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At the White Oak Baptist Church down in Bladen County, it was getting close to 10 p.m. on August 31, 1886 when old preacher Melvin realized that the backsliders and sinners in the congregation were remaining glued to the pews and not about to step forward to the altar for "spiritual rebirth." It was revival week, and the preaching had been dragging on for several days and nights. Despite the evangelist's best efforts at contrasting the beautiful and glorious afterlife in heaven with the demonic horrors of hell, the congregation remained unresponsive. It was going to be 12 more months until the next revival at the White Oak Church, and preacher Melvin was not about to leave without helping to convert some of Bladen County's habitual moon shiners, gamblers and "bacca" chewers. In a moment of desperation, Preacher Melvin lifted his hands and eyes toward Heaven and began to loudly articulate one of the most powerful conscience-jarring prayers of his long career as a messenger of the gospel. He ended his petition by imploring God to "send us a shock that will shake old White Oak from center to circumference." No sooner than those words had left the old preacher's mouth, there was the sound of a muffled rumble. It grew louder, and the old church began to tremble, shake and sway back and forth. The sleepy congregation came alive as though they had all been stung by bees. They jumped to their feet and began scrambling for the door. First out the door was a long time sufferer of rheumatism who, in his haste to remove himself from the church, had abandoned his wheel chair in the isle. The rest of the "terror stricken" congregation was left to scramble over the wheel chair as well as each other. One man admitted later that he had actually ridden out the door on the back of someone else. After the church had finally stopped moving and rattling, preacher Melvin managed to calm everyone and persuade them to return to the church to resume the service. Within minutes, this unseen and unknown force began to shake the church once again, this time with nearly as much energy as the first.. Preacher Melvin's flock could stand it no more. They escaped the moving church and left the grounds on the run. According to some who claimed they were there that night, Preacher Melvin was in front of the second exodus, running so fast that the long tail of his clergyman's coat stood straight out behind. No one has ever said whether or not any of the sinners and backsliders present at the White Oak revival the night Preacher Melvin beseeched God to shock his unresponsive congregation ever had the desired change of heart. But, Lionel Melvin (it's unknown if he was kin to preacher Melvin), who told the story in the August 1, 1970 issue of The State, suggested that from that fateful night on, the White Oak congregation listened more reverently to Preacher Melvin's sermons, hanging on every word of his prayers and breathing a sigh of relief when he did not ask for anything so drastic as he did on the night of the Charleston earthquake." Lionel Melvin wrote that his mother, who recounted the story to him, was a child of four when she was rushed out of her trembling home with her younger brothers and sisters and herded into the fruit and vegetable cellar for safety. "The Rapture Is Upon Us" The State Port Pilot reported that in Southport, when the rumbling and trembling began, folks rushed from their houses terrified. They had never experienced such a shaking of the earth. Many believed Gabriel had blown his horn and the end of the world was at hand - the "Rapture" had surly begun. Some were so convinced that they headed for the cemetery to see the dead rise out of their graves. The Drink That Drove Gaston County Imbibers To Religion Author Dameron Williams wrote that the Charleston quake caused more citizens of Gaston County to get instant religion than ever before. He wrote in an October 15, 1969 article for The State, that old records show that the number of licensed distilleries in Gaston County in 1869 outnumbered the churches by about 40-to-1 and that the county led the entire state in the number of stills per acre. "Folks didn't plant luxuries like vegetables," Williams wrote, "but taxes were levied on the basis of gallons of corn per acre, and it was considered downright immoral to waste local corn in such mixtures as corn bread and hush puppies.". Gaston Countians told of the fierce competition between distilleries, especially when it came to which one could make the strongest drink with the highest proof. "One prominent distiller" had flat out claimed that he had just run off the "strongest drinking licker" that had ever been made in the county and suggested that "all other corn juice was no more than a chaser for his new run." That statement, of course, "got folks' dander up," and they immediately challenged him to prove his brag. The bragger did not back down. He invited them all to his still for a "showdown, a sort of personal testing." Three to four dozen fervent enthusiastic and "experienced imbibers" gathered