earthquake shocks chronologically tablu-
lated for 3,49O years made on time meas
urement. -,
It is also worthy of remark that while e
Central and South America and Europe
have been at intervals the scenes OF mon
strous upheavals in revolution, North
America has been most fortunate in es.
Gaping the fearful havoc they have caus.
ed. ,jtriSa.fsct.that in: Southern. Italy;
ind EjeHg poSe1syrs has elapsed sincsa e
he Gsrsisst pefi iSSd]s history thatShas
hot been 3 Edistibguishei by frequent or
severe earthquakes.
Biblical reference is made to the earth
Z duaka il Syria during the reign of Ahab,
s0GsE., Cy Indes was. also devastated
! during the time Of the battle OF Actlum,
BIB. C.s Jdsephusssays it;caused the
death off 10, 6Gpersons.g q re n:.a2st 2
The cities of Hercnlaneuma and Pom.
peiiaa Central Italy, that snceunlbed to
tfis same gigantic. and destructive force
IN inA a. D., s., J are.so. ,familiarly known as
to,need pospecial comment. II has been
q fruitful themaf for novelists ande!p poets.i
Antiuek Hasafrequently been visited bys
earlhq0xkes::a ina. D.. 115 it was almost
destroyed. In "a. ID. 456 it was again
) visited, and III Speaking of this Gibbon,
the historian; states that $50, 900 persons
lost thAirdliyess:lAgain, in A. D,raSI,
z 80. 600 0perons came to their death.; The
last ID that city occurred in April, ,slS9es!
In the iyeaf f77S, for instance, there;
were n6ffA$eE than 947 shocks, and 50i.
of these FWefe,nhat scientists term ".of
! the first degfeg Of force"
The historic earthquake in Lisbon in,
1866 thfs#do the greater part OF the
CITY! TKgi sea retired and left the bar,
4 absolutely dafy, and portion of the. city.
z Was buried Beneath the waters of the bay
to q depth Of 500 feet. Humboldt esti;
mates thhsareaIshaken by this. earth73
quake asf four Aifnes the extent of Europe:
Sixty THOUSAND people persisted within
the tspnacs of six minutes. The. shock
was FELT ID. the ALPS, on the coast OF
Sweden, in Bohemia, and many towns
were destroyed in Northern Africa. The
tteartfduake q waves" even nreached; Scot.
land. and ths waters ofs LocR, Lomond'
sndd dennlyi, rose two feet It's velocity was.
3 1000 9feetp SECOND .S.ii
To give some idea of the immense
destruction Of life and property, it is
recorded that -theI great earthquake IN
Calabsisg I'LL 1 783.calsed thesdeathf of
10O, 900 persons. Its origin was at aspot
Hffecffyuuderthe ntreof. .Gaiabrias III
dislocated huge rocks that fell into the
sea and destroyed the City sof: .Messlha.
In 1919 2, 900 square miles ofscountry'
near the mouth Of the. .Indnaswese sub.
merged, and the shock was distinctly;
felt at Calcutta. go -
On January %, 1885, Central America
on the occasion Of the 5ernptlo fsthe
volcano Cosegs nina darkneaa endd denly:
enyelopsd tho c5antgy aud people
were plunged into great lsal. 2s;ssl
The famous earthq 10 the King.
dom of Naples in sperhaps the,
greatest insmdderns Zines. g. IL was felt
througho The kingdom ,bnt singnlarly
enough liftla mparatiYes danger was
donesin the City saefs Naples itself. Its;
travelling force swaas almost incredible.
AT the toWnsofs Potenzag the speed s0fs the
shock was 775 feet per second. EIt was
felt in Paris Metz and Geneva lts
greatest violence was between Berne and
thamonni It travelled Northward at
Mef rats i-ofs 861; feet per ;seeoad; and
Southwark ], ,391 feet.
0n3N November H. 1861, Switzerland
waS similarly visited, Though the results
were not 80 disastrous. 49,
The last memorable incident of an
seruptiye charac acter happened on theDlght
OF Jnfy % Of last year on the Island Of
Ischia near Naples, when the town of
Gasamiccola was almost destroyed. The
adisssnt towns Of Foris and Lacceameno
were greatly damaged, II. commenced
at 80 O'clock. Three thousand persons
were killed, 300 were injured, and nearly
alI.the houses were thrown down. Crest
darkness fell upon the people, the earth,
: opened in many places, water gushed out
from the springs, and the terrified popu-
lace rushed to the sea to escape. ltleft
its ravages at Lacco, at Torrio (where the
churches were ruined) at Scuara fifteen
persons were killed. The scenes were
heart.rending and impossible to describe.
referring to earthquake shocks in the
United States, which have been remark.
ably rare, the notable one Of 1911 took
place at New Madrid, Mo. It covered
an area of 300 miles, Southwark from
the mouth of.the Ohio River The
ground rose and sank in mighty mounds,
lakes were Eformeds.and again drained.
There were tMo distinct motions feit-a
vertical andea horizontal The latter
was considered to have done the most
damage. The disturbances continued at
intervals until March %, 1872, when
they suddenly ceased coincident with the
great earthquake at Caracas, the capital
Of tho Republic of Venezuela where it
caused the death of 10000 sinhabitants,
showing unmistakably thatthere was an
evident transmission of force between
them.
The same earthquake commenced in
Massachusetts with noise resembling
thunder. IT lasted minute, followed by
a long swell, like a land billoW.S 1T was
80 great that men working in the field
tried to lay hold of something to prevent
them falling. Jerks and wrencheS, last
ing two minutes, succeeded. In Boston
the effect. was seen by, the -upheayal Of
chimueys;l wind lvanesf and numerous
brick sbnildings..--M Millions of fish were
killed and Aoated on the surface of the
water. Nine hours later e P. M. the
led wase, twenty feet high, arrived at the
harbor of St. Martins, West Indies. The
wave, undoubtedly, originated at the