The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1908-10-31
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Miss Bryan's Story.

nov give you history eSfUli IN de-
iaii as the limits of letter Will per
Ait of the late awful visitation in
this place and vicinity.
On the 18th Of December, 1871,
about y o clock a. m, we were visit
ga by a violent shock of an earth
quake, accompanied by very awful
noise, resembling loud but distant
thHnaRr, but more hoarse and vibrat-
ms which was followed in a few
minutes by the complete saturation
WHb sulphnrious vapor, causing total
darkness. The screams of the af-
inhabitants running to and
fro, not knowing where to go or
what to do, the cries of the fowls
and beasts of every specie, and crack
ing of trees falling, and the roaring
Of the Mississippi. the current of
which was retrograde for few min
utes, owing, as is supposed, to an
eruption in its bed-formed a scene
trlly horrible. From that time until
about sunrise a number of lighter
shocks occurred, at which time one
more violent than the first took
place With the same accompani-
iashi as the hrst, ana the terror
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ilnpchetropir Darkness.
The awful darkness of the at
which as formerly, was
saturated With tempestuous thunder
ing noise that accompanied it, to-
gether with all the other phenomena
mentioned as attending the former
ones formed a scene the description
OF which would require the most sub
timely fanciful imagination. AT first
the Mississippi seemed to recede
from it's banks, and its waters,
gathering up lige a mountain, leay-
ing for moment many boats which
were here ON their way to New Or
leans, on the bare sand, in which
time the poor sailors made their es-
CAPE from them Il then rising fif-
teen or twenty feet perpendicularly
and expanding, as it We're, at the
same moment, the banks were over
flowed with a retrogade current, ra-
pid as a torrent, The boats, which
before had been left on the sand
were Torn from their moorings, and
suddenly driven up little creek at
The mouth Of which they laid, to the
distance in some instances of nearly
q quarter of "A mile The river falling
Immediately as rapid as it had risen
reoeded within its banks again with
such violence that it took with it
whole groves of young cottonwood
trees, which edged its borders. They
We're broken off with such regulari-
49, in some Instances, that persons
who had not witnessed the fact
would be difficulty persuaded that
1T had been the work of art. A great
many fish were lett on the banks,
being unable TO keep pace with the
water. The river was literally COW
erred with the wrecks of boats, and
tt was said that one was wrecked in
nich there was lady and six chill
dren all OF whom We're lost. In all
the hard shocks mentioned the earth
was horrIblY torn to pieces-the
auiiale OF hundreds OF acres was,
from time TO time, covered, of var
ioH7 depths, with the sand, which is
Hsa from the assures, which were
RiaGe IN great numbers all over this
G2uWT}, some OF which closed up
Immediately after they had yomited
form their sand and water, which,
If must be remarked, was the matter
generally thrown up
ln some places however there
ms w baf m h