The earth opened, swallowed up, and buried him

On Thursday the 29th of September last, between the hours of four and five in the evening, happened the following extraordinary accident, viz.

Upon the arrival of a young man, in a Caleche, at one Joseph Renand's door, in the parish of St. Peter's, South-river, the earth opened, swallowed up, and buried him under its mass, together with the carriage and two horses. There were in the house a woman, two girls, and a young lad; the latter perceiving this extraordinary accident, cried out, "Let us save ourselves." At the same time going out of the house to make his escape, when he saw the earth again opening, about 18 feet wide, which obliged him to retire; but the woman, who likewise endeavoured to save herself, was swallowed up: the lad was returning into the house, where the girls had remained in the greatest consternation and fright; when, all on a sudden, it fell down, was carried at about the distance of an acre and a half from where it stood, and buried in the river, under an enormous mass of land, and no part is to be seen, except the end of one of the rafters; not-withstanding the lad was only found up to the shoulders in the earth, and whose doleful cries brought some people to his assistance, who had almost dug him out, when the barn, which was at a greater distance than the house, fell, and was likewise swallowed up in the abyss; this obliged the people to leave the lad, who continued calling to their assistance; but a little time after, they returned and saved him.

This immersion has formed a bank, at least three acres broad; the height of which exceeds the shore by above 15 feet: it has shut up the channel of the river in such a manner, that the waters had not ceased to reflow the 29th, and left it quite dry below the bank.

It is a difficult matter to discover the cause of so extraordinary a falling, as there was not the least sign of an earthquake; and as it was a hill, the declivity of which to the river was very gentle: yet as the land formed a small creek, against which the waters struck, and had cut a very deep channel therein, it is to be presumed, that having by degrees washed away the earth, which is of a very soft clay, it had in course of time made a subterraneous passage: this appears the more probable, as in the place where the land sunk, there appeared a deep pit, about 60 feet perpendicular.