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THE EARTHQUAKE IN AMERICA.

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THE EARTHQUAKE IN AMERICA. DETAILS OF THE DESTRUCTION. It is now believed that the loss of life at Charleston will not exceed fifty. The names of thirty-two of the dead have been published. Tbe estimate of the value of property destroyed is now raised to $10,000,000. AN EDITOR'S STORY. The best account yet given of the occurrence has been written by the editor of the CJidTltstoti Rewsctnd, Couvievf but it could not be published at Charleston because his compositors refused to work. He says .While en- gaged in the second storey of the Courier office, the writer's attention was vaguely attracted by a sound which seemed to come from below, and was supposed for the moment to be caused by the rapid rolling of a heavy body, such as an iron safe or a heavily-laden truck over the floor. Accompanying the sound was perceptible a tremor of the building, not more marked, however, than would be caused by the passage of a dray along the street. For two or three seconds it excited no surprise 9: comment. Then by swift degrees, perhaps all at once (it is difficult to say which) the sound deepened in volume, the tremor became more decided, the ear caught the rattle of window sashes, gas fixtures, and other loose objects. Then the long roll spread into an awful roar which seemed to pervade at once the earth and the air. The tremor was now a rude and rapid quiver which agitated the whole lofty, strong-walled building, as though it had been shaken by a hand of immeasurable power, with the intent to tear its joints asunder, and scatter its stones and bricks abroad. As it approached the climax it seemed for a few terrible seconds as if no work of human hands could possibly survive the shocks. Floors were heaving under foot; walls visibly swayed the crash of falling masses of stone, bricks, and mortar was heard overhead; and without, the terrible roar filled the ears, the mind, and the heart, dazing the perception, and bewildering the thought. In the street, the air was filled to the height of the houses, with a whitish cloud of dry, stifling dust, from the lime and mortar of the shattered masonry, which, falling upon the stone roadway, had been reduced to powder. Fire resounds from the multitude. A rush is made towards the spot; and at this moment, somewhere—either out at sea or overhead, or deep in the ground—is heard again that low ominous roar, which is already too well known to be mistaken. It grows louder and nearer, and is for- gotten in the frenzied rush for an open space. Tall buildings on either hand stem to overhang every foot of the ground between them. Their shattered cornices, the tops of their frowning walls, seemed to be piled from both sides to the centre of the street. It seems as if a touch would now send the shattered masses down upon the people below, who look up to them and shrink together, as the tremor of the earthquake again passes under them, and the mysterious reverberations roll along like an infernal drum-beat summoning them to die. Again is heard that chorus of wailing which, though it had not ceased, was scarcely noticed a moment before. It is a dreadful sound. The scene is one not to be de- scribed by any mortal tongue or pen. At Marion-square a great crowd had collected, consisting of men, women. and children of both races. They raised incessant calls, cries and lamentations while over the motley half- dress'ed throng was the lurid light of the conflagration just beyond the square, which broke out immediately after the first shock, and had now wholly enveloped several buildings in flames. In three other quarters of the town at the same time similar large fires were observed under full headway. The people evidently did not give them a thought. No one watched the flames, all being too intent on listening for a recurrence of that horrible growl or groan. The coloured people every- where were loud in their declamations of alarm, in singing hymns, and uttering fervent appeals for God s mercy Arrived at his home, the writer found the same scenes of destruction and wreck. All the houses in the neighbourhood had suffered seriously. The streets, yards, and gardens were filled with fallen chimneys and fragments of walls; while the walls that were left standing were rent asunder, in many cases, from top to bottom, and were badly shattered in every instance." NEW YORK, Monday.—Great alarm prevailed among the inhabitants of Charleston yesterday, and opeB air services were held in various parts of the city. Slight earthquake shocks were fe:t in Charleston and Augusta at eleven o'clock last night. Another shock of earthquake was felt at Columbia, South Carolina, at eleven o'clock last nigbt. President Cleveland has replied to the mes- sage of Queen Victoria expressing warm appreciation of her Majesty's sympathy. The return of the earthquake in the Southern States has created increased terror, and the coloured people in particular are almost frantic. The scenes at Charleston beggar all description. Seventy-five thousand people are living in the fields and streets, and cannot be induced to return to their houses. Much sickness prevails. A heavy booming sound accompanied the short wavy motion of the earthquake, lasting two seconds. The Lighthouse Board at Washington says that the Hairis Island house has been cracked at the third landing and the lens has been loosened. The lens in the Bull's Bay house has been thrown from its pedestal. The Cape Romain light is unaffected. A curious effect of the earthquake has been discovered at the signal office at Washington. The self-registered wind vane shows a horizontal mark preceding and subsequent to the shak- ing, denoting a mild, steady, and almost invariable breeze. But during the 30 or 40 seconds of the most violent shaking the marks indicate that the pencil point moved up and down the paper many times with great rapidity. The explanation of this phenomenon is difficult to discover.

. THE BULGARIAN CRISIS.

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