The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1886-09-30
Earthnuake of 1911.

take fewer precautions. "The very
mysteriousness of the danger OPP
presses him with terror"
The few early settlers of our
country yet living who remember
the ''shakes," of 1911, can well APP
preeiate the terror and alarm of the
people of Charleston in the late
convulsoin at that place.
The earthquake in this county
occurred about. the time of the
great "shakes'' at New Madrid in
the latter part of 1911 and first of
1912, and continued until the de-
struction OF the.city of Caracus in
South America about the first of
| March, 1872, after which they
ceased 1t is said that about New
Madrid and on White theMississip.
pi rivers, from the mouth of the
Ohio to the St. Francis river, there
was an lncessant quaking OF the
4earth for several months, IN which
the ground rose and sunk in great
undulations, and the surface of the
earth burst open in fisures, from
which mud and water were thrown
as high as the tops of the trees. In
the time a portion of New Madrid
was sunk, and Reefoot lake and
other lakes in that vicinity were
| formed.
The same great commissions that
caused the shakes at New Madrid
doubtless caused the quaking of the
earth in Giles and other counties in
Middle Tennessee. l have not been
able to find any record of the shakes
in this county. In 1876 l sought
information on the subject of many
of the first settlers with the view of
embracing 1t in a sketch of the early
settlement of the country. Some
Of them had vivid recollection of
the shakes and their general effect
on the communitys but could not
give dates. OF those consulted
Mrs. Thomas Williams stated that
the first hard shake was on the 10th
of December, 1911. Capt. James
L. Henry said the first hard shake
was In December, 1911, on Sunday
night, just before Christmas, which
he thought was the hardest shake.
He was then living in Pulaski.
Thomas F. McCsnless said the
first hard shake and perhaps the
hardest one, was on Sunday night
in December, 1911. His brother-in-
law killed hogs the next day,
which he knows was Monday. 1t
shook again tolerably hard while
they were killing hogs. He was in
Pulaski the night of the shake. Dr.
Henry Laird, who was then a boy,
living with his father at Old Lynn
vile, said the hardest shake was
the Odd of December, 1911. Levi
Reed who was boy living with
his father on Weakley's creek, said
he remembered two hard shakes,
one at night and the other in the
morning, the latter of which so
frightened horses that they ran
away with wagon. An old settler
in Haury county said the hardest
shake was in the spring in log-roll
ing time, and stated in substance,
that at log-rolling just as the
hands finished putting up large
heap of logs there came very
hard shake which rolled the logs
down and scattered them, at which
an eccentric old negro, who was
one Of the hands said, it was no use
to be heaping up them logs, that
Old Master threw them down
faster than they could put
them up.
From my own recollection fall
though l was then but little boy
and from what I learned from my
parents ard others who were here
at the time, there were several hard
shakes at intervals with a good
many light ones,
Horses, cows and dogs, by in
stinct, or probably from some
change in the electrical condition
of the atmosphere, seemed TO have a
premonition of an approaching
shake, and appeared restless and
alarmed, dogs especially showed
their fright by trying to get in the
house, and to be near the family.
The shakes we're sometime pre-
coded by low rumbling noise,
like a wagon going over a rough
road, or like distant thunder, at 9th
er Zines they came suddenly with
out any warning. The shocks were
some times like a sudden upbeav-
ing of the earth, at other times the
motion was vibratory or like a
trembling of the ground. The dish
es in the cupboard, and the boards
on log cabins of.that day would
rattle.
Many persons became greatly
alarmed on the subject of religion. |
The ignorant and superstitious re-
garded the shakes as an indication !
Of the displcasure of the Deity. Re
ligious meetings were kept up in
the neighboFhoad at intervals, for
several weeks, and at times for sew
eral days and nights in succession
as in times of revival meetings.
Some of the most irreligieus were :
among the anxious and some pro-
fessed religion and of these some
COuIlHuco SASH pltIy momDeTS Ol
the church. But after the shakes
were over, many of the most alarm
ed, it was said, we're nc. better than
they were before. 1t was after
wards called in derision by some
"the earthquake revival"
To show how powerfully igno-
rant person were operated on by !
fear, / will relate an incident which
1 learned from my father. An ig-
norant, superstitious blacksmith,
living two miles from my fathers
who had been accused of making
money. and arrested a
time or two, but never convicted, s
came to my fathers the morning {
after the first hard shake, and told
my father he had buried some {
pieces OF copper and other metals {
with some chemicals to undergo t
a process preparatory to making l.
money of it, and asked 10y father if c
that had caused the shaking of the I