The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1906-04-26

3 presence the importency of any hu-
man effort or endeavor is realized and
distraction ensues, in the minds of
men not trained to submission to the
Higher power.
The agony Of the first hours spent.
the living must turn to the care Of
the dead and injured, and the finding
Of food. A city Of $4,000 people,
with its vitals disrupted, and tho
flames licking up its members, with a
hundred thousand women and children
rendered shelterless, with the bare
earth for bed and sky tor canopy,
thrust out to swell the pitiful strains
of terror and horror that walled from
human hearts to threaten, this was
second scene in the tragedy Of a day
which must be followed by the pain
of realization that has begun to dawn,
perhrps by now. This is going to be
an agonizing time when the indi.
vidual losses are counted, and the IN
burnt dead are buried. When the
hope Of lifetime is extinguished,
and grim fate laughs in. the. face Of
grief and sorrow and children cry for
bread
4 The telegraph has been too busy re-
counting the facts Of the catastrophe
to take note of any OF its Inevitable
consequences, its analogous results
If the sources Of food supply are de-
stroyed, as related, if the bread is all
bnrnt up, how many hundreds must be
hungry today, unless, indeed, Gen.
Funston who is in command there,
has vast amount of military stores
within easy reach.
That is partial glimpse at the
possibilities of q situation that no hu-
man mind can grasp in its fnllness,
nor any pencil picture. 1t is possible
only to suggest its outlines, in the
most indefinite and colorless fashion.
In week perhaps, q picture of the
appalling disaster may be drawn that
will give the reader some fare con-
ception of it's diminsions. Today we
know nothing save that q calamity,
without parallel in the annels Of the
continent, has visited one of the fair
est regions of the earth and thousands
ale dead aud hundreds of thousands
are hungry, helpless and homeless.
What causes earthquakes? There
ATE different theories. All agree that
lit is seismic disturbance within, i. e.,
the fires which are constantly burning
within the bowels of the earth, are
disturbed from some cause and they
exert or assert themselves to regain
normal condition, the crust of the
earth just over the fire is Jared, and
in proportion to the disturbance. 1t
has been thought that only volcanic
sections of the country were subject to
earthquakes, but that theory was dis
proved, notably in the Charleston
cause twenty years ago.
DR.. MILFORD Hall, of New York,
some years ago, gave very plausible
theory. He accepted what is known
as the Nebula Hypothesis, and based
his theory on that. Conceding that
the crust of the earth is fifty miles
thick or less, and that the entire space
within is filled with raging fires-fed
probably by gases. AS the overhead
and adjacent crust becomes dry and
cracked it breaks loose and falls into
the flames. This is occurring in a
small way all the time and causing lit
tie tremors on the surface, but not per-
ceptible.
Now when very large slump breaks
loose and drops into. the fires that
causes the whole crust to spring and
rebound. The result is, tremendous,
shaking of that immediate section.
According to that theory, no place
on earth is immune from the earth.
quake; though the volcanic section is
more liable. Should a big slump
occur Oh the inner surface of the
earth's crust just beneath US, the up.
per, surface would probably spring
| upward several inches and that would
be sufficient to raze every house in
Meridian to the ground. - Meridian
Sun.
Great Earthquakes of History
81 Lives Lost.
Lisbon, Portugal, Nov. 1, 1855 80, 900
Lima, Peru, Dec, 1862 70. 900