Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/277

 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 217 until the middle of the day after the shocks. ' '* At New Madrid it is said that at the time of the shock the air was clear but iii five min- utes it become very black and this darkness returned at each successive shock, t r Geologists have sought an explanation of this darkness and some have ascribed it to dust projected into the air by the agitation of the surface, the opening and closing of fis- sures in dry earth, land slides, and falling chimneys and buildings. Besides the dust it is probable that the water vapors coming from the warm water sent up from the cracks and small craters was condensed and helped to make the air foggy. The darkness observed in places outside of the earthquake area may very probably be ascribed to other causes than the earthquakes themselves ; perhaps to storms and clouds. Besides the darkness the shocks seem to have been accompanied by sulphurous or other ob- noxious odors and vapors. Mrs. Bryan speaks of the saturation of the atmosphere with sul- phurous vapors; other observers tell of sul- phur gas escaping through the cracks and tainting the air and even the water so that it was not fit for use. These vapors or odors were probably due to buried organic matter which had been covered by the alluviiim. Gas from this matter was released through the fissures and small craters formed by the earth- quake. Some accounts speak of the light flashes and glows in connection with the shocks. D — says that there issued no burning flames but flashes such as would result from an explosion of gas or of the passing of electricity from cloud to cloud, and Senator Linn says the York. Vol. I. p. 291. t Mitchill, p. 297. shock was accompanied by flashes of electric- ity. Another observer says sparks of fire were emitted from the earth. Over all the affected area, indeed, there were reports of lights and flashes like lightning about the time of the earthquake shocks. It is not possible to accoimt for these lights and glows in any satisfactory way. Some have doubted their presence at all, but they are mentioned by so many observers as to make it difficult to deny their existence alto- gether. They might possibly have been light- ning accompanying storms. There .seems to be no good reason for ascribing them to burn- ing gas. The suggestion has been made by some that the light was due to magnetic dis- turbances and was perhaps of electrical char- acter. One of the phenomena accompanying the earthquakes and one of the mosst noticeable of all, was the noise. This noise was remarked by many persons. Among the quotations given from contemporary accounts, a number speak of the tremendous sounds terrifying in their nature, Haywood says : "A murmuring noise, like that of fire disturbed by the blow- ing of a bellows, issued from the pores of the earth ; a distant rumbling was heard almost without intermission and sometimes seemed to be in the air." (Haywood, Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee.) Senator Linn compares the sounds to those produced by a discharge of one thousand pieces of artil- lery and says also that hi.ssing sounds accom- panied the throwing out of the water from the crevices. Flint says the sounds of the ordi- nary shocks were like distant tlumder, but that the vertical shocks were accompanied by explosions and terrible mixture of noises. Mrs. Bryan speaks of the "awful noises re- sembling loud and distant thunder but more hoarse and vibrating." The noise of the escap-
 * Mitchill, Trans. Lit. and Philos. Soc, New