The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1886-09-09
ECHOES OF THE QUAKE.
THE FATE OF HARLESTcN--
THE PROUD OLD CITY.
The Damage is Estimated TO be Between n
Five and Ten Million Doiiar>---Prof.
NcGee's Theory.

ATLANTA, Ga, Sept. t, 1856. To re
view my recent trip TO Charleston i - re
view the most unique experience Of ny
life. Strange as have been the stories
telegraphed from that point | am oppress
ed with the sense OF having told made
quately what | saw. AS appalling as was
the visitation OF the earthquake, and as
new as was the experience the very feWes'
Of the wild rumOrs set Tying from white
lips or black, lack a basis of truth The
actual facts equal in grotesque wonder the
best worst the stimulated fancy of the
spectators could produce.
Let US discard the false items to begin
with. There was no cross of fire seer
above the doomed city That item was
answered in Captain Dawson,s boast that
1t was devOut lriShman who first saw It.
There was no vivid streak of fire that
flashed like a stroke of lightning down the
length of Meeting street There was nc
atmospcric disturbance whatever The
water that issued from fissurc5 was not
hot as we'll as sulphurous. 1t was about
the temperature Of arteSian water The
assures did not throw water to the height
OF twenty or thirty feet. With these ex-
ceitiOnS have heard no rumor concerning
the earthquake that was not true in sub
stance if not ii detail
Now Let US review what actually did
happen.
First, the original shock taking Charles
ton as the centre, lasted from 1J to 20 sec
onls certainly not longer than 25 sec
ondS. The motion was a succession OF
sharp plunges towards the east, with SHARP
and Immediate recovery, the oscillations
being about equal. In changing the mo-
ton from east to west there was perhaps
4 twisting, as chimneyS and lamps were
wrenched half way around. After the Il
seconds of oscillation there were subsiding
tremors irregularly for perhaps three min
utes, with nothing like the first oscillation,
however, and no new impulse.
, The shocks have been renewed at in
tervals for three days, though with none
of the fierce energy of the first shock.
Perhaps there IS no more disturbance il
The latter shocks than would result from
an enormous mass readjusting itself after
sudden di5lOcation. Professor NcGhct
held that such was the case with the later
shocks reported to him at Charleston
He said, however, if the new shocks al
Summerville were as violent as reported
they would be inexplicable by the theory
OF setting or readjustmcnt Of the earth
and would indicate a new disturbance
Mr.. McCfhee has Just wired that he con
siders the late shocks at Summerville sim
ply the dying out tremCrS of the first dis
placement.
g. The earthquake was everywhere ac
companied by a dull, roaring noise, which
outlasted the first shock by a half houl
and returned with every subsequent tre
NOR. The roaring is underground, and is
best described as long rolls of thunde,
deadened by a thick lid In the cities it
is mingled with the rattle of glass and
rumble of rocking houses. In the country
it IS heard as plainly as cannonading OF
thunder. 1t has never been so loud as with
tie first shock, but has been heard with
every tremor. Listeners declare that ii
has none Of the sharp grinding sound OF
rough friction, but rather the dull hollow
sound of air or steam laundering in cav
tiles.
4. The assures in the ground are of ir-
regular shape. Usually they discharge
blacklsh water and fine sand. or water
and blue mud, but not always. The dis
charging assures are usually round or OBJ
long (varying in size from cup to Il we'll
and always swollen for several feet around
as if the earth had been pushed up from
| below. \ gentle swell of white sand, per
haps foot high in the centre, glistening
with moisture and crowned Just above the
crater with a pile of blue mud shaped like
Il bee hive-that is the usual appearance
of the round fissure. The water flows reg
ularly from the base of the blue mud anC
jets of mud are pulsed up at intervals
Wells have filled to the very tops and are
| overfiowing freely. Everywhere there ap
pears to have been a ''bulgingn from be
meath the ground that lifted it up and
forced the water and mud to the surface
The water did not follow the shock in
stantly, but came perhaps half hour la
tow Irec of ~
rectiOn from Summeryille holes and issures
are as burrows in a prairie dog village il
| clusters, and the clusters occur every few
| hundred yards. New ones are opening
continually. The bottom has been reached
| IN none OF them. In Charleston there are
many flowing assures, though they show
| less plainly in the paved streets.
5. Professor McGee's theory of the
earthquake, is generally accepted. Plainly
stated, it is that east Of the Appalachian
are two great formations. The granite
and the fragmental. The first extend.
from the mountains to about Columbia
the latter from Columbia to the sea. The
/ frst IS the Piedmont escarpment, the other
the coastal plain. The escarpment is
! granite, the plain is made up of composite
rocks and fragments, resting on g granite
bed about 5000 feet below The granite
! bed that holds this mass of earth is in
clined towards the sea- and about one
hundred miles from shore, dips suddenly
! The tendency Of the fragmental plain is tC
slide down the granite plane on which il
! rests This tendency is increased by the
deposits of sand and gravel constantly
! brought into the fragmental mass bv the
rivers that flow down from the mountains
Professor McGee holds that a seaward sIir
OF this coastal plain has taken place, anc
| that the disturbance results from sudder
dislocation of an area 900, 900 miles square
and ? 900 feet thick.
His reasons for believing this are that
such seaward movement has been taking
/ place steadily in the middle of the Allan
! tic States, and its progress has been accu
rately roted. That no volcanic actor
ever disturbed anything like so great al
area, nor could possibly do so. That the
so called volcanic mud and sulphurou:
waters are simply marls and salts or sui
phurits. released from the layers of the
earth by the tearing motion and forced
upwards through suddenly made riffs
That all the phenomena of this eartl
are explicable by the theory of the land
slide, but not by the volcanic theory, an(
that no volcanic force having operated OF
| this continent in thousands of years, an(
none being apparent now, volcanic fore
! cannot be taken as the cause.
A gentleman said to Professor McGee
ssThe most remarkable phenomenon of th
earthquake to me is the 'kinking' of tn
railroad tracks This never occurred il
an earthquake before. The earth contract
under the track and the track not con
L ~ C~1.