Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-09-11
BACK FROM CHI aRLEsTON.
Talks with Prof Nendenhail and
Col. Batchelder.
Fro,n a. Washinnt n p 81.

! signal Office, who has been making SCI
eutific investigation of the earthquake at
! Charleston and the immediate vicinity,
returned 10 this city yesterday. ~ have
been in Japan, where they have earth
| quakes OF good size every week or two,"
he said 10 reporter, "but never saw
| anything TO equal that at Charleston in
| intensity. L don't think there is single
! building in the whole city which has es-
! capped damage. Wooden houses which
| from the outside would appear to be en-
| tirely uniniured, inside would be found
| TO be ruined and desOlate. In my opln-
! ion every brick house in the city
will have to be pulled down. 1t Is impos-
sible for any one who has never expert
! enced the terrors of an earthquake TO
realize the state of absolute demorallza-
ton into which the people have been
| thrown by the continuation Of the shocks.
! / have no idea, however. that there Will
! be any further shock of sufficient Intensity
to cause alarm or do any damage. The
| freaks of the earthquake nave been many
ard peculiar. In one frame house INTO
| which | went some rooms had passed
through the ordeal almost unscathed
while others adjoining had been
wrecked. In one room lady lay
with young cnlld, and by piece
| OF good luck that room was uninjured,
| while in the next chamber great shelves
OF books had been thrown with terrific
force across the room and plaster fallen
| in large quantities. One Of the principal
objects Of my visit vas to determine
as nearly as possible the extent OF the
| earth's motion during the shock. For
that purpose ] sought for objects near the
| earth's surface, and paid good deal OF
| attention to graveyards, which are at
tached 10 most OF the old churches there.
In some cases | found the monuments
thrown to the ground, but the majority
were twisted around. Sometimes in
the same yard the monuments were
found twisted and turned in the OPP
nosite directions. This would not, how
ever, show that the motion had been ro-
tary or even from two directions, for the
shock undoubtedly on the north and
south line. One futed column was
thrown from it's base and stuck head
| first in the ground. Another on two
bases, the first large and the second
smaller had both twisted to the right,
but the second much more so than the
| other, appearing to have slipped around
! independently. One of the most curious
cases was that of q heavy truncated
pyramid resting on lower base on four
balls about six inches in diameter,
situated in a churchya ard where lots of
monuments had been overturned or
|
first sight to be absolutely undisturbed.
On closer examination. however, l found
that it had slipped around just sufficient
ly to enable me to observe that there
were no pins run through the balls.
Another curious point was on the rail-
road between Charleston and Summer
vile wnere the tracks had been twisted
into the shape of an 5, as though the two
points at the beginning and end OF the let
ter had been wrought closer together than
before the shock. A very valuable point
in our Investigations was the discovery
of the time of the shock. One regulator
clock, which was corrected at noon by
telegraph from Washington, was stopped
by the earthquake at 9:51 :66, and the
clock of the Northeastern railroad, which
| was corrected at noon, stopped al
9:5l 30, so that | calculate 9:51 10 is not
five seconds out OF the way. 1t is inter.
esting TO note that the artesian well,
which draws water for Charleston from a
depth Of 3 900 feet, was not affected by the
shock. The vast number of craters
which appear of all sIzes-from thirty
feet to a quarter of an inch in diameter.
perfectly rounded-more especially in the
neigh borhoOd OF Ten-Mile Fork-are sur
rounded by cones OF blue, white, and
yellow sand, which came from about
TWENTY-FIVE or thirty feet below the sur.
face, and were formed by streams of water
which the pressure OF the earth caused
} TO spout upwards"
Nv nat is your opinion of the cause Of
the earthquakeV
ppm not ready to theorize yet. j have
a large amount of data which will be o.
value, and, as you know, the geological
survey is engaged in collecting more.
believe that occurring under the circum
stances IL did this earthquake Will be the
most thoroughly investigated and we viii
gain more information from it than any
other in modern times. From the infOr
nation already In our possession, right
below the town of Summerville would ap
pear to have been the centre of disturb
ance. At that point the motion OF the
( earth was vertically NJ and down. These
r shocks are occurring still with great
frequency, as many as ten or twelve
day. A dull boom may be heard
below the ground every non
r and then, and sometimes this is accom-
panied by a shake. These may continue
0 for months. The only explanation have
attempted is the explanation of earth
quakes in general-that they are caused
by variation in the crust OF the earth
which is continually cooling and con
tracing over the hot interior. This actor
@ is constantly going on, and there must bt
4 a readjustment some time OF the earth't
n surface. This is, believe, what has oc
| cOrrGu AT NudEIeSLDu. Iuclt was III
volcanic agency at work, and it wai
simply a legitimate and natural action o
nature This makes 1t all the more in
, tsresting for Investigations"
5 COL. BATCHELDER. OF THE QURTERMAs
TER GENERALS OFFICE
Of the United States Army, who went {,
Charleston in order to make an ofiicia
report upon the condition of affairs there
and to deliver to the city authorities thu
3 army tents, returned to this city lat,
' on Tuesday night.
! .'Are the people OF Charleston In mucl
| dstress?" asked reporter OF the Colo
mel.
3 Mentally, yes, but otherwise, no. Tn,
: recurrence of the shocks is enough L
, keep them distressed in mind, but rail
! road communications are all open, anC
there is plenty TO eat and drink. An earth
quake is not like a fire or a food, which
: destroys everything in its path. The peo
pie have everything in their houses
that they need. 1t is true that the
frail, breakabIe articles, such as vases
, pictures and looking glasses, are broken
: but those can hardly be considered ne
cessares. The loss will fall principally
upon the owners OF real estate, and mo-
upon the people at large. 1t is said tha
these owners lived on their rents, spen
> all the money as soon as they got It, anC
consequently will find 1T a hard matter