Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1881-08-20
A Terrible Night Experience,

~ WTlber III If"PSS . 4HuyhSHo WINco
about a terrible night experience in the
Mount Washington signal service build
ing as follows: Noticing that the sides
of the summit were strewn with boards,
beams and debris, my guide explained
that what saw was the result Of tie
great January gale. He added:
"Late in the afternoon my comrade,
M -, came to where was lying abed
sick, and said: There is going to be tn
devil to pay, so guess I'll make every
hing snug.
"By nine in the evening the wind had
increased to 100 miles an hour, with
heavy sleet. At midnight the velocity
of the storm was 100 miles, and the ex-
posed thermometer recorded twenty
four degrees below zero. With the
stove red, We could hardly get it above
freezing inside the house. Water froze
within three feet of the fre-in fact,
where you are now sitting.
"At this time the noise outside was
deafening. About l o'clock the wind
rose to $50 miles. 1t was now blowing
hurricane. The wind, gathering mp
all the loose ice of the mountain,
dashed it against the house with one
continued roar. l lay wondering how
long the building would stand this,
when all at once came q crash. M =
shouted to me to get up; but I had
tumbled out in hurry on hearing the
glass 60. You see, 1 was dressed, to
keep myself warm in bed.
"Our united efforts were hardly equal
to closing the storm shutters from the
inside, but we finally succeeded, though
he lights went out when the wind came
in, and we worked in the dark"
He rose to show me how the shutters
of thick oak were first secured by an
iron bar, and secondly by strong wooden
buttons firmly screwed into the window
frames.
"We had scarcely done this" re-
sumed Doyle, "and were shivering over
the fire, when heavy gust of wind
again burst open the shutters as easily
as if they had never been fastened at
all. We sprang to our feet After o
hard tussle we again secured the win
dows by mailing a cleat to the floor,
against which one end of board was
fixed, using the other end as lever
You understands" / nodded. Well,
even then it was all we could do to
force the shutters back into place. But
we did it. We had to do it.
"The rest of the night was passed in
momentary expectation that the build
ing would be blown into Tuckerman's
ravine, and we with it. At o'clock in
the morning the wind registered 1856
miles. 1t had shifted then from east to
northeast. From this time it steadily
fell to ten miles, at 8 o'clock. This was
the biggest blow ever experienced on
the mountain"
"Suppose the house had gone and
the hotel stood fast, could you have eff
fected an entrance into the hotel ?" I
asked.
"We could not have faced the gale"
"Not for hundred feetp not in
matter of life and death ?"
Impossible. The wind would have
fled us from our feet like bags of wood.
We would have been dashed against the
rocks and smashed like egg Shells" was
the quiet reply.
"And so for many hours you ex-
pected to be swept into eternity
"We did what we could. Each
wrapped himself in blankets and quilts,
binding these tightly around him with
ropes, to which were attached bars OF
iron, so that if the house went by the
board we might stand chance-a slim
one--of anchoring somewhere, some
how"