Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1881-07-07
A Terrible Night Experience,

~ tisNta''s
A writer in Harper's Magazine writes
about terrible night experience in the
Mount Washington signal service build
ing as follows: Noticing that the sides
i of the summit were strewn with boards,
beams and debris, my guide explained
| that what / saw was the result OF tEe
great January gale. He added:
"Late in the afternoon my comrade,
NJ ---, came to where l was lying abed
sick, and said There is going to be the
devil to pay, 30 guess I'll make every
thing 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 irside the house Water froze
within three feet Of the iire--iu fact,
where You are now sitting.
"At this time The noise outside was
deafening. About ! o'clock the wind
rose 10 100 miles. 1t was now blowing
n hurricane. The wind, gathering up
all the loose ice Of the mountain,
dashed it against the house with one
continued roar lay wondering how
long the building would stand this.
when all at once came crash NJ -
shouted to me TO got up but i had
tumblcd out in a hurry on hearing the
glass go. You see. 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
the lights went out when the wind came
in. and We worked in the dark"
He rose 10 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.
eve had scarcely done this" re-
sumed Doyle. "and were shiycring over
the fire. whom q heavy gust of wind
again burst open the shutters as easily
as # they had never been fastened at
all. We sprang to our feet. After q
hard tusslc wc again secured the win
dows by mailing clcat t. the floor.
I against which one end Of q board was
/ fixed, using the other end as a lever.
You undcrtandT" I nodded. " Well,
even then it was all We could do to
forcethe shutters back into place. But
We did It. We had to do it;
"Thc rest Of the night was passed in
momoniary expectation that the build
ing would Dc blown into Tuckcrman's
myinc, and VIC with it. At o'clock in
the morning the wind registered lsG
miles. j. had shifted then from east to
northeast From this time it steadily
( fell 70 ten miles, at . o'clock. This was
thc biggest blow over experienced on
I the mountain"
Suppose tho house bad gone and
the hotel stood fast could you have cf-
fccted an entrance into the hotel - I
asked.
we could not have faced the gale =
+ "N No. for a hundred feet? not in a
matter Of life and death ?"
Impossible. The wind would have
lifted us from our feet like bags Of wool.
We would have been dashed against the
rocks and smashed like egg shells" was
the quiet reply
And so for many hours you ex-
I pected to be swept into eternity ?"
1--WE did what We could. Each
wrapped himself in blankets and quilts.
binding these tightly around him with
ropes, TO which we're attached bars of
iron. so that If the house went by the
board We might stand a chance-a slim
one--of anchoring somewhere, some
{ how"