120 The East Anglian Earthquake.
houses, and in one case a door was thrown open. A corre-
spondent from this neighbourhood reports :—
" I was sitting reading in an easy chair in the dining-room,
when I heard a sharp rumbling noise, which I took at first
for the passing of the Royal Artillery. Instantly, however, I
felt an unusual rocking sensation—rather pleasing than
otherwise—my chair appearing to rise up and down, and the
wall of the room to move outwards and forward, the gaselier
in the meanwhile swaying considerably. In eight or ten
seconds the motion ceased. I got on my feet, looked at my
watch, which indicated the time to be 9.18, and I went to the
rear of the house to see whether the walls were not rent, for
by this time I felt confident that the noise and motion were
caused by an earthquake. My wife and servant, who were
standing at the time in another part of the house, were very
much alarmed at the rocking of the floor beneath their feet.
A hand-painted, terra-cotta plate, standing on the pianoforte
in the drawing-room, was thrown down. Curiously enough,
the shock was felt by our neighbours on one side but not on
the other. A lady in an adjoining house had a distinct
feeling of nausea, induced by the unusual sensation."
In the neighbourhood of Prince's Street bells were rung,
windows shaken, and the oscillation of the buildings distinctly
felt: the same effects were produced in Berners Street,
St. Nicholas Street, Friars Street, Bulmer Road, Belstead
Road, and Spring Road. The shock appears to have been
severely felt in the upper parts of the numerous factories, the
workpeople in many cases rushing alarmed into the street.
At Stoke Mills the oscillation of the chimney-shaft was seen.
At the Custom House and railway-station also the vibration
is reported to have been considerable. At some cottages
on the south side of the Lock Gates a looking-glass and
flower-pots were thrown down and a rumbling noise was
heard. From St. Mary Elms Blue Coat School, Mr. J.
Hellings reports:—
"About 9.20 a.m. by our school clock, the folding-doors
separating the boys' and girls' school-rooms were violently
shaken, as if by a tremendous gust of wind. The bell con-
nected with the street door rang, but no one was there when
a boy opened the door. At the same time a deep rumbling