CHARLESTON IN RUINS. HUNDREDS OF BUILDINGS WRECKED. FEARFUL AND SENSATIONAL SCENES. MANY PEOPLE KILLED OR DEAD FROM EXPOSURE. QUEEN VICTORIA'S CONDOLENCE.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 175, 23 October 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

CHARLESTON IN RUINS. HUNDREDS OF BUILDINGS WRECKED. FEARFUL AND SENSATIONAL SCENES. MANY PEOPLE KILLED OR DEAD FROM EXPOSURE. QUEEN VICTORIA'S CONDOLENCE.

Ox September 1, distinct shocks of earthquake were experienced in a large part of the country lying east of the Mississippi River, and at some points west of that river. Telegraphic advicea show that it was felt from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes and westward from the Atlantic coast. Observations of the direction in which the eeismic wave travelled were necessarily hasty, and no doubt in some cases inaccurate, but it seems to have travelled from some centre in the Appalachian range of mountains in North Carolina. The worst effects were felt at Charleston, South Carolina. There the demolition is well nigh complete. From 1 o'clock on Friday night until 10 o'clock on Saturday morning no less than ten distinct earthquakes were felt. The first, which struck the city at about 9.50 p.m., was by far the most severe. Those which succeeded during the next twelve hours would probably have done no more damage had it not left the city in such a condition that only the slightest motion was required to wreck the buildings that already half tottered. It was

A Night of Absolute Terror. No event has caused half so much consternation and gloom as was created by the thirty seconds of disaster on Tuesday night. The first intimation of approaching danger was given in the atmosphere. It was denee, sultry, and fearfully oppressive, and as the night drew on the atmosphere became damp and difficult to breathe. Suddenly the city was aroused by a low warning like distant thunder. The growl of the elements had scarcely died away when the earth trembled violently. A momentary pause ensued, and the city rose and fell as if on the crest of a billow. The sound which accompanied the wave was terrible. It was a frightful half-smothered roar. It seemed as if only the merest crust of earth, and that in imminent danger of giving way, separated the city from pandemonium. People rushed from their, houses into the street only to witness the culmination of the horrible work. Telegraph poles lay prostrate on the ground or leaned upon the frail support of wrecked buildingß, while their labyrinth of wires bo obstructed the streets as to make travel through them almost impossible. Almost every building in Meeting and Broad-streets, the two princinal thoroughfares of the city, were wrecked to a greater or less extent. Maay people escaped from their tumbling homes only to meet death or fearful injury from falling bricks"and mortar, whole masses of which plunged down into the streets, adding to the general havoc. The most serious damage wag done in those parts of the city devoted to business, and to costly dwellings. Hundreds of people were made homeless in a single moment, and the loss of life was far greater than that caused by the cyclone a year ago, It is now evident that more than forty per eons were killed outright |by this one shock, and over a hundred must have been injured. The people crowded out into the streets, being afraid to go back into their houses; which had been' moved from their foundations, and through whioh great fissures ran. The greater portion of the people killed were negroes, whose abject and hopeless terror is past description. The negroes thought

