Springfield Weekly Republican

Last week's tornado in Georgia ravaged the counties of Harrison, Merriwether, Carroll, Paulding and Clark. Forty-six houses were destroyed in Harrison county and seven persons were killed. The wind was accompanied by torrents of rain which did great damage to the crops and railroad lines. In Merriwether county 17 persons were killed, 5 fatally hurt and 4 negro children were blown away. Fully $200,000 of damage was done to property.

The second Cincinnati dramatic festival is in progress this week, but it is attracting little attention, and it does not seem certain that it will even be a money success. It has brought together few players of consequence as compared with last year, and altogether appears to have largely degenerated to a mere money-making speculation.

Leadville is excited over a new gold discovery just west of Pike's peak, about 25 miles from Colorado Springs and about 80 miles from Leadville. The ore assays from $8000 to $15,000 in gold to the ton. The mineral belt is exposed for five miles and the gold is found at a distance of 8 or 10 feet below the surface in fine, sand-like gravel. Many miners at Leadville are preparing to visit the new fields.

William B. Austin of Allen county, Ky., who has been crazy for a year, threw two of his children into the fire Wednesday and watched them burn to death. The mother witnessed the woful crime and saved a babe by fleeing to the woods.

Considerable floods were reported in most of the New England rivers last week, owing to the heavy rains. Dams were carried away at several places, and in Maine railway trains were delayed, and many logs broke from their booms and escaped to the sea. The Connecticut river was higher at Bellows Falls, Vt., than for years.

A SEVERE EARTHQUAKE IN ENGLAND.

Ten Thousand Pounds Damage Done at Colchester—The Shock Felt in London, Ipswich and Chelmsford—Great Consternation Felt Throughout the Island—Other Quakings of the "Tight Little Isle."

The eastern counties of England, especially localities in Essex and Suffolk, were severely shaken by an earthquake, which passed from south to north, at 9.30 o'clock Tuesday morning. The center of the disturbance was Colchester in Essex county where £10,000 damage was done. The shock there lasted, it is said, 30 seconds. The first warning was a deep, rumbling sound, portentous and awe-inspiring. This was speedily followed by a quaking and shaking of all the buildings. The church bells sounded as though swayed by unseen hands. The tall chimney-stacks of the factories crashed in ruins to the earth, and other lofty structures were destroyed. The spire of one of the largest churches in the city, 150 feet high, fell with an awful crash to the ground. In one part of the city a fire was caused by the shock. In private houses the greatest confusion prevailed. Tables were overturned and chairs fell upon the floor. The china and glassware in cupboards rattled together and were in many cases shattered, while pictures and other ornaments upon the walls were thrown to the floor. The people were terror-stricken and rushed shrieking into the streets, where their cries and pale faces made a most impressive scene. In some streets traffic has been forbidden for the present, as the buildings have been so badly shattered that they are considered dangerous to life and limb. The side-walls of houses near Colchester were shaken out.

The shock was quite severe at Ipswich in Suffolk county also, where it lasted, however, but three seconds. There the walls of houses were perceptibly shaken, windows were rattled and bells rung. The people were thrown into such a state of consternation that business for a time was suspended. A mansion was shattered and the railway station badly damaged. At Chelmsford, in Essex, and only about 30 miles from London, the shock was severe, and the people were filled with terror. At Southend, a watering-place near the Thames, the earth trembled, the windows of many dwellings were broken, and chimneys were dashed to the earth. At Shoeburyness, a few miles beyond Southend, the shock was distinctly felt. It was also perceptible at Bury St Edmunds, while at Maldon, 10 miles east of Chelmsford, the town hall and private houses were swayed. At London the shock was felt in Cheapside, Fleet street and in the Strand. The Globe says a business house was rocked and that the employes rushed into the street. Telegraph instruments in the city were shaken. There was great alarm throughout the island.

At Colchester a child was killed and a woman's skull was fractured. The parish church at Langenhoe was demolished and the place looks as if it had been bombarded. An invalid at Wivenhoe died from terror. The damage done at Wivenhoe is £4000. At Coggeshall a number of school-girls rushed panic-stricken into the streets and many of them were crushed.

England has been visited by earthquakes a number of times, of which the following have been recorded: One felt throughout England in 1089; another felt throughout the country in 1274, by which Glastonbury was destroyed; on November 14, 1318, the greatest known in that country up to that time; a slight shock in London February 8, 1750, and a severer one on March 8; and the latest recorded, a very slight one in the northwestern part of England on November 9, 1852.