AN EARTHQUAKE IN ENGLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 7033, 2 June 1884, Page 6

AN EARTHQUAKE IN ENGLAND.

\ • Despatches ' from London tay that on the .morning-of »ApriU 22j at half-past nine, an earthquake shook q£ considerable force was ■felt in the ..eintem counties of England. Localities in Esssx and Suffolk were the jscenes of the greatest disturbance. At Ip - ;wich the'shock was so severe the walla of houses were perceptibly shaken, plates* were rattled, and bells rung. A mansion was shattered, and the railroad depot partially destroyed. The people have been thrown into each a state of consternation that business is for a time suspended. The duration of the shpck at Ipswich ie estimated at three seconds. The shock was still more severe at Colchester. The conclusion lasted half a minute. The first symptom was a deep < rumbling sound, portentous and awe-inspir- ' ing, speedily followed by quaking and i shakrug of all- buildings. Church bells aoanded as though swayed by unseen hands. Tall chimney stacks ot factories crashed in ruins to the earth, and other lofty structures were destroyed. The spire of one of the largest chnrches in the city, 150 feet high, fell with an awful crash to the ground. It is impossible to estimate the amount of damage, but it is known to be great. In private houses the greatest confusion prevailed. Chairs and tables were overturned, china and glassware in cupboards rattled together and frequently shattered, while pictures and other ornaments upon the walls were loosened from their fasteniugs. and fell to the floor. The people were terror-stricken. Men, women, and children rushed shrieking into the streets, where their agonized cries and pale faces made a most painful and impressive scene. In some streets traffic was forbidden for the time, as the building* have been so badly shattered that they were considered dangerous. The Bidewalki of homes near Colchester were shaken out. At Chelmsford, about twenty miles from London, the shock was also severe, and the people filled.with terror and dismay. At Maiden, ten miles from Chelmsford, the town hall and private houses were swayed several times. The wave passed from south to north. At Southend the earth trembled for miles around. The windows of many dwellings were broken, 'chimneys daihed to earth, and crockery and glassware smashed. In London there were numerous indications of the proximity of an earthquake. Telegraph instruments were : shaken, and the shock was distinctly felt in Obeapiide and Fleet-street. The Globe said ' the shock was felt in the Strand. A business 'house, it asserted, was perceptibly rocked, so much so that the employe's were affected ' and rushed into the streets. The earthquake caused a general feeling of alarm amd insecurity . throughout England. Later reports say : —At Colchester a child was killed and : a woman's skull fractured. There were many narrow escapes. The fine old parish church ;at Langenhoe was demolished, and the place lppke as if it had been bombarded. The damage at Wivenhoe alone is £4000. At Coggeshalla number of school-girls rushed panic-strickon to the street, and many of ithemwere crushed. The JNaw York Tribune commenting on this phenomenon Bays:- — "England has had in the past several earthquakes, but no distinctive shocks appear to have ocour'red during the past 200 or 300 years. The recent shook was really more ; severe than the heaviest known in San Francisco. The time does not indicate any greater duration than three seconds. In the heaviest, shocks which -have oot curred in San Francisco, and at least one of which lasted ten seconds, the oscillations though continually increasing, did not bring down any tall chimnies." Later reports say the earthquake was the most serious in England lor- thirty-nine years. People felt it quite perceptibly in London. Some of the descriptions read as if they had appeared in a San Francisco journal. One house was twisted "on its foundation; another was shattered from tho -basement to the roof. At least four church towers were thrown down in Colchester, where'..the shock was the greatest Hundreds of people rushed into the streets screaming at the top of their voioes. Tho affair was so' serious that everybody has been uncomfortably meditating upon the possibilities of another, and the philosophical weekly" journals speculate on the effect a constant recurrence would have on the stability of the English oharaoter. - -