Litchfield enquirer., 1881-10-06
A Florida Typhoon.

ag&EE Ii "a On the approach of autumn the Floridian q,lakes with apprehension. It is the dread season for hurricanes. Tearing through the West Indies, they often strike the ecoast with scarcely g note of warning; houses are oyer- thrown, sail-boats blown from the water, and orange groves swept bare of leaves and fruit. Some of the old settlers saycthey. they can de- tect the signs of the storm, . day before sik breaks upon them. .......,-'
 ''You feel it in the air before it comes, says one. This is,i however, an indefinite sign. The devastation lining it's tracks certainly proves that you feel it after it comes" One of these typhoons visits the coast every year. The day may be bright and beautiful and the flowers heavy with bees and humming birds. Shimmering mosquito hawks qulver in the air, and the scarlet cardinal twitters in the acacias. A cooling breeze plays through the leaves of the trees, and gently swings the unripe or anges. Clouds of guls soar above the dark green mangroye bushes and the sand bars, at low tide are covered with pensive curlews and willets. The drowsy roar of the surf is heard, and the gentle swell of the ocean is rip- pied with golden sheen. l esaa rsc
 Almost imperceptibly the wind dies away. Cries of terms and water birds fall upon the ear with painful distinctness The mud hens in the marshes pipe an alarm. Not blade of salt grass moves. The blue sky grows hazy. and the eastern horizon is milky white. Fitful gusts begin to ripple the water and handle the green leaves A low moan comes from the ocean. Smoky clouds roll into the sky from the southeast, and & strong wind whitens the ruffled water. Every minute it increases in fury, An ominous yellow light tinges the atmosphere. The sun is gone, and great drops of rain are hurled on the ground. Within fifteen minutes there is a gale, and fto ,rlo nf fha h.rrr io fnlt Great eagles and pelicans are swept through the heavens utterly powerless, Sparrows and other small birds are dashed to death by leaf less twlgs, and the torn bodies of showy her. ons and wild turkeys lodge in the branches of the live oak and cypress trees.
 All living things disappear. Tall pines are twisted asunder. The little limbs of willows and oleanders snap like COW whips. Lofty palmettos bend their heads to the ground, their great fans inside out like the ribs of an um- brella The force of the wind keep the trees down until every green fan pops like pistol shot. The leaves of the scraggy scrub are wiped out, and their stems whipped into little bushes. The tough saw palmetto IS blown as flat as northern wheat field, and the dead grass of thess savannas lashed into fine dust. Boards in the surf are struck by the wlnd, and sent spinning hundreds of feet in the air. The sand dunes are caught up bodily and sifted through the tops of pine trees miles away. The foam of the sea is blown beneath the houses on the main land and comes up bet ween the cracks of the floor like steam i.'.
 Woe to the owners of sal-boats and boat houses At Lake Worth, the Cruiser. heavy round. bottomed l-boat thirty two feet long, was picked up from her ways rigging and all; and carried across the lake, a mile away, with out touching the water A boat was torn from her moorings, lifted from the water, and dropped into salt marsh eight hundred yards away. In the fall of 1876 the Ida Smith, a large schooner running between New Smyrna and Jacksonville, was torn from her anchors and stranded on marsh five hundred yards from the ship channel. The coast survey steamer. in good harbor sheltered by sand banks. threw out three anchors and kept her wheels working against the wind under full head of steam. She dragged the anchros sev- eral hundred yards and barely escaped des- truction
 The hurricanes last from seven to eight hours, even longer. During the lulI rain falls in torrents. The tide rises to a great heights, carrying away wharves and boat houses, and flooding the country for miles. The ocean leaps the sandy barriers of the coast and floods the Indian and other salt water rivers involv- ing great damage. After the storm, centre boards and jibstays are found iu spruce pines. oleanders are loaded with cordage, and dead eyes and pea-bocks drop from the lea1ess or ange trees. Gardens are destroyed, fences swept away, and the tormented Floridian has three months work and no pay to repair daJn- ages.