The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1886-09-16
REPORTS NOT EXAGGERATED.
Stories Related by Eye-Witnesses of tn
Terrible Scene at Charleston.

II was stopping at the Charleston Hotel said
Mr. Thomas II. Tolson. of Baltimore, 10 an Asso-
ciated Press agent Il was in my room, which
was on the third floor When lit my gas
heard noise and supposed had broken some
thing, but could find nothing broken went
TO place my hat on a bureau, and just then the
shock came. would have fallen il had not
thrown my hands out and chung to the win
dow. IL seemed as though the hotel was lifted
up and swung backward and forward a dis
lance OF fifteen or twenty inches at each
vibration. 1 was terrified. At the first
shock the lights in the house all went out.
Then the plasterng began TO fall. 1t
flashed on my mind that should endeavor to
get out of the house, and got into the corridor
and CROPPED my way, in utter darkness, amid
falling plaster Other people in the house were
Likewise cropping their way out. The air was
filed with plaster dust. All around was a ter
rible roaring and moaning sound, and the din
was heightened by the falling of timbers. 1
found the front door of the house closed, for
tunate thing for me, as it saved my Life 1t
took me n moment 10 find the knob, and rs
was looking for it tons of brick fell down from
the upper part of the house, in front OF the door
/ ran out through the heaps II fallen bricks and
fell twice in getting to the middle of the street.
There remained terror-stricken.
Two shocks came after reached the middle
Of the street--a faint one seven minutes after
the first, and another, more violent, nine
minutes later The three shocks occurred
within sixteen minutes. / remained in front OF
the hotel until / o'clock. l did not know what
TO do; Iwes so unnerved that could scarcely
stand. Asst became quieter, no more shocks
Il
and remained there until o'clock There we
had another slight shock. At o'clock L went
TO the Battery Park and found it crowded,
several thousands of terrified people having
assembled there. There 1 remained during the
| remainder of the night. At o'clock anoth er
faint shock was felt. At daylight /, like the
others, felt more encouraged, and / moved
around to see what destruction had been done.
| found at the battery 'front.' some OF the most
| costly houses in the city cracked from the
ground TO the top and some portions of tho
daSfrOVQd az
the Charleston residences are built with porches
! in front many having substantial pillars, and
these porches were all thrown down. There was
not house in Charleston that had its chimneys
| standing.
1.-THE terror among the people during the
night was intense. They rushed through the
streets frantically calling on God to have mercy
/ on them. People who, perhaps never prayed
| before, then prayed aloud. Then TO this were
added the shrieks OF the wounded and the lam
entations OF thfse who had lost friends. Here
and there parties with lights were looking
| through the ruins for missing people. The
| greatest terror and confusion reigned every.
| where. The people when the shock came, ran
/ men, women, and children, out into the
streets in their night clothing, remaining in that
way during the night huddled together in the
| street. None would venture back into the
| houses"
MIR. p. L. Bonnet. Of Washington, left Char
lesion on the first outward train. after the dis
| aster. There were FIVE cars packed with
refugees. For the first two miles the trair
| moved very slowly The rails were twisted
| AS the train went along the people IN the ca
noticed another shock. This further twisted
the rails. 1t was, however, possible to proceed
| slowly.
Have the reports Of the disaster been exag
gerated?T
Not bit OF IL. It would be impossible Z.
put into words any description OF the disas
ter and its effects. My wife and spent tw'
| nights on the commons, as did thousands o
other peopre. To depict the dreadful scene
would be beyond any mans powers. Their
is not one house In ten that will not have h
Il laa Qhflflf TlfOVn n 1tor a
the manner in which brick and frame building
went under. The walls of the brick building
swayed and fell over, while those built OF WOO
simply collapsed"
Were there any peculiar conditions proceed
ing the shock2
"Yes II became terribly hot about twent
minutes before the shock. IL was n peculiar
scorching heat that never felt before. say
people on the streets taking of their coats an