Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-09-02

stopped, feeling that hope was vain that II
was only a question of death within the
building or without; to be buried By the
sinking roof or crushed by the toppling
walls. The uproar died away in seeming
distinct; the earth was still, and, oh the
blessed relief of that stiffness But how
rudely the silence was broken. AS we
dashed down the stairway and out into the
street, already on every side arose the
shrieks, and cries of pain and fear. The
prayers and waiiings of terrified women
and children commingled with the hoarse
shouts of excited men. Out in the street
the air was filed to the hight Of houses
with whitish cloud Of dry, sitting dust,
from the lime and mortar and shattered
masonry, which, falling upon the pavement
and stone roadway, had been reduced TO
powder. Though this cloud, dense as fog,
the gaslights tlickered dimly, shedding but
liutls light, so that you stumbled at every
step over piles of brick or became entan
gled in lines Of telegraph wires that de-
pendedin every direction from their broken
supports. On every side were hurrying
forms of men and women, barcheaded,
partially dressed, some almost nude, and
many of whom were craZed with fear or
excitement. Here woman is supported;
half fainting, in the arms Of her husband,
who vainly tries To soothe her while be
carries her into an open space at the street
corner, where present safety seems assured.
There q woman lies on the pavement, with
upturned face and OutStretched limbs, and
crowds pass her by for n time, not
pausing to see if she be alive or
dead A sudden light flashes
through window overlooking the
street. 1t becomes momentarily brighter,
and the cry of fire resounds from the multi
tude. A rush is made towards the spot.
A man is seen doubled up and helpless
against the walls, but at this moment,
somewhere out at sea, or overhead, or deep
in the ground, is heard again a low omi-
nous roll, which is already too well known
to be mistaken. 1t grows louder and nearer,
like the growl of a wild beast swiftly ap-
preaching his prey, and is forgotten again
in the frenzied rush for open space, where
alone there is hope of security, faint though
it be. The tall buildings on either hand
blot out the skies and stars, and seem to
overhang every foot of ground between
them. Their shattered cOrnices and cop
ings, and the tops of their frowning walls,
seem piled from both sides to
the center of the street. It seems that
a touch would now send the shattered
masses left standing down upon the people
below, who look to them, and shrink to-
gether as a tremor of the earthquake again
passes under them and the mysterious re-
verberations swell and roll along like some
internal drum beat, summoning them to
die; and it passes away, and again is eX
perienced tine blessed feeling of deliverance
from impending calamity, which ii may
well be believed evokes mute but earnest
Offering of mingled prayer and thanks from
every heart in the throng. Again, far along
the street, and up from the alleyways that
lead into it from either side, is heard that
chorus of wailing and lamentation, which,
though it had not ceased, was scarcely no.
ticed moment before. 1t is q dread
ful sound, sound OF hapless hOr-
ror stricken humanity, old and
young, strong and feeble alike
where all are so fee le, calling
for help from their feilow-creatures.
and raising their anguished voices il petit
ton to heaven for mercy. 1t is not a scene
TO be described by any mortal tongue. The
first shock occurred seven minutes tC 10.
The second shock was felt eight minutes
later As it passed away the writer started
homeward, TO find the scenes enacted on
Broad street, around the NeloS and Courier
Office, repeated at every step Of the
way. St. Michaers steeple lowered high
and white above the gloom, seemingly IN
injured. The station-house, a massive
brick building across the street, had
apparently lost its roof, which had
fallen around 1T. A little further
on the roof of the portico of the
Hibernian Hail, a handsome building on
the Grecian style, had been razed to the
ground, carrying down part of the massive
granite pillars with it. al the way up
Meeting street. which in respect to gen.
eral direction and importance may be called
the Broadway of Charleston, the roadway
was piled with debris. In passing the
Charleston Hotel, which occupies the po-
sition of Stewards uptown store in New
York, the third shock was felt, about ten
minutes after the second, and OF course
there was the greatest alarm in that neigh
borhood as elsewhere. At Marion Square
corresponding exactly with Union Square
in New York, great crowd had collected.
From this crowd of men. women and
children of both races arose an incessant
call of outcries and lament, while over the
mostly half-dressed throng was shed the
lurid light of the cOn1agration which had
broken out beyond the square Immediately
after the first shock.
In others quarters of the town at the same
time, similar fires were observed, and the
awful significance of the earthquake may
be most fully appreciated perhaps, when
it is said that with its tremendous fires
blazing up all at once around, and threaten
ing their property with total destruction,
the people whom you met on streets, or
any gathering in groups in all places, evil
dently did not give them thought, for all
were too intent on listening with strained
senses for the decided occurrences of that
terrible growler, groan of power under the
sea and under the land, to give 4 thought
to the new terror. Crowds poured in from
every direction to the square, as though it
had been indeed a charmed circle, and life
depended on passing within the grassy
bounds.
The colored people everywhere were loud
and impressing in their declamations of
alarm in the singing of hymns and fervent
appeals for Gods mercy. Danger brings
all of US to the level of the lowliest. There
were no distinction of place, or power, or
creed, or caste, in the assemblages that
were gathered together in Charleston Tues
day night. 1t was q curious spectacle to
look back upon. There were many in
stances of unselfish devotion, and kind and
loving regard between master and servant,
mistress and maid, in the presence of COM
mon i'll, showing how strong is the tie that
binds our white and our black people to-
gether.
Arrived at my home found the same
scenes Of distraction which inarked nearly
every home. All the houses in the neigh
borhood had suffered seriously and streets,
yards and gardens were filed with fallen
chimneys and fragments of walls, while
walls left standing were rent asunder, in
many cases, from top to bottom. Women
and children. reused from sleep or inter
rupted in their evening pursuits by the
shock, rushed out into the streets and hud-
died together, awaiting the end. In
valids were brought out on mat
tresses and deposited on the roadway
Until long after midnight the streets were
filled with fugitives. Through the long
hours of night few were the eyes, even of
childhood, that closed in sleep. Never in
any city did the first gray shades of dawn
appear so beautiful as they appeared to
thousands Of people who hailed them from
the midst of the countless wrecked homes.
Women and children are still running
about in the open air, terribly agitated.
There are three or four steamers in port,
and many of the inhabitants are provided
with berths on these boats. The situation,
however, is becoming horrible. Cut off
from communication with the rest of the
world, afflicted and haunted with the pros
pect of immediate death-that is about the
condition of the community. No trains
have departed or arrived here in twenty
four hours.
CHARLESTON, September 1st-11:5o p. n.
Another shock has just occurred rather