EARTHQUAKES IN GREECE AND AMERICA.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2431, 21 October 1886, Page 2

EARTHQUAKES IN GREECE AND AMERICA.

TERRIBLE SCENES. During August torrible eiutlipuakes have occurred in Greece ana tha. United States. They are among th«B' most extensivo on record. Tlio shock i™" Groeco took place beforo, iiiidnis[ht on ' Friday, Among tho chief sufferers wore the lonian Islands on tho west coast of tlio Peloponnesus, and oil tho mainland , Filitria, Tyros, Gaugaline, Coroues, and . the other towns were laid in ruins, the ■ cartlu|iiako being attended with consider- • able loss of life. From scanty- details at present to hand of the extent of the damago dono, it is estimated that fully--three . hundred persons have perished, .while tho damage to property amounted tC<■ soveral millions of drachmas, 'tlie joss /jya the province of Elis alone beiiSH two millions, and at Filitria millions, Tho' shocks oxtended far beyond the boundaries of Greece, A t Naples, Malta, uud Alexandria, they were distinct, but no serious mischief was' done. At several towns .oil tlio .southwest coast of Italy, the 'terrified inhabi- : tanls tlvd into the fields to avuid the danger of falling houses. Four days later, sovural sharp shucks were felt at Smyrna,; but no damage was done. The earth? quake? did not come without warning. ■ , Extraordinary atmospheric disttirbanoes, excessive heat, dead calms, and unusually ' high tides had boon observed for soveral days provinusly, On the following Tuesday evening the United States, woro visited by an earth--quako even more severe than that (ixpeii| ienced in Greece. Itwismore extensl^. Ip area, and had the swiftest motion on rocord. It wub most severe at Charleston in South Carolina, In other parts .tho earthquake was not 'so destructive,. but it caused great alarm at Washington, Richmond, Atlanta, Augusta, Louisville, Indianopolis, Pifctsbmt;, ICleve- ■, • land, Chicigo, and . Memphis,' andW, most of the Now England States. Tho' shock was a minute of duration, and was noiseless, In Glmrlostoji when the shock was felt tho inhabitants, in a state, of frenzy, rushed into the streets, inaiiy ' being only partially clothed. Cries. rent '• ', tho air from those hurt by falling- structures, from some who realised that'in a* moment death hud invaded their honioß, and again from others who screamed through fright, The negro population especially were very hysterical, and wero unable to afford any assistance to tho white people. Amid the confusion that followed immediately upon the earth- '■ quako five fires broke- out, and raged until twenty buildings woro destroyed,, Houses wore blazing in several and noiio but the firomon paid tho slightflP-' ost regard to them, Everybody seemed absorbed in noticing the vibrations qf tho earth, which were repeated at intervals, and in listening to the fearful subtorranean sounds like growings of souie . imprisoned monstov. This riveted tlio attention of tho population to tlio utter, disregard of everything else. Up to noon of Wednesday there likd been about \ - a dozen shocks, but none of the later ones wero equal to tho first, Tlio editor of a Charleston paper givos . the following account of tliu bcouq iu tho' streets when the first shock was felt:— ' " On every side thero arose shrieks and' cries of pain, fear, prayers, tho wailing of, torrified woman and children, co-mingled with tho hoarse shouts of excited mon. Out in tho atreots tho air was filled to tlio height of the housos with a whitish cloud of dry stifling dust from ■ the lime and mortar and shattered masonry which were foiling upon the pavoment, and had been reduced to powder. Through this cloud, which was as douso as a fog, the gaslight flickered dimly, shedding but littlo light, so thai you stumbled at every stop over; piles of brickwork, or became ontangled/i in lines of tolograph wires which hung iijfft, every direction from brokeu supporters. On every aide wero seen hurrying forms of men and women bareheaded, partly dressed, some almost, nude, and crazed with foar and oxcitoment." Telegraphing on Thursday, a correspondent said:-"The earthquake hag , caused a total cessation of business, the only places open being tho drug stores & which supplied help to the injured, and some grocery stores. People wore afraid to ro-entor their houses, and lionco they woro becoming famished. Not a hundred houses wero inhabited, and thero worn not a half a dozen tents in the city, Sheltors wero improvised from sheets and awnings, Fortunately the weather was good, and consequently tho streets and parks contained tlio entire population, among whom tho negroes wero conspicuous huddled together iu abject and liolpless terror, praying and singing hymns. Hero and there dead bodies wefe seou, Tlio exact numbor of casualties is not known but it is believed 30 aro killed, and 100 injured. Tho damage to property is five million dollars. In other parts of the country sumo surprising phonomeiia manifested thomselves. Gey-' sew sprang up Buddonly in Atlantaflw Georgia. ; In Lawrence County volcanic oruptions took place. At Bolleplain, lowa, an artesian well was in progress of construction, and fToni it there gushed, without preliminary warning, torronts utterly beyond control. Sackß of sand thrown in woro tossed up liko 1 fcorks by a solid stream of miueral water , ' of the diameter of an ordinary barrel, kjf which spouted into tho air lumps of coal, m pyrites and stones. Roports Irom tho \ other parts of the Southern States show that shocks woro felt, but no casualties havo occurred there, and tho amount of damage dono is small,"