THE EARTHQUAKES IN AMERICA.

Kumara Times, Issue 3110, 21 October 1886, Page 3

THE EARTHQUAKES IN AMERICA.

The editor of a Charleston paper gives the following account of the scene in the streets on the night of August 31, when the first shock was felt:— “On every side there arose shrieks and cries of pain, fear, prayers, the wailings of terrified women and children, commingled with the hoarse shouts of excited men out in the streets. The air was filled to the height of the houses with a whitish cloud of dry stifling dust from the lime and mortar, and the shattered masonry which was falling upon the pavement had been reduced to powder. Through this cloud, which was dense as a fog, the gaslights flickered dimly, shedding but little light, so that you stumbled at every step over piles of brickwork, or became entangled in lines of telegraph wires, which depended in every direction from the broken supports.. On every side were seen hurrying the forms of men and women, bareheaded, partly dressed, some almost nude, and crazed with fear and excitement.” Telegraphing on the following Thursday, the conespoudent said: “The earthquake has caused a total cessation of business, the only places open being the drug stores, which supplied help for the injured, and some grocery stores. The people were afraid to reenter their houses, and lienee they were becoming famished. Not a hundred houses were inhabited, and there were not half a dozen tents in the city. Shelters were improvised from sheets ami awnings. Fortunately the weather was good, and consequently the streets and parks contained the entire population, among whom the negroes were conspicuous, huddled together in abject and helpless terror praying and singing hymns. Here and there dead bodies were seen. The exact number of casualties is unknown. It is believed that about 30 are killed and 100 injured. The damage to property is five million dollars. In other parts of the country some surprising phenomena manifested themselves. Geysers sprang up suddenly in Atlanta, Georgia. In Lawrence County some volcanic eruptions took place. At Bellep’ain, lowa, an artesian well was in progress of construction, and from it there gushed, without preliminary warning, torrents utterly beyond control. Sacks of sand thrown iu were tossed up like corks by a solid stream of mineral water, the diameter of an ordinary barrel, which spouted into the air lumps of coal, pyrites, and stones. Reports from other parts of the Southern States show that shocks were felt, but no casualties have occurred there, and the amount of damage done is small.” The following description of the effi'Ct of the earthquake on a train in motion is interesting : —At the lime of the earthquake a train was running along at full speed, and when about a mile south of Jedburg in encountered a terrible experience. It was freighted with hundreds of excursionists returning from the mount win a, They were all gay and happy, 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 descended, and, as it rapidly fell, it was flung first violently over to the east, the heads of the cars apparently leaning over at an angle of less than 45 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 the brakes light, but so great was the original and added momentum that the train leaped ahead. It is said on trustworthy authority that the tiain actually galloped along the track, the front and rear coaches rising and falling alternately. The utmost confusion prevailed. The train was then taken back in the direction of Jedburgh.