The Wichita daily eagle., 1895-11-01

I visit w tcnita
| Wichita was visited yesterday morn
ing for the first time in nearly thirty
years by an earthquake.
There is not woman in town who
| did not turn over in her bed and wake
up with a suppressed yell at 511 a m
And it is doubtful whether one in every
100 knew what was the matter with
| them.
They thought they had heard some
thing like cat monkeying with their
dishes, or a mouse in the cubbord or
the cow kicking in the stable or a
/ wagon rolling in the street or their hus-
bands snoring. but when they opened
! their eyes and set their ears TO catch
the sound, the whole thing was over.
They pinched their husbands and
| woke them up. but that was all the
| good it did them. Men studying over
such an important event as county
election are not in a humor to think
about a little matter like an earth
| quake.
Well, to make long story short.
there was an earthquake. The Eagle
reporters were on the spot when ot oc-
! CURED. They had just got home. One
| OF them at lest was there. and he was
in the act of going into the cupboard 10
rummage for the shank of a chicken or
something else TO eat when the sugar
bowl and the cream pitcher and other
articles of crockery began to dance a
regular hoe down. The kettles and the
pots and the tables and the chairs be-
came very much enthused also and held
high carnival for exactly thirty sec
ondS by the clock on the kitchen shelf.
There was no suspicion for q long time
OF an earthquake. but there was a
mighty inclination to think that the
ghosts Of three or four generations had
called TO give him a surprise party and
the chicken leg. IL any was there, which
is very doubtful considering the hard
times, remains untouched to this mo-
ment- In exactly thirty seconds he was
in bed with the blanket rolled around
his head. Just then the first thought
of an earthquake occurred to him.
There were people left In the Eagle
Office after him who are more compet-
ent to tell the story.
The engineer heard the shock vibrat-
ing from east 10 west. He thought that
the engine was about to go on a burst
and blow him into the middle Of next
week, a probability that he very much
regretted as he wanted to live to vote
for Charlie Hatton. The whole office
shook, he says, as IL a train OF cars
were running on the tin roof. The
pressman was running off the last edi-
ton and when the earthquake came
the great big perfecting press halted
like balky horse for a second or two
and then began to jog along again ~
the rate of $4,000 an hour.
John Fisher was in the police station
in the first stages of one of those re-
freshing snoozes that policemen take
so often, when his chair tipped over
and he felt himself punched up under
the desk. He thought the foundation
Of the city building gave way or that
some of the joint whisky in the room
underneath him had exploded He
rung up the telephone girl to see what
the matter was and although his hear
ing is not as good as II was forty or fifty
years ago he heard the beating Of her
heart so close to him that he guessses
that 1t was mighty near her mouth
when she spoke to him.
The janitor Of the court house
thought that the magnificent building
was swinging like a pendulum but be-
fore he could jump out the window the
building had settled down to its nor
NAL solidity again. He was badly
scared
The people living in the Zimmerly
block experienced a queer feeling and
got out of bed and into the halls with
out regard 10 their toilet.
The guests at the Carey felt the shock
too and many OF them ran out into the
Railways.
It was felt at College Hi and Fair
mount very plainly and caused the
dishes Ia rattle there pretty lively.
The last earthquake felt in Wichita
was in 1857. There were no big houses
here then and very few dishes to rattle
but it was felt nevertheless. The In
dams were then camped over about
where Ringling's circus was recently
held. They heard a terrible rumbling
noise and thinking IL was an approach
ing herd OF buffaloes prepared to
slaughter them AS IL did not last
more than a minute they soon realized
that IL was an earthquake.