Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-09-09

vnsn slight rattling Of the sash drew
ny notice. II confined nine or ten sec
onos and then ceased. I knew the
snock was over, and con- ratulstsd NY
sen upon having had nerve enough to lie
soea while 1t lasted. Suddenly the
building rose vertically about . yard
ana descended again with q thump
winch brought down every inch OF
plaster in the room. Then it rose again,
and this time shattered the window.
Inc third upheaval fetched down
nail The chimney, and l thought il
was time to get up and see what the
other half intended doing. Then the
hotel INDUCED in JIG, varied by an oc.
casional wild pirouette, and the motion
was something like that Of runaway
sIeetcar off the track, but more active
and noisy, end sounds from the COR
ridors convinced ms was not the only
resident who was enjoying it. 1t was
rather carly in the morning, but some
how everybody seemed to have walked
up full Of activity and enthusiasm, and
there were scrub races along every hall
to see who would get down stairs first,
and the prevailing scenery was some
thing like that of q ballet. /
had q squirt down two fights with
fat lady wrapped in q blanket
and held my own pretty well,
but she cleared the last nine stairs
in one motion and won, but lost
the blanket. When we all arrived in
the rotunda the clerk said he thought
it was an earthquake, and said it lasted
just fifty.six seconds, and | was sorry
/ hadn't arisen sooner and been down
in time to see that clerk pull out his
watch and time the phenomenon. AT
the corner was large drugstore, and
the earthquake had taken all the bottles
at once and compounded general pre-
scription ON the floor every mule and
horse on the street had taken it into
his head to run away, and the thorough
fare was lined with spokes and
harness the sidewalks were a mass
Of broken glass, pulyerized Chin
neys, ard plaster there was
crack on Market street two blocks long
and foot wide, and several witnesses
were ready to be sworn to the state
ment that during the upheaval they
had seen it open and shut like clam.
Eight CHASTITY corpses We carried to the
morgue, victims Of a misplaced belief
that it was safer to run out Of build
ing than stay within. There were not
less than thirty shocks during the day.
Everybody camped in the streets that
night. and there was reign Of terror
generally for q week. The damage in
window-glass, crockery, plaster, and
brickwork amounted, it is said, to sl0,-
coo, 900, but think the surprise it
gave was worth more than twice that
amount.
If o man wishes to act according to
rule during earthquakes be had better
make up his mind beforehand and COM
NIT the plan to memory, for scientific
observers have noticed a general tend
eDcy to hurry and disorder during an
active upheaval. Old Californians,
when an unusually sharp shock comes,
get in the doorway or under an arch,
avoiding thus the falling plaster, and
the position is a safe one unless the
walls themselves tumble. To run out
doors is highly dangerous. One is apt
to catch the broken glass and falling
cbimnoys, to say nothing of walls and
cornices. Perhaps, after all, the safest
way is to 60 up in balloon the day
before and stay there till the trouble is
over.
The Major is, of course, dreadfully
cut up because he did not know the ma
ture Of this last earthquake until after
it was all over, for, he says, he would
like to have studied the character and
direction Of the oscillations; but Dick
says he was with the Major during the
shock Of "a, and the Major promptly
recognized it by going down stairs nine
at time and oscillating in the direc-
ton of fresh air. The Major heard Dick
say this and was very naughty for
q while, and then he explained
to us privately that Dicks ribald
intellect could never comprehend
anything more scientific than a jack
pot, and that the real cause Of his hurry
was to get out where he could see ex-
actly how the seismic force expended
itself. Furthermore, he says that any
country which contracts the earthquake
habit is on the road to ruin, aud he
hopes the authorities will provide scien-
tific means for their prevention in fu-
ture, but Dick says the only real damage
the average earthquake does is to make
liars of eminent citizens, who smell
sulphur, see opening chasms, and be-
hold frightful carnage and destruction
of property, all which phenomena,
when subsequently boiled down, leaves
little if any residuum. Ii. &. @.
ANII-sALOON REPUBLICAN,.