News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-09-09
EARTHQUAKE.

On the night of September LIST an
earthquake shock was felt throughout
the South, the most severe ever ex-
perienced in this country. The effects
were the most serious at Charleston,
S. c., the city being in ruins and
casualties reported at 33 killed and
100 wounded and the extent of the
disaster not yet ascertained. The
shocks were felt as far north as New
York and west to the Pacific coast.
A dispatch from Washington dated
the Sd, says: "Two passengers ar
rived here to-day from Charleston, the
first since the earthquake. They make
interesting statements. They both are
agreed that the press reports have not
been exaggerated. One of them says
For the first two miles the train
moved very slowly, it being hardly
noticeable that it was going at all.
The rails were twisted in q snake-like
fashion. As the train went along the
people in the car noticed another
shock. This further twisted the rails.
1t was, however, possible to proceed
slowly by working at them and keep
ing them equi-distance in all their
twistings. The people are at work
digging in the ruins for bodies, and
until that work is completed it will be
impossible to tell or even guess any
way accurately at the number of cas-
ualties. To depict the dreadful fear,
the anxiety, the cries, the prayers and
the feeling of not knowing what to
expect next would be beyond any
mans power. There is not one house
in ten but will have to be rebuilt:
And there was peculiar difference in
the manner in which brick and frame
buildings swayed and fell over, while
the buildings built of wood simply
collapsed. 1t became terribly hot
about 20 minutes before the shock.
It was peculiar, scorching heat that
| never felt before. l saw people in
the streets taking off their coats and
vests as they walked along. Then
there was rumbling noise. 1t was
like train of cars passing through a
tunnel on the top of which one was "
The officers of the revenue cutter
Ewing, which was cruising in Chesa-
peake Bay during the shock, had a
peculiar experience. The Ewing left
Fortress Monroe on Tuesday after
noon, and all went we'll until between
II and II o'clock that night. AT that
time strong gale came out from the
north, catching the Ewing in the vicin-
ity of Smiths Point. All at once
there was strange and weird appear
ance about everything. There was
nothing that looked natural. In the
heavens the stars were shooting in all
directions, and the breaking seas were
charged with phosphorus to such a
pronounced degree that no one on
board recollected ever seeing such q
display. The fixed stars seemed to
move and balls of fire appeared on
one bow then on the other, which Pilot
Madigan thought were vessels lights,
and kept an anxious watch as he pro-
crossed. 1t was only when they be-
came general that the pilot found that
they were due to atmospherical dis
turbances. A haze peculiar to earth
quake countries was visible along the
| horizon.
Great excitement reigns throughout
the afflicted region, the citizens have
left their houses and are encamped in
the open spaces in momentary expec-
tation Of further shocks. The govern
ment will send tents and supplies for
the sufferers, and subscriptions have
been started IN all the principal cities.
There are many theories advanced in
regard to the cause of the earthquake,
but it is too. early for, any definite
dnnicinn