The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1911-05-26
REELFooT EARTHQUAKE.
Dr. Griffin Delivers Address at Big
Fish Fry.


tonville, entertained the members Of th
West Tennessee Medical and Surgica
Association with highly interestin,
narrative Of the big earthquake which
played havoc in that section during th,
early part Of the nineteenth century, OF
the occasion Of the Zig fish-fry tendereC
to the members of the association by th,
doctors Of Lake County last week a
Reelfoot Lake, at the conclusion OF 1
most interesting session Of the society a
Dyersburg The outing was enjoyed by
large number Of the most prominent
members Of the medical profession in
this part Of the State.
DR.. Griffin said:
Your committee OF arrangements
Drs. Dulaney. Turner and others, in
their efforts to make you think you had
done the right thing in selecting our
neighboring town Dyersburg as your
meeting place for 1911, have been guilty
Of perpetrating great fraud upon the
association.
They had the honorable secretary to
mail you printed programme, stating
that if you you'd come to Dyersburg to
this meeting they would bring you over
to Tiptonville and you should have the
pleasure Of listening to an address from
me, on the history of Reelfoot Lake, and
have fish-fry on the side. They even
went SO far as to have published in one
Of the leading dailies of the South in its
Sunday edition, that / would deliver an
address at Tiptonville on the history OF
Reelfoot Lake,, who had swan and
fished in said mighty lake from early
dawn on the morning Of December 16,
1911, through its various and divers
upheavals and shocks to the 18th Of
December, 1918, and on down to the
present time, therefore, | should be able
to give you some history Of this great
lake that would be worth your coming
miles to hear, and that you would be
we'll paid for your trip even though you
had to stay in Dyersburg for two whole
days.
Now, gentlemen, they have you here
and not through any fault OF the Lake
County Medical seciety, as we didn't
know the personal address Of each OF
you gentlemen, therefore we couldn't
give you brotherly warning. Thought
the next best thing to do would be to 60
ahead and make you speech, but the
majority rule applies in the Lake County
Medical Society and they said no, it's
not right to inhict punishment on the
even to save the scalp Of our
doctors. So they will only
permit me to say, that up to the present
ime, Reelfoot Lake is without history,
hat Reelioot Lake was formed when the
mind Of man in this section of the
.ountry ran not to the history. That
n those days this glorious land Of ours
Tas not ours, but was known as the In
ian country.
So the best we can do for you will
'e to give you brief description Of the
appenings at our neighboring town Of
Few Madrid and vicinity, in the then
erritory OF Missouri, as written by one
amuel L. Mitchell, representative in
ongress under the title Of A detailed
OF the earthquake which oc-
lrred on the 10th day Of December,
s11, and agitated parts Of North
merica that lie between the Atlantic Q
sean and Louisiana and also q particu- I
r account of the other quakings OF the
lrth occasionally felt from that time ,
the 23d and 30th OF January and the /
b and 10th Of February, and subse- 7
iently to the 18th of December, 1918, !
nd which shook the country from De- '
DIT and the lakes 10 New Orleans and J
e gulf. Il
This, together with the letter written u
! one Eliza Bryan to the Rev Lorenzo
ow on the 22d day of March, 1916, :
rnish, we think, the most accurate de- i
ription ofthe happenings that occurred a
the formation OF the present Reelfoot 4
Ike. Mitchell says: Various OBJ a
rvers report that the waters Of the I,
river was caused to run up
Il, that the fresh springs were changed Il
sulphurous geysers, that strange a.
hts and meteors appeared in the
that all the turtles emf \
ated from the lakes, that sand, coal n,
d warm water we're elected from holes e'
the earth, that fogs settled down over Y Y
) land 4, I,
That shocks were so frequent that
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