Smyrna times., 1886-09-08

/ upon Tue pavement anu stone roadway
had been reduced to powder. On
every side we're hurrying forms of men
and women, bareheaded, partially
dressed, some almost nude, and many
of whom We're craZed with fear and ex-
element.
A sudden light flares through win
dow overlooking the street it becomes
mOmentarily brighter and the cry Of
fire resOunds from the multitude. A
rush is made toward the spot. A man
is seen doubled up and helpless
against the wall but at this moment
/ sOmeWhere-out at sea, overhead, deep
in the grounds heard again the low
rumble, and Ominous roll, which is al
ready too we'll known to be mistaken.
1t grows louder and nearer, like the
! grOWl of wild beast swiftly approach
ing his prey, and all is forgotten again
in the frenzied rush for the open space,
where alone there is hope of security,
faint though it be.
The first shock occurred at 9.53. as
was indicated in the morning by the
| public clocks, the hands on all of which
stopped at that fatal hour, as though
to mark the end of time for so MANY
! pealed forth by St. Michael's chimes
without a thought of but long and
! happy life. The second shock, which
was bnt faint and crisp echo of the
first was felt eight minutes later. As
it passed away the writer started
hOmeward, to find the scenes enacted
on Broad street, around the NelUS and
Courier Office repeated at every step of
the way. St. Michael's steeple tow
cred high and white above the gloom,
| seemingly uninjured. The station
house, a massive brick building across
the street, had apparently lost its roof,
which had fallen around it. A little
further on the roof of portion of the
Hibernian Hall, handsome building
in the Grecian style, had crashed to
the ground, carrying down part of the
massive granite pillars with it. All
the way up Meeting street, which in
respect of its general direction and i'm
pOrtance may be called the Broad
way of Charleston" the roadway was
piled with debris from the tops of the
walls. In passing the Charleston
Hotel, which, to carry on the compari-
son above indicated, occupies the posi-
tiOn Of Stewards uptown store in New
York, the third shock was felt about 10
minutes after the second and of course
caused the greatest alarm in that
neighborhOod as elsewhere.
At Marion Square, corresponding
exactly with Union Square, New York.
a great crowd had collected, as even
the edges Of tho wide spaces embraced
i'll it could not be reached by the near
est buildings in the event of their fall.
From this crowd, composed of men,
women and children Of both races.
arose incessant calls and cries of lam
entatiOns, while over the motley, half
drested thrOng was shed the lurid
glare Of the conilagration which had
broken out just beyond the square i'm
mediately after the first shock and had
nearly enveloped several buildings in
flames. In three other quarters Of the
town at the same time similar large
fires were observed under full head
way, and the awful significance of the
earthquake may most fully be apDre-
ciated, perhaps when it is said that
with these tremendous fires blazing up
all at once around them and threaten
ing the city with total destruction. the
people whom you meet on the streets
or saw gathered together in groups in
the open places evidently did not give
them thought. No one watched the
ruddy flames or the pliers of cloud
rising high into the still night air All
were too intent on listening with
strained senses for the dreaded recur-
renee Of that horrible growl or groan
of the power under the seas and under
the land to give thought to the new
terror, though it had now threatened
his own home aud many homes in the
doomed city.
CHARMED CIRCLE OF SAFETY.
The crowds poured in from every di-
rection to the square just described. as
though 1t had been indeed a charmed
circle and life depended on passing
within its grassy bounds. Street cars
carriages and other vehicles were
ranged in lines on the streets surround
ing the square, while the horses stood
as though snitiling the ground in anx-
lous inquiry. The colored people
everywhere were loud aud unceasing
in their declamations of alarm, in the |
singing of the hymns and in fervant
dPp6dIS lOl OOu mercy.
Arrived at his home, the writer found /.
the same scenes of distraction and
wreck which marked nearly every |
other home in the city. All the |
houses in the nighbOrhood had suffered |
seriously, and streets, yards and gard
ends were filled with the fallen chin
neys and fragments of walls, while the
walls that were standing were reft |
asunder in many cases from top to bot
tom and were badly shattered in every |
instance. Women and children, reused |
from sleep or interrupted in their even
in pursuits by the sound of the ruin be-
ing effected above and around them.
rushed out into the streets and bud- /
died together awaiting the end, what
ever it might be. Invalids were
brought out on mattresses and deposi- |
ted on the roadway. No thought was
given to treasures left behind in the
effort to save the peculiar treasure of |
life itself