Charleston Earthquake

We was comin' outta Tombstone
Headin' west on Charleston road
We'd bout near crossed the Santa Rita
When we thought the world 'explode

Our horses started rearin'
Them mules was fixed to run
My pard 'n I dismounted
Near soon as it begun

What trees there was was shakin'
The road was bouncin' up 'n down
T'was hard to keep my footin'
Upon that shaky ground

No sooner had it all begun
Just as sudden, it all ceased
Just a couple rocks still rollin'
From where they'd been released

I mounted up thereafter
About to make a joke
When this side of the river
I saw the cloud of smoke

Oh hell, now that'd be Charleston
Bet'cha most of that's fell down
Bustin' up some oil lamps
That now has fired the town

Charleston had become a place
Where outlaws hung about
Built of clapboard 'n adobe
It was a'fire without a doubt

I reckoned more'n one saloon
Was runnin' its own still
If that alcohol ain't burnin' yet
Given time, it will

Among them broken kegs of whiskey
Must be some that made it tho
But when that fire got to 'em
They'd most likely blow

Then we saw a buncha horses
Must'a 'scaped from some corral
They was comin' at a gallop
We couldn't stop 'em anyhow

Some of 'em wore saddles
Or parts of harness tack
The way they was a'runnin'
It'd take awhile to get 'em back

My partner kept our string of mules
Out standin' on the road
I spurred my mount off to the right
To see how this all go'd

Didn't take too long to learn
That Charleston was a mess
Fires were burnin' all around
Bunch'a people in distress

What all didn't just fall down
Was now just cracked 'n jumbled
While many roofs had fallen in
Where adobe walls had crumbled

The water tower done collapsed
There's none to fight the fire
The smoke was getting' thicker
'n the flames was gettin' higher

There was gamblers 'n cowboys
'n a couple n'ere-do-well
Walkin' past me in a daze
From where them buildin's fell

Just then in all the smoke 'n flame
There come a ter'ble BOOM
That must'a been more whiskey barrels
Inside of some saloon

Whatever anybody owned
Not on their backs, was gone
Somebody had a wagon hitched
'n folks was pilin' on

I reckoned then that Tombstone
Was the nearest place to go
Contention 'been abandoned now
A couple years ago

T'weren't nuthin' I could do
I turned back to the road
No sooner had I done that
�Heard another barrel explode

I rode like hell, back to my pard
Who's aholdin' our mule string
"Charleston's gone" I hollered out
"It's gone, the whole damn thing"

We'd tell 'em in Huachuca
The place for which we're bound
Charleston's had a quake 'n been destroyed
Then what remained, burned down

Charleston would remain that way
'n never be rebuilt
Never did know who all got away
Or maybe, who got kill't

Today there just a few remains
Of old adobe wall
Hard to tell there'd been a town
Trees now growin' there 'n all

Only remnant of that town
Is the road which bears the name
Of the bawdy outlaw Sodom there
Destroyed by quake 'n flame