VIOLENT EARTHQUAKES IN TEXAS.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 206, 4 June 1887, Page 4

VIOLENT EARTHQUAKES IN TEXAS.

An El Paso despatch of May 3rd says : — A shock of earthquake was plainly felt at 3.18 o'clock this afternoon, which lasted obout two minutes. It was perceptible in every portion of the city, and the shock so .alarmed citizens of all classes that only invalids and the helpless were left within doors. For probably two minutes preceding tho shock many persons recognised the distinct and offensive smell of sulphur, and when tho shock came the earth trembled und many articles hanging on walls oscillated to and fro and some fell to the floor. Plastering fell from tho fronts and ceilings of many dwellings and business houses, and in the courthouse evidences of the shock were quite plain. Clocks wero stopped, buildings were cracked, horses came to a standstill in the street, and family and friendly groups formed more rapidly than were evov known in El Paso. At Albuquerque a plate-glass window of the First National Bank building was cracked. Men and women rushed into the streets and horses were frightened. Men unlatched their teams and hurriedly led them away, looking upward at the buildings as if they expected they were about to topple upon them. Many persons complained 01 a feeling akin to seasickness. In the old town the people were terror-stricken and many of tho natives feaied a new eruption from an extinct crater near there.