Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-09-02
coURAGE OF THE WOMEN.


! There we're. to be sure, numerous cases
or nervous prostration. Mothers seized
| their babes at the first upheaval, and
| either ran out into the street or held the
| little ones ready to carry out. Very few
families staid in their houses during the
shocks. The drapery Of those who went
out frat was not sufficient to embarrass
free movement, and as soon as the first
alarm was over there was a general move
ment back to the houses for more attire.
"We went out in the park" said one
lady, land remained there until 2o'cl0ck,
but 1t got too damp for the little ones"
AT THE HOTELS.
There was very little sleeping at the
hotels. Few OF the guests had gone to
bed when the first shock came, and they
were soon down stairs in various styles Of
attire. At the Marshall House, screven,
Pulaski and Harnett the guests settled
back In chairs down stairs, and the doors
were kept open ready for uninterrupted
exit. Many Of the strangers walked
about the city, and some spent the night
on benches in the park. The majority or
citizens concluded 10 stay up all night
and sleep during the day. Every new
tremor or shock was a signal for them to
run out to the middle OF the streets and
watch the walls, which they expected to
see topple down every minute.
THE SHOCKS AT SEA.
The steamship Dsssoug, Capt. Smith,
from Philadelphia, arrived in por: yester-
day and brought another report to be
added to the long list. The ship was
stsaming along off Charleston with
smooth sea shortly before 10 O'Clock.
Overhead the sky was clear and the stars
were shining brightly. Suddenly, at $3.50
marine time, the ship began to thump as
though she was going over bed OF rocks.
The shock was severe and so unexpected
that every one thought she mad struck on
a rock or a sunken wreck. Capt. Smith
ordered the lead put out .Imme-
diatelv, and he found he had
ten tathoms Of water under his ships
bottom. When the ship began to rock
there was no commOtion OF any import
ance observed in the sea. Capt. Smith
and his crew were nonplussed. Some
thought that boiler had exploded, and
there was stampede down below to in
vestigate. In a moment or two every
thing in the engine room was reported all
right. Scarcely was that report an
nounced when there came a second
shOck.0 ~
APUZZLED CREW.
The first had lasted a minute and the
steamer had veered out of her course two
points to the southwark. She had been
running southwest by west, the Charles
ton ltghtshIp bearing north north west
and nine miles distant. The second
shock was less violent than the first,
but still the crew imagined that they
were on rocks and were considerably
alarmed. The second shock lasted but
few seconds and was soon followed by a
third. The last two were comparatively
light, but were sufficiently perceptible to
Brighten the men. They could not &C
count for the occurrences, tor the ship
passed on uniniured and five minutes
later there was no indication that any
thing had happened. Various theories
were assigned for the phenomenon. Moth
ing unusual was noticed in the sea or
sky. Only light southerly wind was
blowing. Whales, icebergs, rocks and
wrecks were all discussed, but no cOnclu-
sion was reached until the ship got in port
and news of the earthquake was received.
A young gentleman who was lying in
berth reading says that he was almost
thrown out on the floor. He had no idea
Of what the cause was. He did not think
it was an earthquake, because the shock
was not followed by tidal wave.
SOUNDED LIKE BOILER MAKERS.
Capt. News. of the steamship Annie,
was lying at anchor in Tybee roads when
his ship begun to tug at her anchors.
The disturbance of the water was accom-
panied by a roaring, rumbling noise,
which Capt. News described as sounding
like such an uproar as forty boiler makers
would make in boiler.
AN INQUEST INTERRUPTED.
The earthquake at 80 D. m. came near
breaking up an inquest on Hutchinson's
Island. About O'Clock Capt. w. d.
Dixon had crossed over to the island to in
vestigate the death Of Cyrus Camp
bell, an old negro who was found
dead in cabin there at noon. The
death was sudden and DO one was pres
ent, so the Coroner concluded to summon
a jury. After swearing them they were
all told to take seats in the cabin. David
Moore, a darkey, was the only witness
He began giving his evidence and had got
about down to the time when Campbell
was last seen, when the cabin
commenced to rattle. E'There she
goes again." the witness said. His eyes
grew double the ordinary size and he
started for the door, leaving his evidence
half finished. The juror nearest the door
waited absut half a second and he gave a
leap out. The other jurors gave one
glance at the corpse and they saw it
move. That was enough for them,
and they went out in a
DudCu, IedNlnR Tue coroner ana
the corpse to finish the inquest. A good
deal OF persuasion was required to get
the jurors back after the quIver was over.
Finally they were got together and Moore
was induced 10 tell the rest that he knew.
which was simply that Campbell had
been sick for several DAYS and unable to
work. The jury brought in verdict OF
death from natural causes.
THE CITIZENS MEETING.
A meeting of citizens was called at the
City Exchange at 6 O'Clock last night TO
consider measures for the relief OF the
Charleston sufferers. The long room was
crowded with business men and citizens
ready to respond TO any call tor relief for
an afflicted people. Mayor Lester called
the meeting to order. He referred to the
dispatches in the papers announcing
the disaster which has fallen upon our
sister city. Before any report was re-
ceived, and while everything was in doubt
he telegraphed TO the Mayor OF Charles.
ton: "Our citizens are anxious about
Charleston. Are you injured, ana to what
extentW This was before the first re-
port was received that Charleston was in
ruins.
INQUIRIES SENT OUT.
When 1t was reported that the city
had been shaken to pieces. and
that lives had been lost, the Mayor
again telegrsphed, "ln what manner
can we best assist youp
To neither of these dispatches was any
reply received, but enough was learned
from other sources TO show that the