A GENUINE YANKEE EARTHQUAKE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1288, 5 November 1886, Page 3

A GENUINE YANKEE EARTHQUAKE.

(* Star's ’ Own Correspondent) Keokuk, Towa'(U.S. A.), September 25, 1836. On the evening of August 31 the eastern portion of the United States experienced a succession of genuine earthquake shocks, the roost destructive which have visited the continent since its settlement. * The tremors of the earth’s surface were observed at different points from the Lakes to the Gulf, and from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic coast. The vibrations were the moat intense in Georgia and South Carolina, and it was in Charles ton, the largest city of the latter State, that the greatest damage was done. Charleston is a city of about 60,000 inhabitants, situated on a narraw and long reck of land at the confluence of the Ashley and Cooper livers, at the bead of a fine harbor, seven miles from the ocean. The city is one of the oldest in the Union, is well-built, and has a large commerce, loth coastwise and foreign. Charleston is noted in history as being the nursery of Repudiation ideas, and latterly of Secession. Charleston’s cannon firing on Fort Sumpter, at the entrance of the harbor was what awakened the people of the North to the existence of a war to which she -ent her sons from the fields, the workshops and the counters. T’ersons who were in Charlestown during the disturbance say that the low rumbling sound heard a few minutes before ten o’clock iu the evening was the first sign of the approach-, iug convulsion. The sound increased raj.idly in volume and accompanied by j n ring motions, which caused dishes and windows to rat le, bells to ring and then growing in magnitude, causing the mightiest buildings to reel, and bringing down chimneys and towers. The frightened people rushed into the s'reels to escape from the falling bricks and timbers, and sought refuge on vessels, in thp parks, and open lots. Overturned stores and kerosene lamps resulted in fires ; but the water mains were uninjured, and the fire department able to prevent a general conflagration. A second shock followed the first at an interval of a few minutes, and, though less severe than its predecessor it seamed to increase the panic of the multitude in the streets. The more superstitious among them believed that the end of : the world had come, and their prayers I were mingled with the yells of ex- i citPU~mefi. Not until morning did the people seek their shattered homes. ’ They found walls twisted and cracked ! roofs fallen in, and verandahs thrown down. The streets were filled with debris, from which about fifty dead ' bodies were taken. The railways entering the city were crippled by the destruction of bridges, the upheaval of embankments, and by the twisting of 1 iron and the spreading of tracks , tele- ' grab and telephone wires prostrate . ana broken—so that for a time there ! was no communication with the outer ; world. No accurate statement of the damage can be made but it reaches into several millions. Help for the poor is being poured in from other cities any sympathising friends. Queen Victoria sent a telegram expressing ' sorrow for the visitation and sympathising with the suffering people, to which President Cleveland gave an appropriate reply. Such graceful courtesies at such a time find a grateful response in every time American heart

The following extract will give some idea of the tearful time the. South Carolinians experienced daring the continuance of the tremors :—A. train was running at full speed, and had reached a jmint about one mile south of Jodbrg, S.C. It was freighted with hundreds ot excursions returning from the mountains They were all gay and happv, laughing and talking, when, all of a sudden, in the language of one of them, the train appeared to have left the track, and was going “up, up, up, into the air, this way,” like a rising wave Suddenly it descentled, and as it rapidly fell it was flung violently over to the east, the heads of the cars apparently leaning over at an angle of less than forty-five degrees; then the train righted, and was hurled as with a roar of artillery over to the west; and finally subsided on to the track, and took a plunge downwards. Evidently in descending the wave the engineer put down ihe brakes tight, and so great was the original and added momentum that the train leaped ahead. It is said on trustworthy authority that the train actually galloped along the track, the front and rear coaches rising and falling alternately .