that night in the bragger's front room. The crowd overflowed into the kitchen. Jugs with corn cob stoppers were placed within handy reaching distance of the crowd, and gourds were passed around, the host explaining that his product was so strong that it had been known to eat through tin dippers in nothing flat. When all in the crowd were armed with drinking gourds, the bragger poured the liquor, asking that everyone wait and drink at the same time after which the judging could take place. The challengers all agreed, waiting for the toast before dispatching the potent drink down their craws -- all at the same time. From there on out, the story is "right confused." All the old timers, Williams wrote, recalled that the arrival of the "licker" to the stomachs of the challengers fitted the exact moment that the Charleston earthquake "slammed into Gaston County, and hard!" "When pictures started crashing off the walls, and the floor began waving up and down," some of the challengers later testified, the tasting party dissolved, and nobody was choosy about exits. Some recalled diving through windows. Others figured that they probably manufactured a new doorway right through a wall. One old Gaston Countian, who was partially crippled, swore that he had to outrun the kitchen stove as it was sliding out of the house. He said it would have caught him for sure if he had not dived into the creek. Many of the assemblage explained later that they left their horses and mules tied up outside the trembling house because they didn't want to be slowed up by a horse. Williams wrote that, after the drinkers had time to reflect on what had happened that frightful night, some of them started hunting preachers and joining churches. "Some of 'em joined several churches, figuring on extra insurance." Not long after, the "repenters" finally outnumbered the "distillers," and sixteen years later, the "licker"-making stills were voted completely out of the county. News Of The Disaster Reported By Telegraph Immediately after the earthquake of 1886 which devastated Charleston, South Carolina and shook much of the eastern United States, telegraph wires were singing with reports of the great upheaval. In the following days, newspapers all over the country were typesetting the telegraph reports about the horrors of the "Charleston Quake:" Goldsboro, N.C. - The earth began to shake slightly at first, but in a few seconds there was a severe oscillating quiver, that caused windows and doors to rattle and the buildings to sway to and fro, striking terror into the hearts of thousands. Men, women and children rushed into the streets and stood not upon the order of their going. Some who had not gone to bed were dressed, while others were bare-foot and in their night clothes. None knew what more terrible would occur with the coming moment. Many realized how utterly frail and powerless is man and that it is God alone who has the power to stay the threatenings of such convulsions To Him let thanksgivings ascend that no lives in our community were lost from this frightful quaking of the earth. Wilmington Morning Star - A correspondent at Nashville, North Carolina writes: "A severe shock of earthquake was felt here last night about 10 o'clock. Door bells rang, doors and windows rattled, some brick fell from chimneys, and shingles and timbers in buildings creaked as though shaken by a hard wind, though not a breath of air was stirring. The shock was proceeded by a roaring like distant thunder, apparently from the west. Wadeville, N.C. - Our community was thrown into a great excitement last night . . . A sudden shaking of the earth and an unusual rumbling noise in the northwest. . . . The sky was perfectly clear during the time, with gusts of cool wind from the northeast at intervals. There seemed to be a flickering light similar to electric flashes in the north and northeast. It is unusually cool for the season this morning, with swift gales from the northeast. Considerable excitement prevails among our people. Troy, N.C. - The first and most severe shock of earthquake ever known in this county was felt. The vibrations were preceded by a heavy roaring sound, much like a train of cars. It set bells to ringing, rattling glass and sash in houses and shaking brick from chimneys. Lumberton, N.C. - Severe shock felt last night at 9:50. Five separate shocks felt during the night. Long Creek, Pender County, N.C. - Three distinct earthquake shocks were felt here about 10 o'clock last night. The first was accompanied by a fearful rumbling noise and seemed to proceed from a northeasterly to a southeasterly direction. The first shock caused great alarm, and the people of the village, terror stricken, quit their dwellings and took to the streets. The houses seemed to quiver, then shake violently. The floors of houses were seen to twist and shiver so that it was scarcely possible to stand without support. Laurenburg - Five distinct shocks were felt here tonight about 10 o'clock accompanied by rumbling sounds like distant thunder. 
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