Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 September 1886 — THE SOUTH. [ARTICLE]

THE SOUTH.

It is known that thirty-seven persons lost their lives by the earthquake at Charleston, and as many more are reported seriously injured. The Acting Secretary of War has ordered tents sent by a revenue cutter to the distressed city. A subscription list in Baltimore was headed with $50(1 by the American. The New York Petroleum Exchange contributed an equal amount in a few minutes. The Western Union Telegraph Company offers to forward contributions of money free of charge. The earthquake aUsSwumerville r S. C., caused fissures in the earth, from which a fluid of sulphurous smell exudes. Not a half dozen houses in the place are habitable, and the terror-stricken people are leaving for other points. At a joint meeting of the Charleston Exchange and Merchants' Exchange, the following was unanimously adopted: To all Exchanges and Commercial Bodies: Our warehouses, cotton-presses, wharves, railroads, rice-mills, ami everything else necessary for handling business, though damaged, are in working order. We fear no further disturbance. The destruction of property will cause great distress and suffering, but will not' interfere with the dispatch of business. A joint meeting also adopted resolutions to apply to the President and Congress for —a national loan to aid the citizens of Charleston in tetuitdingtheeity. The Council at a meeting adopted the following: JtesoZced, That in response to the numerous offers of assistance and sympathy from our sister cities and from citizens of this and other States, the Mayor is authorized to state that great distress exists among our citizens in coneequehce of the earthquake and that we gratefully accept the aid thus tendered us. The several Catholic churches have been seriously injured. The Catholic schools have all sustained such damages as will not permit of studies being resumed. The injury to the county jail is weH nigh irreparable. Thirty-six prisoners escaped, three of whom have returned. “The most urgent need now,” says a Charleston dispatch, “is for the early repair of the injured buildings, so as to make them habitable. High winds and heavy ram would bring many shattered buildings to the ground and injure the hundreds of residences which have defective roofs. The situation is still deplorable. Rudely improvised tents, constructed prinkpally of bed-clothing, are to be seen everywhere. Few persons have as yet slept indoors, and the houses are deserted as if plague-stricken. Thousands have slept with nothing but the canopy of heaven over them. After the parks and squares were filled last night the inhabitants suspended overcoats, bed-quilts. etc., from fences, over the sidewalks, and thus passed the night. Many enjoyed repose under open umbrellas, the handles of which were Stuck in the ground.. The more aristocratic people -camped in their own yards." The Qfieeq of England sent a dispatch to Presidefit Cleveland expressing sympathy with f|ie by the earthquake. GBJJj.jj* F,.Cheatham, the famous exConfederatfiV, General, and postmaster at died in that city last 'week,* ''Gep. Cheatham was born in served during the war with 1 rMexteOaal?apta.in of Tennessee volunteers, eUnd «. Colonel of the Third Tennessee /Volunteers to July,lß4B. During the war the rebellion he espoused the Confederi’.AteldMise, was appointed Major-General, ;gfadfbp3pp conspicuous partat Chickamauga, Mte Franklin, Nashville, etc. u charleston had another earthquake

shock on the evening of the 4th inst., though lees severe than that of the preceding night. Its duwetiou was southeast to northwest, and it was accompanied by a wave of Wind which seemed to recede after the shock had passed. Of course it intensified the feeling of terror among the people. “The day had passed tn comparative quiet,” says a Charleston dispatch, “and }>eople who had homes to go to had in great part returned to them, while others had determined to do likewise, when the fearful subterranean thunder and the dread shaking of the earth which within the last four days has so often startled the inhabitants again raised their fears and drove them lock dejected to their open places of refuge. Upon the negroes the effect of this shock was simply appalling. Their shrieks and yells, their lamentations and wailings, the shrill voices of the women, mingling with the peculiar guttural notes of the men, constituted a chorus infernally hideous. It sounded as if all the maniacs of an insane asylum had been let loose. Gradually the paroxysms became less violent, and then were heard the wailing monotones in which the Southern negro chants hymns and supplications. Thus the night wore on, and blessed indeed was the dawn, which brought new hopes to faint hearts. Showers of pebbles fell in the lower part of the city. They appeared to fall in a slanting direction from south to north. There were morsels of flint among them, anil all were plainly abraded and wom by the action of the water. Some Tew had fractures, and had evidently been recently broken.” Charleston special: The city expe* rienced still another shock on the night of Sunday, the sth. It was not very severe, lasting but two seconds,' yet it raised the wildest alarm in the citizens. They were hoping the worst was over, and the visitation dashed their hopes. At Macon and Savannah the shocks were quite severe, and caused much alarm. At Savannah, as in Charleston, hundreds of people spend the nights in the open air, being afraid to go to sleep in their houses. Material aid for the stricken Charlestonians is going forward liberally. Mayor O’Brien, of Boston, telegraphed to “draw On us for $5,000.” W. W. Corcoran, the Washington banker, sent his individual check for $5,000. Subscriptions were invited, and liberally responded to, at New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Chicago, Baltimore, and other cities. “The great dread now,” says a Charleston dispatch, “is the approach of the autumnal equinoctial gale, which is usually disastrous in Charleston. It is estimated that every house in the city has had its .foundation shaken by the earthquake. Walls have been rent, chimneys end steeples are off their square, and there is nothing plumb about the city. If an equinoctial gale of the usual severity . should strike the city before considerable repairs can be made nearly every house in the city would be blown down.” Great alarm in regard to earthquakes is nightly manifested by the convicts in the State Prison at Columbia, South Carolina. Some of the leaders in the movement had to be ironed and flogged. It was discovered Sunday that the tower of the First Methodist Church, at Wilkesbarre. Pa., had settled. This is attributed to the earthquake shocks. The building was closed to the congregation. The church was recently built and cost $80,000..