“On Monday morning last...”
Date
12-18-1811
Newspaper
Alexandria Herald
Page and Column
Page 2, Column 4
Newspaper Location
Alexandria, Virginia
Serial Number
1143
Abstract
Felt report for the December 16, 1811 earthquake from Alexandria, Virginia. Report notes that two earthquakes were felt one at 2:30 am (local time) and another one at “about 8”. Duration of the quakes was 30 seconds. Effect was to shake furniture in houses and move door and some clocks were stopped..
Transcript
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1811. On Monday morning last two shocks of an earthquake were sensibly felt in this town, the first between 2 and 3 o'clock, the latter about 8. We do not find it was attended with any peculiar circumstances of portention or effect; but being a circumstance of that rare kind with us, it excited as much curiosity in the inquisitive and wonder in the credulous, as did the stranger's nose in Strasbourg, so satirically related by Sterne. There appeared to be but one shock each time, and its undulations might have continued nearly 30 seconds. It had force enough to shake the furniture in houses and move doors upon their hinges, and we have hard some instances of clocks being stopped by its throwing their pendulums out of their regular course of vibration.
Recommended Citation
"“On Monday morning last...”" (1811). New Madrid Compendium Far-Field Database. 1096.
https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/cas-ceri-new-madrid-compendium/1096
