The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-25

The destruction of the mighty city of London, 1t was said, was to mark the beginning of the end. The inhabitants were seized with terror. Blanched faces were at every door. People thronged the streets, terror-stricken. They rushed to Ellington. to Ampstead and congregated In all the adjoining fields to watch and wait, fearing the worst, hoping for the best. Hour after hour they waited until the dawn of an- other day. Then they felt safe, and tired and weary. went home. leaving the world intact. -.~ "@-:- IT,
 On another occasion a panic was caused in London by two earthquake shocks. The first shock occurred on February 8, and down went several chimneys in Poplar and Limehouse On March 8 another shock occurred, but was confined mostly to the districts or Highgate and Hampstead The colncl- dence of the one shock following the other at an interval of month exactly, excited widespread comment Then It was that a crazy headed soldier named
 Bell rushed through the streets pro- claiming that the next earthquake which would occur on the correspond- ing day of April, would destroy London as a preliminary to the end Of the world. > People began to brood on the coming calamity. tTOIl DTOOuiI6 NliNJ AAtoiAN ened themselves into wild panic. Thous- ands made nasty preparations for de parting from London before the great catastrophe occurred. Vast numbers crowded into villages for miles around as the day of doom crept nearer. Fu- gitives of all classes poured into liar
 row, Highgate, Blackheath. lsllnston and Hampstead, paying eXtortionate rates for lodgings.
 M If tended Rich people who had laughed began to tremble. Beginning to trem- ble. they concerted measures for their safety. Water seemed to offer greater protection than land. They rushed to the Thames and crowded on the mer- chant ships there. waiting for west minister Abbey and St. Pauls to crash down. The eventful day came and passed leaving London in its normal state Then there was a great rush home. Bell subsequently died in Iu- natic asylum.
 Some years afterward there was q panic on a smaller scale at Leeds, in Yorkshire. This happened because hen laid an egg. It was not an ordin- ary egg. It was an egg inscribed with certain writing announcing the end of the world. The fame of that egg was noised abroad, and. strange to relate, that hen commenced to lay other eggs inscribed in a similar way
 The place of miracle was soon eesles- ed by crowds of people anxious to eX- anime the amazing products of the hen. They came away palefac"d and dis tressed believing that the end of all things was about to happen.
 Then it occurred to some persons of Inouiring. scientific mind that 1t would be an excellent thing to examine the eggs in a critical spirit. This they did, only to discover that the eggs had been written on with corrosive ink and bru- tally forced back into the hens body. The panic ceased from that day.
 few years before the great fire. London was the scene of a panic even wider than those which have been pre- vIously described. The prophets on this occasion predicted the destruction of the city, not from comets or earth ouakes. but from the overflow of the river On the first day of February they said, the Thames would rise to such a great height that it would wash away 10000 houses.