Connecticut western news., 1886-09-08
CHARLESTON IN RUINS.
WRECKED BY THE EARTH.
 QUAKE SHOCKS.
Sixty Killed and Wounded.-The Streets Filled With PaNtt.Strick. en People.-Fires Add to the Terror,

night, shortly after ten o'clock, causing more loss and injury to property and far more loss of life than the cyclone of year before. The city is Wrecked, the streets are encumbered with masses of fallen bricks and tangled tele- graph and telephone wires, and up to an early hour 1t was almost impossible to pass from one part of the city to another. The first shock was by far the most severe Most of the peo. pie with their families passed the night in the streets, which even this morning are crowded with people afraid to reentes their homes More than sixty, chiefly colored persons were killed and wounded. Among whites killed and fatally injured are M. J. Lynch, Dr. R. Alexander Hammond, Ainsley Robescr. Fires broke out in different parts ef the city imme- diately after the earthquake, and some are still burning. but there is no danger of thei, spreading. There is no way of leaving the city at present.
 Many people are seriously, if not fatally fin. jured. Broad street presented D spectacle of the utmost horror. Women armed with hatchets fought vaiantly to rescue imprisoned unfortu- mates, Meeting street, from Broad so Hazel, add to the horror of the scene, many fires broke out. and were Intellectually fought by our Fire Department. Up to 10 a. m, to-day there were ten distinct shocks.
 The damage is estimated at $2,0O0, 900 (six miles from Charleston Telegraph and telephone wires in Charleston are badly wrecked. The streets of the city are badly blocked with fallen buildings. Another shock was felt this morning. The principal, business were rendered homeless. The main Station House, the City Hall, Hibernian Hall, and many other well known public buildings, in- oluding St. Michaels Church, were irreparably damaged.
 LATER REPORT.
 The first shook was felt approaching It 50 Tuesday evening, ands befofc people could re- alse what the trouble was, they were being thrown around and their houses were falling down upon them. Every ono ran screaming into the streets, and in few s-rohds the city was wild with human teihgs, perfectly crazed with fright 4te first shock, which was by far the most severe, was followed immediately by another, which increased the terror of the peo. pie. On all sides could be heard exelamAtions such as "My Godl save usI" s'Ged have mercy upon us sinnersl" and naeh and women could be seen kneeiihg everywhere in groups. Offering Offering up prayers. The shock con each succeeding one being less M severe. n until up to 10 a. m. Wednesday there had been ten dis tinct shocks. To add to the terror of the sit- uation fires broke out in five different places soon after the first shock, and the city was soon illuminated with flames, thus leading all to believe that what was left by the earthquake would bc devoured by fire. However, the Fire Department was so well divided aud handled that the fires were gotten undef control by daylight. From fifteen to twenty residences and stores we're consumed. Tuesday night was hideous with the groans of the dying, the screams of the wounded, and the prayers of the uninjured.
 The city is wrecked. the streets are encum- bered with masses of fallen bricks and tangled telegraph and telephone wires. Broad street presented spectacle of the utmost horror. Even women, armed with hatchets, fought valliantly to rescue the imprisoned unforti- mates. Meeting street, from Broad to HaseL is wreck, and Is lined with homeless persons. The 8as works are injured, and probably the city will be without light tonight. St. Michaeps Church is shattered and the steeple will come down, likewise the steeple ef St. Philips. The steeple of the Unitarian Church has fallen. Pastures in the earth are noticed from which fine sand, apparently from great depth, exudes sulphurous smell, and is very noticeable.
 The city is wrapped in gloom and business is entirely suspended. Hardly one hundred houses are occupied, the people generally re- maining in the streets in tents and under i'm: provised shelters. They will camp out to. night, fearing another shock. All the stores are closed, and scarcity of provisions is feared. net ffom want of provisions, but be- cause no one can be got to reach the stores to sell them. The loss by fire and earthquake cannot be accurately estimated, but cat be l life will be large, and it will take days to get at the accurate number. Charleston is now entirely isolated from the outside world.
 At precisely 8:25 Wednesday morning another wave swept over the city, coming, as did the others, from the southeast and going in a northwesterly direction. By that time many of the people who had been out on the public parks and open places all night had ven. tured into their lonses to get clothing and something to eat. The approach of the shock was heralded by the usual rlimbling sound, re. sembling distant thunder. Then it gradually I mi oA fha oorfh nd hoo and in three seconds it had passed, the sound l dying out in the distance.
 Two slight shocks have been felt since 8:2s A. M., and ono at about 111 P. M. Neither ot them did any further destruction. Not ever during Gen. Gilmour's bombardment of thu | city has there ever been such deplorable state of affairs here. The city is literary in ruins and the people are living in tho open squares and public parks. Many of the dead are lying unburied, principally the poorer classes O county. There are not half dozen tents il the city, and the women and children are ex | periencing great privations in consequence.
 The effect of the earthquake can be judged by the experiences of Capt. Dawson of thu Nftos and Courier, who lives in massiv, street. Capt. Dawson was in his room on the second story when the first shock occurred The house seemed literally to turn on it's axis The first shock was followed by 8 second ant | tnlTu lese severe Iuall Ino llTSt. 1no HIT wal filled with the cries and shrieks of women ant children. From every side of that quiet neigh borhood came the cry "God help us l" Got save us !" ooh, my God!" It was worse thai the worst battle of the war. When the frs agony was over 1t was found that the ceiling of every room in the house was cracked, the big cistern was broken apart, the huge tank il the attic was pouring it's flood of water int, the bedrooms. In the parlors the statues hat been wrenched from their bases and thrown t. the floor. In the hall the massive lamp hat actually been turned around. In front of tn house was largo porch, with heavy pillar , and solid marble steps all this was swep away as though it had been shaved off with razor. And what was Capt. Dawson's expert ence was that of hundreds of others.
 There were in all five shocks, diminishing il violence from the first.
 VILLAGE DESTROYED.
 Summerville, a flourishing town twenty-tw miles from Charleston, has, it is reported been destroyed. The passenger train fror this city to Charleston was thrown from tn track near Summerville last night, and the CT gineer and fireman were killed. The passer gers on the wrecked train and those on thi mornings train, including the telegraph com panys inemen, have not reached Charles ton.
 | THE DAMAGE DONE.
 The damage to property, accordingto to the et innate on Thursday, will probably amount t $5,OOO, 900. Examination shows that full seven-eighths of the buildings in the city ar either completely wrecked or have been s seriously damaged that it will not be safe t occupy them until extensive repairs have bee1 made. The wharves and warehouses on the cit front generally withstood the shock uninjured so that the commercial facilities of the cit were not seriously affected. The majority C the buildings which were wrecked were tn residences of the poor, small, low woode buildings, which were not very valuable i themselves, but which represented everythin to the poor owners and tenants.
 INCIDENTS OF THE EARTHQUAKE.
 Just after the fil st great shock on Tuesda night there was decided and distinct smell 0 escaping sulphuric acid gas over the entir