The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1906-05-04

: an eruption in its bed-formed a
; scene truly horrible. From that
, time until about sunrise number
of lighter S b ks occurred, at
which time one more violent than
the first took place, with the same
accompaniments as the first, and
the terror which had been excited
! in every one, and, indeed, in all
animal nature, was now, if pos.
sible, doubled. The inhabitants
fled in every direction to the coun-
try, supposing Gf it be admitted
that their minds were exercised at
alb that there was less danger at a
distance from than near to the
river. ln one person, female,
the alarm wac so great that she
tainted and could not be recov-
cred. There were several shocks
a day, but lighter than those al
ready mentioned, until the 23d of
January, 1912, when one occurred
as violent as the severest of the
former one, accompanied by the
same phenomena as the former.
From this time until the 4th of
February the earth was in contin-
ued agitation, vislbly waving as a
gentle sea. On that day there was
another shock nearly as hard as
the preceding ones. Next day,
four sucn, and on the 7th, about
4 o'clock a. M, a conclusion took
place so much more violent than
those which had preceded it that
it was denominated the hard shock.
IMPENETRABLE DARKNESS.
1.-The awful darkness Of the at
mosphere, which, as formerly,
was saturated with sulphuric va
por, and the violence of the tenn
pestuous laundering noise that ac-
companied it, together with all
the other phenomena mentioned
as attending the former ones,
formed a scene the description of
which would require the most sub
timely fancifuI imagination. At
first the Mississippi seemed to re-
cede from its banks, and its waters,
gathering up like a mountain, leav-
ing for moment m many boats
which we're here on their way to
New Orleans, on the bare sand,
in which time the poor sailors
made their escape from them. 1t
then rising fifteen or twenty feet
perpendicularly and expanding, as
it were, at the same moment, the
banks were overfiowed with a
retrograde current, rapid as a tor
rent. The boats, which before had
been left on the sand, were torn
from their moorings, and suddenly
driven up a little creek at the
mouth of which they laid, to the
distance in some instances of near.
Iy a quarter of a mile. The river
falling Immediately as rapid as it {
had risen, receded within its banks {
again with such violence that it Q
,ook with it whole groves of young '
cottonwood trees, which edged its o
,orders. They were broken off t
With such regularity, in some in. '
tances, that persons who had not q
the fact would be diff 4
ultly persuaded that it had been g
be work of art. A great many
sh were left on the banks, being
nable to keep pace with the wa
or. The river was literally COW
red with the wrecks of boats, and l
was said that one was wrecked 9
D which there was lady aud six '
all of whom were lost. y
q all the hard shocks mentioned g
ne earth was horribly torn to Il
ieces. The surface of hundreds il
acres was, from time to time, r.
overed, Of various depths, with !
le sand, which issued from thel &
ssures, which were made in great q
umbers all over this country,
,.,a of ri ~ oIoeoI 49,. 3,,.,,,x.1s n