The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-03-28
EARTHQUAKE EXPERIENCES.
How One Man Felt During a Rather
Vigorous Shaking in San Francisco.
The Sensation Of Being Roughly Shaken
The Startling Afterclaps Which I'm
dermine the Nervous System.
Prentice Milford, in Pittsburg Dispatch.

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Prentice Mulford. in Pittsburg Dispatch.
1t felt frightful. Many had wished to expert
ence ':just one" They wished no more A man
who had fought a grizzly and had been nearly
torn in pieces by one, said that between earth
quake and grizzly he would hereafter prefer
| grizzly. He preferred foe he could see. The
earthquake, he said, struck in the dark,
whether it attacked by day or night and when
anything struck him he wanted to see what it
was and where it was, so he could strike back.
1t came on a weekday morning of October, in
| San Francisco, A. d. 1865 There was no previ-
Gus notice. Suddenly the houses Jared, then
shook, and with it all. and seemingly between it
all, came wavering and gliding conclusion as
when a ferry-boa softly and CONSIDERABLY
touches the slip
! How long this lasted none could exactly tell.
All sense of time was lost in the horror of the
moment The earth, that emblem of stability,
seemed to have given way, proved false to her
trust. and lost her reputation for enduring
solidity.
Window panes by the thousand were broken
| Glass, cracked and shivered covered the pave
ments half an inch in depth. Chimneys and
coping stones fell to the ground so did the GIN
crack wood or tin imitation holdings Millions
of square yards of plastering fell to the floor
indoors. Walls swayed and undulaton crept
| upward on brick fronts like gentle sea waves
| The creaking and grinding of the piles and
| wooden wharves on the water front was terrific
Steeples swayed like tape lines. Cats ran
| up stairs or dived into the cellars. Rats left
| their holes and ran unnoticed past cats Fright
| reduced all classes momentarily to the same
| level of sociabity. Men found themselves
| talking excitedly about the occurrence to indi-
viduals they never saw before in their lives.
Women, on the verge of Mysteries, talked with
| everybody-or nobody. All conventional ETH
| uuette was for the time suspended The earth
| quake is a successful leveer.
| Drug stores interiorly caved their fluid con-
| tents together in one grand smash IShubarb,
ink and castor oil mingled on the floor. Medi-
cine; if required, could have been had by the
| pailful--fOr nothing TinctureS and essences
| commingled and flowed, pungent smelling
stream, over the sidewalks.
In a moment the streets were densely filled
with people from the houses on either side.
Barber shops discharged half shaven, half lath-
cred men. Out of restaurants surged a crowd
leaving haf-eaten meals on the tables. Some
stalked out of hotels, clad only in sheets or
blankets having left their clothes where they
left their beds So thickly We're the streets
| packed that the passage of all vehicles
stopped. The men clad only in sheets stood out
conspicuously like resurrected Roman senators.
Some of them were quite unmindful of their
| attire. When their unique appearance dawned
upon them they crept quietly back to their
dwellings and seemed unambitious of further
publicity.
There was subdued clamor from the crowds
Nearly every one looked up, without exactly
knowing why. Five minutes after the shock
hundreds of the citizens stole gently into the
deserted bar-rooms. They wanted to brace up.
Every was more or less unnerved They
did brace up. Some continued the bracing pro-
cess process during the whole day. The bar
keepers were the first to resume their posts.
Biz was biz in San Francisco, even though the
earth was being knocked to pieces.
A political idiot rode through Montgomery
street, assuring the crowd that the worst was
over The man had the assurance and cheek to
speak for Mother Nature Some people would
utilize the day of judgment to sensationaliZe
little capital for themselves.
The immediate result and general tendency
caused by the phenomenon on San FranciScOs
manhood was that of certain nervous risibil
ity. Every man tried to appear little less
frightened than his neighbor, and endeavored
also to treat the affair lightly. SUCH attempts
were generally failures. The nervous tremOr
could be felt beneath their wavering smiles and
many of their jokes were shaky, too.
The first and hardest shock was followed by
succession of smaller ones. At intervals of half
an hour the earth would convuisively CULVER
So, in unison, did all her children. These after
caps were quite as hard to bear as the main
blow. They undermined ones entire nervous
system. drew from it ali its stiffness, and so de-
moralized people as to make them run or faint at
the least JAR All who had experiences agree
that there is no such thing as getting used to
earthquakes.
The public schools were dismissed. The courts
did not convene after their hasty adjournment.
Prisoners confined for minor offenses were
loosed from Jail. Every kind Of business was
suspended. Thousands of families remained
seated all day in chairs on the pavements, fear
ing to enter their houses. Many took trains or
hired vehicles and left the city.
The bravest people manifested themselves the
next day. They then told, by implication, how.
cool aud collected they were during the shock,
how many shocks occurred, the precise number
of seconds between each one and the direction
from whence the vibrations came These were
the newspaper reporters, and the public as usual,
cheerfully swallowed their stories.
The reporters implied that they had calmly
stood amid this wreck of matter aud crash of
crOckery and drug stores, and measured and
timed the earthquake with their stop watches.
The people rarely thought to question this. The
people rarely do stop to inquire as to veracity or
possibilities when newspaper man calmly lays
before them his fctions.
The newspaper men speedily returned to their
Offices and attempted, with apprehensive minds
and shaky hands, to write up the event. Most
of them desisted on finding that their presses
had been thrown out of gear by the shock.
ran at the first trembe. / ran down stairs
with the rest Didn't know exactly what ran
for 1t was out of printing Office. / was the
last down stairs and the first up again. The
room was empty. The wall over the front win
dows let in a streak of daylight. Plaster and
type were we'll mixed Type was "pied" every
where They were just making up" the paper
for the mornings issue.
Presently a scared printer put his head in the
doorway. 'Jimminy" said he; did you stay
here through it all2' was tempted to lie. and
establish local reputation for GOODNESS and
courage. But principle for once, won brief
victory: said, mo, my friend; was with you
in the flight down stairs"
Then the proprietor of the paper came in. He
said the earthquake must be written up" It
was enterprise" So we sat down to inform the
public that there had been an earthquake.
wrote three or four lines, and felt too shaky to
write more l handed the pen to Mr. White,
and said, You write; can't He tried and