Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-09-08

election of that supreme moment to their
dying day. None expected to escape. A
sudden rush was simultaneously made to
endeavor to attain the open air and flee
to place of safety; but before the door
was reached all reeled together to the tot
tering wall and stopped, feeling that hope
was vain; that it was only question of
death within the building or without. to
be buried by the sinking roof or crushed by
the topping walls. The uproar slowly
died away in seeming distance. The earth
was still-and, oh, the blessed relief of that
stillness-but how rudely the silence was
broken! AS we dashed down the stairway
and out into the street, already on every
side arose the shrieks, and cries of pain
and fear, the prayers and wailings of terri
fled women and children, commingled with
the hoarse shouts of excited men.
"Out in the street the air is filled to the
height of the houses with whitish cloud
of dry, sitting dust from the lime and NOR
tar and shattered masonry, which, falling
upon the pavement and stone roadway, is
reduced to powder. Through this cloud.
dense as fog, the gas lights flicker dimly,
shedding but little light, so that you STUN
BILE at every step over the piles of brick, or
become entangled in the lines of telegraph
wires that depend in every direction from
their broken supports. On every side are
hurrying forms of men and women bare
headed, partially dressed, some almost
nude, and many of whom are crazed with
fear or excitement. Here woman is sup
ported, half fainting, in the arms of her
husband, who vainly tries to soothe her,
while he carries her into the open space at
the street corner, where present safety
i. &In-, 1.Ao he
pavement with upturned face and out
stretched limbs, and the crowd passes hei
by for the time. not pausing to see whether
she be alive or dead.
GA sudden light flares through a window
overlooking the street; it becomes moment
arily brighter, and the cry of Fire! re-
sounds from the multitude. A rush is
made toward the spot. A man is seer
doubled up and helpless against the walls.
But at this moment, somewhere out at sea,
overhead, deep in the ground, is heard again
the low, ominous roll which is already too
well known to be mistaken. 1t grows loud
er and nearer, like the growl of wild
beast, swiftly approaching his prey; and is
forgotten again in the frenzied rush for the
open space, where alone there is hope OF Sc.
curity, faint though it be. The tall build
ings on either hand blot out the skies and
the stars and seem to overhang every foot
of ground between them; their shattered
cornices and copings, the tops of theil
frowning walls, seem piled from both sides
to the centre of the street. 1t seems that a
touch would now send the shattered masses
left standing down upon the people below,
who look up to them, and shrink together
as the tremor of the earthquake again pass
har ond tbo rQvQrhaP
ations swell and roll along like some infer
nal drum beat summoning them to die, and
it passes away, and again is experienced the
blessed feeling of deliverance from impend-
ing calamity, which it may we'll be believed
evokes mute but earnest offering of ming.
led prayer and thanksgiving from every
heart in the throng.
s'Again, far along the street and up from
the alleys that lead into it on either side, if
heard that chorus of wailing and lamenta
ton which, though it had not ceased, was
scarcely noticed a moment before. 1t is a
dreadful sound, the sound of helpless, hor
ror-stricken humanity; old and young, the
strong and the feeble alike, where all are sc
feeble, calling for help from their fellow
creatures and raising their anguished voices
in petition to Heaven for mercy, where no
CUulo dtdh. 1o 10 hOo q oSCDO W
be described by any mortal tongue or pen
1t is not scene to be forgotten when once
it has been witnessed, and when the witness
has shared all its danger and feels all it,
agony.
"The first shock occurred at seven min
utes of 10, as was indicated this morning by
the public clocks, the hands on all of which
had stopped at that fateful hour, as though
to mark the end of time for so many who
had heard the preceding hour pealed forth
by st. Michael's chimes without a thought
but of long and happy life. The secone
shock, which was bnt a faint and crisp echo
of the first, was felt eight minutes later
As it passed away the writer started home
ward to find the scenes enacted on Broad
street, around the Neacs and Courier office
repeated at every step of the way. st
Michae's steeple lowered high and white
above the gloom, seemingly uninjured
across the street, had apparently lost it,
root. which had fallen around it. A littl,
further on, the roof of the porticO of the
Hibernian Hall, handsome building in the
Grecian style, had crashed to the ground
carrying down part of the massive granite pill
lars with it. All the way up Meeting St.
and Importance, may be called the Broad
way of Charleston the roadway was piled
with debris from the tops of the walls.
Gin passing the Charleston Hotel, which
to carry out the comparison above indicat
ed, occupies the position of Stewards up
town store in New York, the third shocl
was felt, about ten minutes after the second
and, of course, caused the greatest alarm il
that neighborhood, as elsewhere. At Marion
square, corresponding exactly with Uniol
square, New York, great crowd had col
lected, as even the edges of the Wide space
embraced in it could not be reached by tn
nearest buildings in the event of their fall
| From this crowd, composed OF men, women
and children of both races, arose lncessan
calls and cries and lamentations, while owe
the motley, half-dressed throng was shet
the lurid hight of the conf1agration whicl
had broken out just beyond the square i'm
mediately after the first shock, and ha'
now wholly envelped several buildings il
| flames In three other quarters OF the tow
at the same time similar large fires wer
observed under full Roadway, and the aw
full significance of the earthquake may b.
most fully appreciated, perhaps, when it i
said that with these tremendous fires blaz
lHS up dill dt OuC0 dFOuuu bucIu, dnu thiCdt
ening the city with total destruction, tn
people whom you met on the streets or say
gathered together in groups in the opel
places evidently did not given them
thought. No one watched the ruddy flame
or the pillars of cloud rising high into tn
still night air. All were too intent o.
listening with strained senses for the dread
ed Recurrence of that horrible growl O
groan of the power under the seas and unde
the land to give thought TO the new ter
ror, though it had threatened his own hom
and many homes in the doomed city,
| "The crowds poured in from every di
rection to the square just described, a
though it had been indeed charmed cir
Gle, and life depended on passing within 1t
grassy bounds. Street cars, carriages, ant
other vehicles were ranged in lines on tn
streets surrounding the square, while tn
horses stood as though shifting the grount
in anxious inquiry. The colored people
everywhere were loud and unceasing il
their declarations of alarm, in the singin.
of hymns, and in fervent appeals for God
mercy, in which appeals God knows, man,
proud heart who heard them arising il
the night, and in the hour of His wondrou
might, devontly and hrumbly and sincere
ly joined. Danger brings all of us to tn
l