Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1881-10-06
A Florida Typhoon.


On the approach Of autumn the
Floridian quakes with apprehension. It
is the dread season for hurricanes.
Tearing through the West Indies, they
often strike tho coast with scarcely a
note of warning, houses are overthrown,
sailboats blown from the water, and
orange groves swept bare Of leaves and
fruit. Some Of the old settlers say that
they can detect the signs of the storm a
day before it breaks upon them.
You feel it in the air before it
comes, says one. This is, however, an
indefinite sign. The devastation lining
its track certainly proves that 'you feel
it after itcomes." 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
quiver in the air, and the scarlet cardi-
nal twitters in the acacias. A cooling
breeze plays through the leaves Of the
trees, and gently swings the unripe
oranges. Clouds of gulls soar above
the dark green mangrove 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 rippled
with golden sheen.
Almost imperceptibly the wind dies
away. Cries of terms and water birds
fall upon the ear with painful distinct
ness. 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 south
east and strong wind whitens the
ruf1ed 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 to the
ground. Within fifteen minutes there
is gale, and soon the whole force of
the hurricane is felt. Great eagles and
pelicans are swept through the heavens
utterly powerless. Sparrows and other
small birds are lashed to death by leaf
less twigs, and the torn bodies of snowy
herons and wild turkeys lodge in the
branches of the live oak and cypress
trees.
All living things disappear. Tall
pines are twisted asunder. The 1.-THE
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 keeps
the trees down until every green fan
pops like pistolshot. The leaves of
the scraggy scrub are wiped out, and
their stems whipped into little bushes.
The tough saw palmetto is blown as
fiat as Northern wheat field, and the
dead grass Of the savannas is lashed
into fine dust. Boards in the surf are
struck BY the wind 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 mainland,
and comes up between the cracks of the
floor like steam.
Woe to the owners of sailboats and
boat houses. AtIake Worth, tie Cruiser,
a heavy, round -bottomed sailboat,
thirty two feet long, was picked up
from her ways, rigging and all, and
carried across the lake, mile away,
without touching the water. a boat
wSs 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 a 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 her an
chors several hundred yards, and barely
escaped destruction.
The hurricanes last from seven to
eight hours, even longer During the
lull rain falls in torrents. The tide
rises to a great height, carrying away
wharves and boat houses and flooding
the country for miles. The ocean leaps
the sandy barriers of the coast, and
foods the Indian and other salt water
rivers, involving great damage. After
the storm centerboards and iibstays are
found in spruce pines, oleanders are
loaded with cordage, and deadeyes and
peablocks drop from the leafess orange
trees. Gardens are destroyed, fences
swept away and the tormented Floridian
has three months work and no pay to
pair damages. Boston Transcript.