The End of the World had Come, and huddling together made no effort to extricate their buried friends, but sang hymns and offered supplications all night ! long. Their meetings formed the weirdeat spectacles that were to be seen. No less than five fires broke out in different ' parts of the city, lending a terrifying illumi- ] nation to the ghastly scenes. TJjie/srFire* Department hurried forth to fight the flames, but their efforts were practically of no avail.' The streets' were 8O l A>locked; with debris that the engines and hose carriages' could not be driven along, and the fires really spent their force* before they were extinguished - About twenty houses were burned to ashes. Several minor Bbocks were felt during the night, which were only serious in that they supplemented the effects of the* firatgreat assault, and added to the consternation of the people. The second heavy wave swept .along at precisely 8.25 a.m. yesterday. It came" ' from" southeast' justf as; its more awful • predecessor had done, and passed' away toward the northwest. After spending .the night in the streets endeavouring to rescue the dead and wounded from the ruins, the people were wearied and hungry, Most of i them bad ' ' ventured* ' back into - their j abandoned homes I'for1 ' for a little rest and food,, Again they heard the, dull' rumble beneath them, and felt the sickening tremor , of the earth ; they poured into the streets pd seek open places.. They felt the ear^h! quiver and heave, and then the sound died away, but not before many ' other buildings Kaji been shaken to the ground.' <To>day by far the greater majority of houses are unin' habitable. Business to-day was absolutely suspended, scarcely 100 houses in the' city" were used at all. The people camped out in ooen places, men, women, and children together. A paeeenger train from Columbus to Charleston was thrown from the t;rack by the first shock near Summerville, Ga., which town was nearly destroyed. ( " ' A telegram of September 2nd jsays :•— Another shock occurred at 5 o'clock this evening. It was not specially severe, and did no vast damage, but it served to demoralise the' people until the open square seemed full of maniacs. The entire population of Charleston is in this equare tonight. They soupbt refuge there, fearing the coming of another wave, and they were not disappointed. At 5.15 o'clock the usual preliminary warning of the earthquake was heard, and a few minutes later another wave passed through the city. No additional damage was done, but the women and children who are lying out in the open air ran about horribly agitated. The situation is becoming terrible. No trains have arrived or left for twenty-four hours, and persons from the country who have ventured here say that all the railroads are broken up and the rails twisted into fantastic shapes. Wednesday was but a repetition of the night before. The streets were filled with debri?, beneath which were the bodies of the slain. Death and desolation were abroad. Not a single store was opened, ard not a living face could be seen in all the miles of streets, save the multitudes gathered in the open squares. This continued all day Wednesday and all the night following. At 8.25 a.m. on Wednesday there was a shock, one at 5.15 p.m , and another at 11.50 p.m., which was the last up to this writing. The night was a horrible one. The panic-stricken and affrighted people crowded the parks and began their peculiar religious orgies At 6 p.m. to-day, burial certificates had been issued for 35 victims. This is supposed to represent nearly the total loss of life.

A Curious Effect. Not far from Charleston, on the road to Summerfield, extensive mounds of clay were thrown up, and hillocks of sand, in most cases in t^e shape of inverted cones, the hollow part of which had evidently been formed by the action of water returning into the depths from which it had been raised, In many cases the matter has streamed away from breaks in the Surface of the earth to a distance of from twenty to fifty feet. In other places there were fissures, almost invariably extending from north to south. The cracks were not wide, and extended downward in a slanting direction. The matter that was thrown up was Of a dull, dark slaty colour, and was mixed with gravel. There was also a little shale and mud resembling that which is thrown from the bottom of the phosphate pits along the river. The water in some places has the taste of our artesian water, but in many instances was just as clear and limpid as from a mountain spring,

Experience on a Train. A train, at the time of the earthquake, was running along at the usual speed, and when about a mile south of Jedburg it encountered a terrible experience. It was freighted with hundreds of excursioniste returning from the mountains. 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 was the rising wave. Suddenly it descended, and as it rapidly fell it wae flung first violently over to the east, the heads of the cars apparently leaning over at an angle of lees than forty-five de grees Then the train righted and was hurled, as with a roar of artillery, over to the weBt and finally subsided on the track and took a plunge downward, evidently a descending wave. The engineer put down tho brakes tight, but 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. The utmost confusion prevailed. The train was then taken back in the direction of Jedburg. The "Sun's" Charleston special of September 3rd say 8 : At precisely 11 o'clock to-night another severe chock of earthquake swept under the city, coming, with a heavy booming sound, apparently from the southeast, whence all the previous shocks have come The earth trembled perceptibly with a short wavy motion for at ' least two seconds Nearly everybody had gone to bed in their tents or their houses, with confidence that the worst was over. At the first note, however, of the well- known and dreaded sound, everybody was awake and on their feet, and tha etreetß were filled in a twinkling with men, women and children. At the negro camp in the City Hall Park nearly a panic prevailed. Men and women ehouted and cried or tell on their knees, uttering long, wailing prayers and singing queer negro hymns. Wherever any considerable number of negroes were encamped this scene was repeated. The police came among them and endeavoured with indifferent success to calm them. ' Advices from Summerville state that the town of Walterboro, twenty-five milea distant, was severely shaken. The shocks were bo frequent as to produce a continuous vibratory motion. The damage .done there thus far is inconsiderable, bujb bo terrified' are the inhabitants that they are leaving* their homes for places of safety. A party of coloured men reached Summerville ■ last evening from a point fifteen, milea distant, and, they relate most extraor dinary occurrence that has, happened; yet. They declare that a volcano* has appeared and is' now vomiting heated bluish mud/ They swear that this mud is

