A massive earthquake struck the sea bed between St. Thomas and St. Croix in the Virgin Islands in mid-afternoon.  Moments after, a powerful tsunami hit the surrounding land masses. The British passenger ship La Plata had a narrow escape while coaling at Water Island, near St. Thomas and was almost thrown up onto the beach..  The U.S.S. Monongahela, moored in Frederiksted Harbor on St. Croix, was not so fortunate.  The crew of the sizeable warship watched as the bay first emptied and then a thirty foot tidal wave returned and washed their ship over quayside warehouses onto the first street of the town before carrying her back to the beach where she was stranded. Three sailors were killed in the incident but the Monongahela suffered minimal damage and was later refloated.  The earthquake and the tidal wave following caused damage, injuries, and deaths throughout the Virgin Islands.  (By John Osborne)  

Infuriated by personal and professional clashes, the United States Assistant District Attorney for Alabama, Lucien Van Buren Martin, met the District Judge of the only federal court in Reconstruction Alabama, the fiery and controversial former political Union general Judge Richard Busteed as he made for his office in the U.S. Customs House in Mobile. Martin fired a Colt revolver at Busteed, hitting him in the chest, and then placed two more shots into the judge's right leg as he lay on the ground. Busteed recovered remarkably quickly and was holding court again in days.  Martin fled to Texas to Texas.  Busteed's career as a highly unpopular jurist continued until the House of Representatives moved to impeach him and he resigned in October 1874.  (By John Osborne)  

An express train with three first class passenger cars heading from Cleveland for connections to Buffalo on the Lake Shore Line had begun to cross the Big Sister Bridge near Angola, New York when the two rear cars derailed and careened down towards the creek below.  The second from last car halted after an impact and only one person was fatally injured.  The last car, however, fell all the way and burst into flames.  Of the approximately fifty people in that car, only two survived.  The horrific nature of these deaths added to the evolving national call for increased railway safety and led to important reforms in both technology and regulations.  Incidentally, the twenty-eight year old John D. Rockefeller was due to travel on the train but, having taken his seat in the last car, left the train for a moment and it pulled out without him, probably saving his life.  (By John Osborne) 

On the Vermont Central Railroad, the Harlow Bridge had burned three days before and almost a hundred workers were engaged in constructing a trestle across the surviving abutments.  After lunch in nearby Northfield, Vermont, ninety workers were returning to the site by work-train when its engineer misjudged his speed and, although the locomotive stopped in time, its packed single car broke free, fell through the gap, and smashed into the ravine below, killing fourteen workers and injuring many others, one of whom did not recover. (By John Osborne)