Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-10-13
STRANGE NOISES AT NINETY-SIx.
The Mysterious Phenomena Which
Alarm south Carolina People.

Regarding the mysterious phenomena al
Ninety-SiX, Abbeviile county, = c. corre-
spondent of the Baltimore San. who gave severai
days to investigating them, writes; MT. j. McD.
kinard, one of the most progressive FARMERS Oh
the county, saws: II first heard the underground
noise in January 1885. The sound was dead;
that is, brief and without reverberation; as loud
as the report of q cannon fired three or four
miles away. / noticed il pretty frequently the
first day: then for two or three weeks didn't
hear ii all. For a long time before the great
Charleston earthquake there was no report.
The sound of the quake was not Slmllar; II was
like the roaring OF a train OF cars, while the
other reports were more like that made by the
falling OF a dead tree than any thing can think
of The effect was To- shake the house and rat
tie the sashes- last heard the sound on Mon.
day of this week about a. M"
Mr.. John Williamson, well-tO-dO farmer,
SAYS: "My house is just beyond Ninety-Six
creek, and three-quarters of a mile from Mr.. ].
Med. kinard's. / have been hearing these
noises since last September year ago. They
sound like a big cannon at distance, or a
big dead tree falling. They shook the earth.
and were over in few seconds. Sunday night
a week ago there was one that shook the house
for half a minute. had time TO go out the
come from the southeast. Last Sunday night
we heard IL ten times. Two were severe and
1t creaked and the windows and the dishes in
the safe ratified. 1t was frightful. For two
weeks, until this week, didn't have good
nights sleep. i heard the noises every night,
and also in the daytime. The Charleston earth
quake was feIt more distinctly"
Capt. j. Harris Brooks, OF the United States
internal revenue service, said: al live about
five miles south of MIR. kinard's, and heard the
reports two or three times before the Charleston
earthquake. They sounded like heavy artillery
in the distance; TOR example, like the siege guns
in the sumter bOmDardment, heard fifteen or
twenty miles off. The negroes on my place say
they hear them still"
John NJ. Walker, who lives six miles from the
village, and who Is regarded as reliable mar,
says, and his neighbors corroborate him, that
during the war he would come to- town and tell
of hearing at his place the guns fired in the bonn
bardment of Charleston. There was valley
which he used to frequent and there 1t was that
he stated that ne heard the cannon distinctly
enough to count the shots. There was no tele.
graph line TO Ninety-Six then. The next day
the Charleston papers would report the number
of shots which he claimed to have heard There
was no evidence OF any underground hollow on
his place. On the 2oth OF June, 1868, there
was shooting affray in Ninety-Six. Seven
pistol shots We're fired. Without tleaving his
place MIR. Walker told his wife that there was
shooting going on in Ninety-Six.
The correspondent concludes: There can be
no doubt o! the truth of what these witnesses
testify, and their story is startling one in view
OF the recent disturbances in Charleston. Ac-
cording 10 the geological map of the state, is
sued by the Agricultural department., the small
section OF country near Ninety-SiX, affected so
long and constantly In the manner described,
contains trap and porphyry, Is of igneous torma-
ton of the aZoic age. Its distance from Charles
ton is one hundred and fifty miles in an air
line