thrown to a height of twenty feet, and it ia rushing down the hillsides in boiling torrents. Peculiar shocks have been felt, and lurid names were seen to issue through the crevices in an earth chaem over 200 feet in length and about four feet wide. At the opening they found many smaller fissures. A sulphurous odour impregnates the air and dizziness, comes over every one Vho breatheß it. statements seem incredible,, but'-there ia-nouway yet of or exposing , , , ' | , , , ] , ! , 1 ' > ' 1 * : L 1 1 * " ' : • | ' ' : 5 ' ' 1 ' 1 ' ' •

verifying them.;/! >\ The Panic Among the Negroes. It would' be 'simply t impossible to exaggerate the^ effect 6i they .visitation of Tuesday night on thejpbloured people of Charleston. They fled^fjcom their homes, and as they ran hither and thither through blinding clouds of pulverised mortar which was "shaken from 7 the' houses, they filled the air with dismal groans of despair. Their tearful supplications went far toward demoraljfing white people, who were also rushing blindly hither "find thither. "Immediately after the first shock there was an exhibition of joy, and voices of congratulation were heard on every side. People citing •"< to each other .Jike brothers and sisters. In the dismal gloom some ladyi cried out, "Get to the green ! Gefrto 1 the green !" and, almost ip a twinkling the coloured people made a rush for that haven of safety. It seemed as if all Charleston .was already there. Women hurried along, dragging their/ children in all'kinds of night apparel. It was only, however, when the older .class of coleured people arrived that a characteristic scene took place. They ran about in> the crowd with cries of "Down on yourface ! Down on 'your„knees, miserable sinners,! Pray to God 3 Don't I tell you the night is come?" Prayer meetings were organised and .the singing and screaming were kept up until daylight. ''- On Thursday night, however,.on Marion Square, th,e sights and scenes baffled description. The coloured people were unrestrained, and committed all manner of riotous and frenzied excesses. A report of their actions as they took place would, perhaps, be considered blasphemous. Tha first object, and one that arrested everybody's attention, was an assemblage of coloured boys, about a half dozen in number, who had fallen to the ground in a paroxysm, of religious frenzy. They were groveling with their faces in the grass and were singing hymns) The hymn was, "The Angela are rappin' at de Door," and the refrain, sung rapidly, was, " Oh, Tell Old Noah to Build on, de Ark." This song they repeated over and over again until they ceased from utter exhaustion. In a few minutes they were fast asleep. Washington, September 3.—The following despatch was recrived by cable to-day from Queen Victoria : — Balmoral, September 3, 1886.—T0 tha President of the United States : I desire to express., my profound sympathy with the sufferers by the late earthquakes, and await with anxiety the full intelligence, which, 1 hope, may show the effects to have been less disastrous than reported. The Queen. The shock felt on September 4th served to greatly impair confidence. Nearly all the people slept or remained out of doors last night. The sensation of the day was the falling of a shower of pebbles in the lower part of the city. The first fall was at 7.30 o'clock in the morning, and the second about 11 o'clock. They were seen to fall in a slanting direction from south to north. There are morsels of flint among them, and all are plainly abraded and worn by the action of water Some few have sharp fractures and have evidently been recently broken. The fact of the fall is vouched for by several trustworthy persons. The great dread now ia the approach of tho equinoxial gales, which always have been disastrous in Charleston. The bar of Charleston harbour has not been affected by the earthquake"shocks. At 9.30 o'clock tb-night another earfchquake shock of about five seconds' duration, the first of the day, startled the people, but it was not nearly so severe as the shock last

