it were greatly augmented, people fleeing in panic fear
from the tumbling and cracking houses to seek refuge in the widest
streets and open spaces.

South Carolina had been affected by the wide-spread earthquakes of 1812.
These in some cases altered the level of the land, as is related in
Lyell's "Principles of Geology." But the effect then was much less than
in 1886. Several slight tremors occurred in the early summer of that
year, but did not excite much attention. More distinct shocks were felt
on August 27th and 28th, but the climax was deferred till the evening of
August 31st. The atmosphere that afternoon had been unusually sultry and
quiet, the breeze from the ocean, which generally accompanies the rising
tide, was almost entirely absent, and the setting sun caused a little
glow in the sky.

"As the hour of 9.50 was reached," we are told, "there was suddenly
heard a rushing, roaring sound, compared by some to a train of cars
at no great distance, by others to a clatter produced by two or more
omnibuses moving at a rapid rate over a paved street, by others again,
to an escape of steam from a boiler. It was followed immediately by a
thumping and beating of the earth beneath the houses, which rocked
and swayed to and fro. Furniture was violently moved and dashed to the
floor; pictures were swung from the walls, and in some cases turned
with their backs to the front, and every movable thing was thrown
into extraordinary convulsions. The greatest intensity of the shock is
considered to have been during the first half, and it was probably
then, during the period of its greatest sway, that so many chimneys
were broken off at the junction of the roof. The duration of this severe
shock is thought to have been from thirty-five to forty seconds. The
impression produced on many was that it could be subdivided into three
distinct movements, while others were of the opinion that it was
one continuous movement, or succession of waves, with the greatest
intensity, as already stated, during the first half of its duration."

Twenty-seven persons were killed outright, and more than that number
died soon after of their hurts or from exposure; many others were less
seriously injured. Among the buildings, the havoc, though much less
disastrous than has been recorded in some other earthquakes in either
hemisphere, was very great. "There was not a building in the city which
had escaped serious injury. The extent of the damage varied