Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1885-06-06
EARTHQUAKE SHOCKS.
How They Paralyze the Nerves of HUI
mans and Brutes.


lit felt frightful. Many had wished to
experience 'just one" They wished no
more. A man who had fought grizzly
and had been nearly torn in pieces by
one, said that between earthquake and
grizzly he would hereafter prefer grizzly.
He preferred foe he could see. The
earthquake, he said, struck in the dark
whether it attracked 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 previous notice. Suddenly the houses
Jared, then shook, and with it all, and
seemingly between it all, came waver-
ing and gliding conclusion as when a
ferryboat softly and considerably touches
the slip.
How long this lasted none could exact
ly tell. All sense of time was lost in the
horror of the moment, The earth, that
emblem DISABILITY, seemed to have CIV
en- way, proved false TO her trust, and
lost her reputation for enduring solisity.
Window panes by the thousand were
broken. Glass. cracked and shivered,
covered the payements half an inch in
depth. Chimneys and coping stones
fell to the ground; so did the gimcrsck
wood or tin imitation holdings. Mill
ions of square yards of plastering fell to
the floor indoors. Walls swayed, and
fluctuations crept upward on brick
fronts like gentle sea waves. The creak-
ing 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 Gel.
lars. Rats left their holes and ran un
noticed past cats. Fright reduced all
classes momentarily to the same level of
sociability. Men found themselves
talking excitedly about the occurrence
to individuals they never saw before in
their lives. Women on the verge of
Mysteries talked with everybody-or no.
body. All conventional etiquette was
for the time suspended. The earthquake
is successful leveler.
Drug stores interiorly caved their fluid
contents together in one grand smash.
Rhubarb, ink and castor oil mingled on
the floor. Medicine, if required, could
have been had by the pailful-for moth
ing. Tinctures and essences commipgled
and flowed puDgent smelling steam
over the sidewalks
In a moment the streets were densely
filed with people from the houses on
either side. Barber shops discharged
half shaven, half Gathered men. Out of
surged crowd leaving half
eaten meals on the tables, Some stalk
ed out of els, clad only in sheets or
blankets, having left their clothes where
they left their beds. So thickly were
the streets packed that the passage of all
vehicles was 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 uu-
ambitious of further publicity.
There was a subdued clamor from the
crowds. Nearly every one looked up,
without exactly knowing Why. Five
minutes after the shock hundreds ofthe
citizens stole gently into the deserted
bar-rooms. They wanted to brace up.
Everyone was more or less uuneryed.
They did brace up. Some continued the
bracing process during the whole day
The barkeepers were the first to resume
their posts. Biz was biz" in San Fran
cisco, even though the earth was being
knocked to pieces.
A political idiot rode throayn Moa
gomery street, assuring the crowd that
tie worst was over" The man ha0
he assurance and cheek to speak for
Mother Nature. Some people would
Utilize the day of Judgment to sensation,
,lize little capital for themselves.
The immediate result and general
caused by the phenomenon on
San Francisco's manhood was that of a
certain nervous risibilitv. Every man
ried to appear a little less frighte ned
han his neighbor, and endeavored also
o treat the affair lightly. Such attempts
we're generally failures. The nervous
remor could be felt beneath their wav-
ring smiles, and many of their Jokes
we're shaky, too.
The first and hardest shock was follow
ID by succession of smaller ones. At
intervals of half an hour the earth would |
culver. So, in unsion, did
I'll her children. These afterclaps were
quite as hard to bear as the main blow.
They undermined ones entire nervous
ystem, drew from it all its stiffness, and
% demoralized people as 10 make them
un or faint at the least jar. All who