night. Tbe Shock felt at Sea. The Hydrographic Office has received a letter from Captain L. Voegel, of the steamer City of Palatka, briefly describing the effect of the earthquake at sea. He had just left Charleston, and was about twelve miles off the harbour- of Pore Royal, in eight and one-half fathoms, where he experienced a terrible rumbling sensation, which lasted one and a-half minutes. There had been quite a heavy aea from the southeast, but when the rumbling began the wave motion ceased, and the waters remained perfectly calm until the noise came to an end, when' the swell was again manifest. The wind was southeast and light; tho weather cloudy ; the barometer 30 degrees; thermometer, 80 degrees. The sensation, Captain Voegel says, resembled that upon a ship Bcraping a pebbly bottom, The ship's vibrations were very great.

Sufferings of Homeless People. 3Sbav York, September B.—The "Sun's " Charleston special of September 7th says : Tbe situttion to-night is more appalling than ,on any night since the first fatal shocks. Repeated earthquake shocks during the day have demoralized the people, but this is nothing in comparison to the weather. Heavy drenching showers Bet in about 5.30 p.m. A steady rainfall of two or/three hours means to the thousands of helpless women and children out in the streets, discomfort;, disease and death. The city is doing all it can with relief funds and has erected temporary shelter in the parks, but up to tonight it has been able to provide quarters for only about 3,500 people, all coloured. Ninety tenfcs sent here by the Govern* ment are the only ones that have been received thus far. It is useless to endeavour , to persuade the women and children to return to their homes. With the September rains upon us, there seems to be no hope for Charleston. Last night was one of comparative quiet. Everybody slept out of doors, under such shelter as could be improvised, and everybody waited for the shock, which usually had passed through the city abeut 11 o'clock. Additional tents have been placed in the public squares, and for coloured people comfortable wooden sheltets have been erected on Marion Square. There is accommodation already for 1,500 coloured refugees, and 625 slept in the shelters last night. The Subsistence Committee will meet regularly and supply provisions to all who are needy and unable to support themselves. There is still a strong disposition to remove the women and children from the city to spare them further danger and anxiety. The South Carolina, Savannah, and Charleston and Richmond and Danville railroads are giving free transportation, and about 500 passes were issued to white and coloured people yesterday.

Condition of the City, A later despatch says Charleston is a. melancholy ruin, almoßt beyond restoration, but the people have not lost heart. Very few buildings are entirely thrown down ; but looking among the streets, one sees that the houses are almost robbed of their chimneys, and that the sidewalks, and, in some places, the roadways, are filled with heaps of briqks, ■ stucco, twisted railings, and broken glass. Here and there you come across buildings, the front and rear

-walls of which have been thrown down, and more frequently tho bricks under <jhe gables, down to the cornices, are upon the ground. At a meeting of the AldermSh in London on September 9th, Alderman 0 Ltask read a cablegram from the Mayor of Charleston, in which the latter said the earthquake had left 5,000 pereons in need of assistance. From the Mansion House Alderman Lusk, on behalf of the Lord Mayor, issued an appeal to the benevolent people for aid for the Charleston sufferers. Mayor Courtenay of Charleston telegraphs that in order to shelter the homeless people before the cold weather sets in from 500,000d015. to 700,000d015. are immediately required. The Mayor estimated the total damage to property by the earthquake at from 5,000,000d015. to 9,000,000d01a. The other principal cities which felt the force of the earthquake in a greater or lesser degree were Summerville, S.C., the whole business portion of which was -wrecked j Columbia (S.C.), Ravernels and Beaufort (5.C.,) Jacksonville (Fla.), August* and Savannah (Ga. ), Washington (I>,C.)i Detroit, Cincinnati, ' Louisvifie, New "Sork, Columbus (Ohio), Chicago, Galveston, Raleigh, Mobile, Charlotte, ChatUnooga, Plain field (N.Y.), Baltimore, Macon, and Columbus (Ga.), Charleston (West Virginia), Indianapolis, Lexington, Nashrille, Memphis, Dubrique, Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Meadville.