The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-09-04
Character of the Damage to Buildings.

CHARLESTON, S. c., Sept "a row of turkey
buzzards, the popular street seavengers of this
section, sat upon o HORSEBACK opposite Central
market on Meeting street, near the business
part of the city, watching the laggard traders,
at sunrise this morning. When the scene grew
active, an hour later, these favored birds drop
ped off their place and strolled with the buyers
through the market Not more than one stall in
ten was occupied and the purchasers were few
A weary, haggard look overspread every face,
telling Of the distress of last night. AS far as
the eye could reach in every direction there were
tents and blankets stretched, underneath which
the inhabitants, driven from their homes through
fear of revsitation of the earthquake, had spent
the night. Not many eyes had closed in restful
sleep during the darkness. The later arrival
by train retired at the three four habitable
hotels. with trembling or sat up in the chairs
on the sidewalks, ready to fee from danger at
the slightest warning. Tonight Charleston
fares better. All day there has been busy
hum, the populace working with vim to clear
away enough Of the ruins to ascertain the actual
damage, and with the work some confidence has
returned. A very few people slept indoors last
night; tonight half Of them will be housed.
Those who found their homes stanch enough to
shelter them indoors
If there cause for alarm through fear yes
terday, there was cause for distress to-day. In
vestgaton has revealed the fact that the first
reports of destruction were not exagger-
ated. The buildings of Charleston taken
as mass, wrecked Only a few Of
the and modern bricks and the most
substantial wooden ones are fit safe for habi-
tation. Great issures and cracks mark all the
outer and inner walls Scarcely sound piece
of plate-glass be found in the city Many of
them have holes in the center, as if penetrated
by musket balls. In some portions of the city,
particularly about the battery, where the most
damage was sustained, scarcely a chimney can
be found on the handsome residences. Nearly
all the brick houses are covered with stucco, and
are marked to resemble stone. The wrenching
process of the earthquake shelled off this stucco
and heaped it upon the sidewalks, spread it over
the shade trees, and carried it through the air to
every portion OF the city. In some instances
whole roofs fell into the streets. In portions of
the city all railways are at this time
blockaded by roofs, stucco and chimreys.
One of the most convincing proofs of the super
| natural power of the shocks can be seen at the
marble works on Meeting street, near Broad
| Firm granite monuments and marble, too, some
! of them two feet thick and not dozen feet
| high, were broken in twain, and one lies in atoms
on the ground. The older brick buildings were
constructed of very inferior material, it seems.
| The bricks were so rough and small as to make
the stucco surface highly desirable, and instead
| of locking or tapping them, as is done now, and
/ especially IN the North, they were laid In even
rows, furnishing interlockng or bracing
j power. Quite large number of business houses
stand in canopy shape to night. The end walls
have fallen, leaving the roofs suspended over
the side walls, These, of course, will have to
| be condemned by commission of the City
| Council and ordered taken down.
For white to-day it was believed a request
would have to be made to have the Governor
convene the Legislature in special session for the
purpose of giving the City Council sufficient
authority to condemn dangerous buildings, but
later it was determined that sufficient was
already contained in the statutes Pressure
will be brought to bear on the officers who are
designated to condemn buildings to spare as
many as can be saved by repair. Merchants in
form the newspaper people that but few of the
| buildings condemned viii be replaced by
new ones. There will be many re-
paired, however. 1t is proposed to link
the walls together by bolts. AS most
| of the buildings have but one story, and but
very few have more than two, the fractured
walls can be made to stand, provided this Is the
/ last of the earthquake business.
Tele9rams have poured in from Northern and
Southern cities to the Mayor and prominent citi-
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