The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-08-12
SUBTERRANEAN AGUE.
Tke Planet Has Touch of It Around
New York.
Great Excitement and Panic Among the
PopuIace-.Some incidents of
the "Shake."
People Who Thought the World Was
Going to Fall to Pieces---Looking for
the Second Coming An Incident
at Hartford, Conn. Zen
..-.. eral Account.


..-.. eral Account.
NEW YORK, Aug. 12-Sunday's startling
CONFUSION of nature is the topic in the
palace, the tenement and the exchange
People generally are apprehensiye of repe-
tition OF the shocks. The disturbances appear
to have been widespread In this city
million human beings were terrer-stricken
About 2 O'Clock there came
violent vibration of the earth,
preceded by a low, long-rumbling sound, as
if the explosions of many heavy guns had
struck an echo. in a distant mountain and
caught it up again. Inallparts of the city the
buildings rocked and trembled for several
seconds sending pellmen into the streets
vast crowds of terrified people, whose
blanched faces and palsied tongues
told the story of their fright.
A vigorous bombardment of the
city could not have.shaken the buildings more
than did the sudden vibration. The rumbling
noise and tren1ulous movement of the earth
soon convinced all thinking people that the
disturbance was not due to anything that had
taken place on the earth's surface. 1t was
plainly an earthquake. There has been no
such disturbance in this city since
1870, and even in that year
the shock was trifing compared with
that which was experienced Sunday,
There was sudden shaking of buildings
throughout the city Windows ratified build
ings tremb1ed as if being agitated by the
action of powerful machinery underneath
them, and in some quarters people were
thrown from lounges and beds to the floor,
and persons standing on the sidewalks were
made to dance around. From stoops people
were precipitated to the sidewalk The
falls OF most of them were probably due more
to fright than to the vibration of the earth.
Crockery was upset, and in some parts of
the city the dining room tables were shaken,
and the persons who were seated around
them experienced such feeling as is COM
mon on the ocean during gale An in
slant before the shock the sun was obscured
behind dense, leaden clouds, and a moment
after the clouds sailed away, leaving the sun
shining in full force, and the sky perfectly
clear.
There was scenes of CONSERVATION every
where. In the Jewish quarter the excite
ment was intense. The panic began in the
synagogue on Pike street, where 500 people
were assembled With one accord they
yelled that the Savior had come again, and
hurried to their homes. The confusion then
became indescribable Men yelled and
jumped about, dragged their furni-
ture from Railways and threw it
out of the windows, while terrified
women clutched their children and
piteously begged for mercy. To the unbe
believer it was scene strangely mixed with
the sublime and the ridiculous Orthodox
Hebrews actually believed that the end of
the world had come-that the shock at POS
o'clock was meant as a special signal
for the faithful of Israel to prepare for i'm
mediate translation, and it required the force
and persuasion of four squads of police
to compel the people to clear the
sidewalks of their household goods.
In the tenement-nouse quarter the terror
was even greater than in the Hebrew sec
lions of the city Wild disorder prevailed
The colored population were screaming, cry
| ing and praying A venerable darkey,
whose dress gave him a clerical look, rushed
out of house in West Twenty-fifth street
bareheaded and coatless He sprang down
the steps with the agility of an athlete, and
did not stop until he reached the curbstone,
He held up his hands as in supphcation, and
his mien betokened that he was making his
peace and was prepared for the worst, evil
IDENTIFY expecting soon to hear Gabriel's trum-
pet Women sobbed and wrung their hands,
the only intelligent words they uttered
| being: "Sabe u.s. sabe u.s." and "Good
| Lordw
The police were hurried from the station
house at first TO find great explosion, and,
| failing in this they turned their attention to
the terror-stricken people at the corner of
Rutgers street and East Broadway. Church
bells we're rung by the shock in many sec
lions of the city while other church bells in
| the same blocks remained silent The clock
ON the police headquarters building stopped
| at 2:07 o'clock after running constantly for
many years In many large restaurants and
hotels the gas globes and chandeliers were
shaken off and smashed, while the guests ran
| out in alarm.
If the shock had been a little more severe
Manhattan island would to-day be a scene of
devastati' n and death. Opinions differ as to
the duration of the disturbance, competent
scientific men making it range all the way
from ten to forty seconds One popularity
of the vibration is the fact that the very
largest and most solid buildings in the city
were the most shocked, while light, flimsy
frame buildings were hardly touched.
Brooklyn and Jersey City were pretty
thoroughly shaken up, but no lives were lost
along the coasu, and at the principal water
ing places the shock was distinctly felt and
occasioned great alarm. Several ladies
tainted at Long Branch, and a number Of
people were SO frightened they didn't stay
long enough to pay for their dinners. A great
crowd at Coney island was thrown into the
widest excitement by the shock, which
seemed to be the most severe on the SEE
coast. Women and ckildren ran screaming
hither and thither, while most of the mel
were thoroughly scared. The surf was heavy
and very violent at the time, and the vibra
ton caused dozen or more great waves tx
dash over the beach and chase away bather
and spectators The hotels suffered consider
able loss through breakage of crockery.
The Effect at Boston.
BosToN, Aug 12.-At about 2:15 Sunda,