The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-04-20
BARMICK,s VERSION.
The Weather Observer Explains How
His Barometers Were Twisted

The Weather Observer Explains How
His Barometers Were Twisted.
The Weather Bureau observer reports
that at 2:49 A. NJ. yesterday he was rudely
awakened by a shaking up, and bounced
from the bed to find himself, as well as
the building, having fit of the shakes.
However, light was struck and time
noted. 1t was then between 2:49:l0 and
2:49:I5 O'Clock, and the severity of the
first shock had moderated, but in a few
seconds another severe shock was felt.
and in shorter time than it takes to write
it the disturbance was over and the
official clock stopped. The window with
a north exposure and which swings on
hinges) was open, the fluid in the battery
Jars that generates electricity standing in
puddle on the floor.
An examination found some orna-
mental pieces of plastering on the floor,
and on the dome of the building. tub
of rain water, containing twenty or
more gallons, was observed still in COM
motion, with several gallons spilled on
the floor. All the pendulum clocks had
stopped, whether they were on the north.
south, east or west wall, which can be
accounted for in no other way than that
one shock oscilliated one way and the
ether another way.
The first one, at 2:49 a. NJ, appeared to
have motion from the north toward the
south, an evidence of which was the
wabbling motion of the regulator clock S
pendulum, which hangs on the north
wall, and whose motion is from east to
west. The window in the north wall fell
open and the building continued to
culver until the second shock came,
which was from the west to the east. or
souih-southwest to the north-northeast,
which made things rattle. The motion
appeared to he a circular or twisting one
which no doubt caused the great damage
al Nacaville. 1t works on the same prin-
ciple as an unsteady wind in high gale
il viii blow from enc point and have the
trees following the wind, and then sud-
denly change 10 another direction, and
before the trees can gain their equilibrium
they are twisted Oft at The butt or blown
down; SO in an earthshock, if the quakes
follow each other III rapid succession from
different directions, down goes a portion
q the building, or the plastering is
twisted of.
Al the end of the sesmitic motion the
barometer was found to have changed but
Httle from the ) z. VI. observation of the
preceding day. The wind was north
west ana Glowing about three miles per
hour, and the sky perfectly clear. At )
O'Clock the wind had increased to six
miles per hour, and gradually increased
TO hIteen miles at different times before 8
a. NJ. De TWO oarometers are suspended
from the top, and hang on stationary
hooks in an incloSed glass box, which is
kept locked. The ring at the top of the
barometers is fixed in such manner as
To be easily turned by the least touch OF
tic finger. The two barometers were
turned half way round. When they are
IN position the attached thermometer al
ways faces the observer, and is ALWAYS left
in that position afte1 an observation.
The fronts of the barometers face south.
and the turn they took was toward the
southwest, showing that there must have
been two motions to the shocks to produce
such an effect, and they must have been
in rapid succession.
To the best of my recollection the first
shock kept the building in a kind of
rotary or twisting motion until the last
shock. coming so suddenly from west to
east before the building had settled TO its
,,s4.al standard OF quiemess, reversed the
ptotion so quickly that it threw the
Iaroineter suddenly TO contrary direc-
on TO that the building took. Had they
ieen rigidIy fixed so as to move in but
ono direction, then they would have
simply swung backward and forward,