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

! light of the fire of '6l, and the dam
age is twenty times greater now
than then. l have spent the day
examining and / have seen but one
brick house, George Williams new
house, that is not injured. The
city is so unsettled and cracked
that it will be necessary TO tear
the houses down and rebuild them.
You can find no words to litly de-
scribe the situation"
Just after the first great shock on
Tuesday night there was a decided
and distinct smell of escaping sui
phuric acid gas over the entire vii
lage. The smell lasted throughout
the night and was distinct in those
localities where the cavities in the
earth were most numerous. Some
say that portions of the mud thrown
up by the water-spouts are strong
ly impregnated with sulphur and
that small portions of sulphur can
be found in the mud.
Not far from Charleston, on the
road to Snmmerville, extensive
mounds of clay were thrown up
and hillocks of sand, in most cases
in the shape of inverted cones, the
hollow part of which had evidently
been formed by the action of the
water returning into the depths
from which it had been raised. In
many cases the erupted matter had
streamed away from the breaks In
the surface Of the earth to a dis
lance from twenty to fifty feet. In
other places there were assures al
most invariably extending from
north to south. These cracks were
not wide and extended downward
always in slanting direction. The
matter tina; was thrown up was of
dull, dark slaty color, and Gas
mixed with gravel. There was al
so little shale, and in general the
mud resembled that which is thrown
from the bottom of the phosphate
pits along the river. The water in
some places had the taste of our ar
tesian water, but in many instances
it was just as clear and limpid as
from a mountain spring. These
evidences of the great CONFUSION
are not sporadic. They extend far
and near in every direction from the
city limits of Charleston to Sum
merville, and at the latter place it
was found from trustworthy infor-
nation that the cracks and assures
are everywhere visible for miles and
miles around.
Strange enough some of them
were in active operation, and the
constant shocks that were felt at
Summerville sent the water out of
these assures in jets to the height
of from
FIFTEEN TO TWENTY FEET.
This was evidently the result of
the cracks being filled with water
and then the sides opening and
closing by each succeeding shock.
These appearances we're, of course,
suggestive of still more violent
eruptions, and there was a constant
dread everywhere that there would
be a general ipundation caused by
some extraordinary force of the
SaI ILL udhes
Not only was the water emitted
in the low places where it might be
expected to exist all the time, but
on tops of the highest elevations
the mud could be seen. This latter
fact indicated that the force was be-
ing exerted at or rather more than
the depth that was at first thought
to be the limit of the force.
THERE HAVE BEEN MANY BIRTHS
since the first shock. No less than
ten are already reported. This
morning lady was taken to Wash
ington square in the agonies of
motherhood, and soon thereafter
she was the mother of smiling
twins. She is resting easy, although
a hundred people witnessed it. Yes
terday it was little talked of that
baby was born there in the morning
in the presence of hundred per-
sons. These are earthquake times
and social delicacies sre not over
strictly observed, although the ut
most respect and Difference is
SuOHA III ever lASGdHCG.
Although it is now impossible TO
make any approximate money es-
innate of property destroyed, it be-
comes palmer with every days de-
velopment that the blow is one from
which the city will not recover in
many a year. Although but few
buildings were absolutely leveled to
the ground, it is not extravaganza to
say that fully two-thirds OF all there
are here will have either to be torn
down and rebuilt, or 50 nearly so
the difference in cost will be but
trifling. The very heart of the city
seems to be utterly shattered and
wrecked. 1t looks as though it had
been literally riddled and honey
combed by bomb shells from a hun
dred batteries. Lofty church spires
are hanging in the air by mere
shreds of masonry; great massive
porticos, with lettering pillars, are
broken and all askew and trembling
beneath their burdens at every air;
whole blocks with fronts shaved
clearly down and lying sprawliDg
in unsightly heaps of brick and
mortar in the streets below; with
furnished rooms, which so recently
we're shelter and home, now all
bare to the light of day; bent and
broken palings and awning rods;
lamp posts twisted into all conceiv-
able shapes and standing at all
possible angles-that is all that is
left of what week ago was one Of
the most picturesque and beautiful ,
Of southern cities. The railway
trains are now making regular
trips, but for seventeen miles be- !,
fore reaching the city the effect of
earth's recent commissions are per-
ceptible. There are rents and fis
sures along the track through
which a wet, muddy sand has boil !
I'd and heaped itself up in little :
liliocks. Rails and ties have been
Dent and twisted and moved about
III tho uOrk Of ranoatod rpDairs