The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1886-09-09

feet deep: at Summerville Professor
McGee continued his Investigations aud
talked freely with gentlemen there. One
of those gives the Nea0s and. Courier
sketch of Professor McGee's statements.
Professor McGce said that tho ornamental
work and gingerbread work in Charleston
was, in many instances, out ofproportion to
the size of the. building and these parts
would be apt to fall and carry away por.
tions of the general structure. He said
that when he left Washington he thought
he would have very little difficulty in de-
termining the approximate cause of the
earthquake, but confessed to have been
much puzzled by his observation. Con.
trary to expectations, he found that the
assures were not uniform in their direc-
tion. Some extended from North to
South and others from East to West, and
on this accouns-ae would hesitate now to
give any scientific declaration. He did,
however, give an opinion that the shocks
were the result of local land slides. By
the term "local" he does not mean that
the shakes can be traced to any particular
place, at Summerville, Charleston, or
elsewhere, and remarked that there was
no connection between the shakes and
suppressed volcanic action. His impress
sion is that the area covered by the land.
slide theory has been from forty to one
hundred miles under the bed of the sea.
He was confident, moreover, that the
worst was passed. -.
A reporter made careful detour of
the city, and mas surprised to find SO
much wrecked property which had before
escaped the eyes of press representatives.
At least four out of five of all buildings
are damaged more or less.
>, City Assessor William a., Kelly says
that the loss will readily reach $10,000,-
600. The taxable property aggregates
$22, ,00c, ,000., As the greatest portion of
the property destroyed was inhabited by
old families who have no surplus means,
it is believed that Only portion will be
rebuilt. All; day there has been con-
stant rattle and roar of falling buildings
and old material. Scores of buildings
are being torn down by the owners as a
measure of safety. Hundreds of others
will not come down until action has been
ordered by the city council. AT many
places ropes are drawn across the strests
to keep pedestrians away from condemned
and dangerous buildings.
THE FRIDAY NIGHT SHOCK.
The Ne,es and G6nrier, of September
9th, says: =,
The shock that was felt in Charleston,
about seven minutes after IL o'clock on
Friday night, s.the first decided one,
if not the only one, that has been felt ip
tho city in nearly twenty.four hours, or
since 11.53 on Thursday night. Differ.
ing opinions are expressed as to its COM
parative force, but it impressed the great
majority of observers as being only second
| in severity to the first and most violent
one, and as ranking in this respect with
what was the second shock in the series.
The effect of the shock on Friday night
coming with so much force, and rudely
breaking the long interval of apparent
quietude, was naturally to dispel at once
the feeling of renewed confidence which
had begun to be entertained by nearly
every one, and to re-. establish for q time,
among the more ignorant classes of the
population at least, the reign of terror
from whichthey had 80 recently emerged.
The roll of the earthquake was Of but q
few seconds duration. It had scarcely
died away, however; before there rose up
through the still night air, in the direc-
ton of the public squares and parks,
where the fugitiyes we're gathered togeth-
er, the now familiar, but still terrible,
cries of thousands Of wailing voices
united in one vast chorus expressive only
of the utmost human misery. For awhile
this sound was heard above all other
sounds suggesting wildly to the mind
what has been told by survivors of the
scene that follows the sinking ola great
ship at sea, when its living freight is left
struggling With the waves; and this i'm.
preston was heightened to the distant
auditor by the gradual diminution in the
volume of the cries-as though voice
after voice were being silenced as life
after life we're quenched beneath the
tossing waves. The sound could not
have been very different or more despair.
ing and horrifying il the waters of the
ocean, a few miles away, had indeed
burst their sandy barriers, and, pouring
across the land, had engulfed the distant
throngs within hearing of the anxious
watchers who, for SO long, through anx.
ious days and sleepness nights, had
dreaded for themselves this so fearful
fate. So the latest terror passed to those
who were far off and alone, or who
watched and waited in the darkness of
the night and in the shadow of death,
while helpless loved ones slumbered and
slept beside them.
T Very few people felt the shock which
passed through the city at LIS p. M. on
Friday, owing probably to the rumbling
of wagons, carriages, drays and buses
through the street. Nevertheless, there
was vibration, and very perceptile
one, which those who have observed the
movements of the earthquake had no
difficulty in recognizing. Like all the
other shocks it came from the Southeast,
passed through the city and disappeared
in Northwesterly direction.
A few moments after II o'clock at
night another shock came, lousing the
poor affrighted women and children from
their uneasy slumbers and forcing them
once more to fee to the open air for
safety. The shock was rather severe,
pronounced by those who felt it to be
about equal in severity to that at 1926 q
m. on Wednesday. Its advent was fol.
lowed by several noises such as is pro.
duced by falling buildings, but no trace
could be found of any building having
been thrown down.
When the shock occurred the colored
people on Washington square, as usual,
became panic.stricken, and the shouting
and singing was once more resumed.
The two negro men, however, who have
done 80 much to contribute to the suffer.
ings and distress of the people during
the terrible ordeal through which
Charleston has passed, had found quar-
ters elsewhere, and in their abaence things
soon quieted down. The white people
who were driven to the square managed to
get sitting room on the outer edge of the
park and passed Wretched night. shiv.