Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-09-09
Earthquakes in General and CaitfOr-
uta Quakes I'm Particular.

MA QuHkes In IaFt1cuthf'
CATsKILL, N. Y, September O.
There is q great deal of lsmentation
here over the fact that although every
one in the house felt the earthquake no
one was aware of its true character, and
hence none of US enjoyed it. To be sure,
we heard rumble and q rattle, and
felt terrible jar, which shook the
building, but supposed it was only an
other boy falling down stairs. The
fact is, there are about fifty small boys
here in a permanent state Of eruption,
and no such Insignificant phenomenon
as an earthquake can be expected
to attract immediate attention, and
the Major says he feels as
though he had been swindlsd. /
do not. passed sixteen years in Cali
fornia, and in those days earthquakes
were in fashion, and sometimes &C.
CURED with such violence and fire.
quency as to be monotonous, and |
really think can be content to live in
a shockless neighborhood, worry along
with cyclones and epidemics, and leave
the appetite for subterranean excite
ment to younger and more enthusiastic
natures. There is something ill-bred
in an earthquake. 1t comes right
along without sending in card, and in
good old Paci6c-coast days the first
warning a citizen got was to have
yard or SO of chimney drop down his
back and see his house swap lots with
his neighbours. Travelling from
Los Angeles to Fort TETON, when |
was a small boy, l remember see
ing a fissure from twenty to one hun
bred feet wide and of unknown and
sunless depth, which was caused by
one of the little shocks Of the last GEN.
fury. 1t is eighty miles long, and quite
as interesting as it was cracked up to
be. At Fort TETON, in 1859, we had a
pond Of several acres area just back of
the barracks, and an earthquake came
along one night and drank it up, much
to the disgust of several thousand bull
frogs, who were compelled to get up a
four-mile jumping match to swamp
down the valley. But the first great
shock l went through was that Of
October 8, 1865, which shook
up the whole State Of California,
scared Oregon half to death,
and even excited comment in Ne
vada and Utah. 1t came along about |
o'clock in the afternoon, accompanied
by the usual rumble. / was in the
gymnasium trying to break my back on
the flying trapeze, when my attention
was suddenly called to the fact that |
was violently thumped against the side
of the building, and then that lot OF
loose timbers were floating rapidly down
from the rafters. l ran to the campus,
saw the chapel bowling to the dormitory
and the clock-tower trying to waltz,
and heard the wrenched timbers shrek
and groan j.; then the bells rang out
wild and discordant peal, and falling
chimneys and shattered glass were adj
ded to the tumultuous clamor Of the
frightened professors and the yelling OF
four hundred fitting boys, while above
all these chaotic sounds rose the mighty
roar Of the convulsion, IS Of the grind.
ing Of acres of flint and the rushing OF
many winds. Then suddenly boys and
buildings recovered their perpendicular
and the rector came out from the cell
lar, and after be had recovered his
breath told US that it was an earth
quake, but that We mustn't DO scared,
for We were all in the hands Of be.
nignant Providence, and-bere second
shock came along and the rector skip
ped down cellar again.
The next great earthquake happened
along ct $40 on the morning OF octo-
Der 81, 1868. l Was ia . third-story
room Of tho Occidental Hotel, in San
Francisco, and enioyipg q cigarette,