122 The East Anglian Earthquake.
Experiences as to the severity of the movement have been
recorded also by correspondents from St. Peter's Street,
Tavern Street, the " Golden Lion " Hotel, and in the vicinity
of the Ipswich Docks. In Princes Street a boy getting coals
was thrown down into the cellar, but escaped without serious
hurt; and in the Whitton Road a man was riding a donkey,
when the shock precipitated both the animal and its rider to
the ground. A correspondent from Granville Street, who
was in bed at the time, states that. the heavy Arabian
bedstead was " violently shaken from side to side like a huge
cradle rocked by some giant hand." The whole house
oscillated, and the writer's wife, who was in an adjoining room
kneeling over a box, was jerked backwards and almost
thrown down, but saved herself by holding on to the side of
the box. Mr. J. S. Cocksedge, writing from Greyfriars
Road, states:—
" I was sitting in the counting-house writing, and felt a
most peculiar sensation. The chair seemed to be rocking to
and fro, producing a feeling akin to sea-sickness. Thinking
my men were moving some heavy pieces of iron, I took no
notice; but presently, going into Bridge Street, I saw Mr. F.
Mason, who told me the bells in his house had been ringing,
and they had also felt it. On inquiry in the foundry of the
moulders (who work on the ground), I found they had all felt
it, and the iron patterns hanging on the wall had been
jingling with the vibration."
Among the numerous clock stoppages in this town, Mr.
Edward C. Gibbons, of Avenue Lodge, informs me that their
clock, which was stopped, was swinging nearly N. and S.
Dr. H. J. Benham gives the exact time of the termination of
the shock as 9.18.15, and the duration, according to the
estimate of various observers, was from three to ten seconds,
although, as might be expected, there is much discrepancy on
this point.
At Avenue Lodge, St. John's, the oscillation was con-
siderable, and the inmates were much terrified; bells were
rung, glasses moved, and the windows and doors shaken. At