The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-10-19

received from Atlanta, Nashville, Mont
gomery and Chattanooga that the same
quake had been felt, shortly after
| o'clock.
| Though there were three tremors. the
second that followed at 404 and the
| third at 400 were not as intense as the
initial quake that disturbed the equilib-
| rum of various sections of Alabama
Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi.
SLIGHT DAMAGE IN CITY
! In Birmingham, the damage due to the
tremors of the earth was slight. In the
| city proper there was scant loss, which
! was attributed to the falling of small
| fragile articles and the breakage of a
| lew windows. At the Firestone Tire and
| Rubber company on Avenue D and Tween
tyfirst street, the big plate glass win
| dow was cracked by the quake. In the
| residential sections and the outlying sub
| urban districts a few chmneys were
| loosened and tumbled over.
| In downtown office building, a chan
delier in an office on the top floor was
Jared from the ceiling and fell with a
crash.
| At The Age-Herald one of the plastic
owls over the main entrance suffered the
I iCSS VI d flcdo ny NlItQc OIL tle SGtlliIS VI
the Snock. ,rx.s sss5e ~ s9.Ags.ss.s .iia sA
Other minor caprices were experienced
in buildings about the district.
, Otherwise, no damage to property was
reported.
CAUSED GREAT EXCITEMENT
The occurrence of the quake threw Bir-
mingham into a chaotic state
At the Jefferson theatre the curtain
was falling at the end of the second act
of THE Only Girl as the building shook
unsteadily. The audience composed large
ly of women, sprang to it's feet. In a
twnklng half of the diversion seekers
became frightened throng, running pell-
nell to the exits. AS the last second of
the shock elapsed there were heard sobs
and cries in the theatre.
To calm the disquieted audience Man
ager r. S. Douglas ran down one of
the aisles but before he could calm the
auditors the exodus had reached the foy-
er. In persuasive manner he explained
that the shock was over and the hys-
terical sobs waned as the musicians, stout
of heart played.
RUSH FROM COURTHOUSE
In the courthouse the temperamental
quake was followed by adjournment of
the courts for minute or two
In the corridors pandemonium regned.
Persons were rushing here and there, and
some yelled earthquake" while others
contented themselves with the statement
that there had been an explosion. In
the county Jail the spirit of unrest gripped
the prisoners, but they were treasured
that nothing imperled them more than
others.
few participating in the general ex-
odus rushed upon the streets and lcraned
their necks toward the tower clock Some
nU-v H. 49,
chanism of the clock had crashed through
the structure.
In the district where the skyscrapers
had been rocked by the shock the streets.
largely deserted by traffic on account
of the intermittent rains of the day. were
filled by outpourings of people, seeking
confirmation of their beliefs that 1.-The
earth had quaked." In the hour when
host of people admitted that they
didn't like it," and INDUCED in an ex-
preston of their fears, there were some
who saw the lighter side
Some of the facetious commented that
lit was probably due to an explosion of
hot air at the city hail." while others
voiced the opinion that it was due to
the war and the thigh prices"
TELEPHONES BREAK RECORD
The storm center was the telephone
exchange. The hello girls stuck stoutly
to their posts The flood of inquiries that
was directed to the exchange resulted
In the prostration of several operators
who worked until exhaustion to answer
the calls that issued forth from every
wire. double corps of operators was
or hand to cope with the situation. which
was unprecedented.
George Knox, the manager of the Bir-
mingham office, was sponsor for the
statement that % 900 calls were answered
in the hour from 4 to 5 o'clock. 1t es-
tablished a new record for volume. The
exchange never experienced a more tenn
pestuous hour.
At the weather bureau f. G. Horton
Birmingham forecaster. said that, while
no records were available. he was of
the opinion that Birmingham had never
felt more severe earth tremor. While
the Birmingham bureau Is without the
aid of seismograph, which would have
recorded the degree of the shock and the
direction from whence it came, three
shocks were recorded, at 4;03. 4:04 and
406
1t was rather remarkable that the rain
and winds that swept the city since $40
Monday evening ceased shortly after the
quake The wind never attained a veloci-
ty of more than 80 miles during the day,
while the precipitation was less than one
inch for "A hours.
HORTON COMMENTS
Some were Of the opinion that the
hurricane, which swept the gulf coast.
might have been a contributing factor
in the tremor Of the earth. There is
no relation that exists between storm
an an earthquake" Mr.. Horton said
last night. Il have never known whore
(Continued IN Pare Nine)