The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-09-03


busy preparing prescriptions for the
wounded, Is open. 1t is also impossible
/ to give any correct estimate of the
/ killed and wounded. as bodies are con
stantly being disinterred from the debris
| of the wrecked houses. One undertaken
stated that he had furnished eight collins
up To noon to-day. Many of the dead
are lying unburied, principally the poorer
classes of colored people, who will be
/ buried by the county. There are not a
half dozen tents in the city and the wo-
men and children are experiencing great
! privations i'll consequence. As night APP
| proaches most of the heads of families
are trying to construct tents out of bed
! sheets, spare awnings or any other ma
! terial that comes To their hand. The
sun Is about to set upon another night
! of horror for poor Charleston. Ii is cal
/ culated that at least three fourths of the
city will have To- be rebuilt if the houses
are To be inhabited.
Several additional slight shocks of
earthquake have been felt here to-day
| The newspaper and telegraph offices
have been beseiged all day. \ commit
tee was appointed to collect relief fund
for Charleston. Two Thousand dollars
was subscribed at n meeting which APP
| pointed Il committee, and toy this hour
the amount has probably been doubled
| by the subcommittee now Ctnvassing
the city. delegation will 90 from here
To Charleston i'll the morning. No trains
could be sent through to day. Many
| people are spending the night in the
streets.
| CHARLESTON, September 1.-The COM
positors of the NcrS and Cn"rici decline
To work tonight. expecting fresh shocks
of earthquake, and the paper cannot
! therefore be Issued tomorrow. The fol
| lowing article was prepared for publica-
| " u q 4
eGraphed almost in the writer's own
| words:
Necessarily the only description that
| can be given of the disaster which has
befallen our city, consists in the nara
| ton of the experiences and observations
| of individuals, and the subject being the
| same ami the experiences of at being
| nearly alike, the story told 10y one careful
| observer may we'll stand for IA hundred
others, with slight variations. Probably
the best idea that can be had of the
! character of the disturbance, therefore,
may be obtained from the narration of
| the events and scenes of "Wednesday
night as they were presented To Il single
person while engaged in his usual duties
IN the second story room of the NrtrS uiod
| Courier office.
At the time of the first shock the
| writer's attention WAS vaguely attracted
by a sound which seemed To come from
the Office below, and which was supposed
for Il moment to Ice caused 10y the rapid
| rolling of Il heavy body, as I'M iron safe
or II heavily laden truck, over the floor.
| Accompanying the sound, there was "A
perceptible trcmOr of the building, not
more marked, however. than would Ice
caused lay the passage of a street car or
dray along the street
\ TERRIBLE MOMENT.
For perhaps two or three seconds the
occurrence excite 4 no surprise or com
ment. Then, 10y swift degrees, or per
haps all at once, IL rs difficult To say
which, the sound decpened in volume,
the trcmor became more decided, the ar
caught the rattle of " .ndows, class, gas
fixtures and other loose objects. The
men in the office, with perhaps II stimuli
taueous flash of recollection of the dis
turbaDce of the Friday / fore. glanced
hurl eddy at each other and sprang T.
their feet with startled questions and
arSweIs: What is that = - Earth
quake :" and then all was bewilderment
and confusion. The long roll decpened
and spread into an awful roar that
:, .meu to pervade at once the troubled
| earth and still air above and around. The
| Tenor was Iudc, rapid CULVER that
| n -tated the whole lofty, strong walled
bulldog as though IL we've being shal,ca
by the hand of an unreasonable power
| with intent To tear Joints asundcr and
scatter It's Stones and bricks abroad - II
| tree casts its ripencd ,rult before the
! breath of Il gale. There WAS mo- inter
| miSsi IA ~ the vibration of the mighty
| subteIranean Rng'ue. From first To last
| IL WAS continuous H., only adding
| force at every moment, and as 1T APP
preached and reached the 4 max of its
mar festation il seemed for "a few tenI-
! bic seconds that no work of human hands
| could possibly So viNe. The floors were
! heaving undcrfoot, the surrounding
| walls and petitions vIsihly swaycd IT,
| and fro, the crash of failing masses OF
stone and bI.ck and mort-r was over
! head, and without the terrible roar filled
| the ears and seemed tn fill the mind and
heart. dazing perception, bew''dering
thought, and for "A few painting breaths,
| or while you held your breath, in dread
full anticipation of immediate and cruel
| death. you felt that life YVES already past
| and waited for the end aS a victim with
it's head on the block awaits the fall OF
the uplifted axe.
LOOMING DEATH N TIE FACE.
Ii is not gwen To many men To look IL
! the face of the destroyer and yet live, hut
! il is little } say that the group of strong
| men who shared the feeling above family
described VIII carry with them the recol-
lection of that supreme moment To their
dying day. None -pected To escape. y
sudden rush was simultaneously made
to endeavor To attain the open AR and
| flee 10 place of safety, but before the
| door was reached all reeled together to
the tottering wal and stopped, feeling
that hone was in vain, that it was only
ul astIon of death in the building, or
without, To be buried by the sinking roof
or crushed nv topping walls. The up
roar Slow DIED away "a the seeming
distance the earth WAS still, and Oh
blessed relief of that stiffness. Eut how
rudely the silence was broken. As we
dashed down the stairway and out into
the street, already, on every side arose
shrieks. cries of pain and fear. prayers