St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-06-24
Storm on Mt. Washington.

Noticing that the sides of the sum-
nit were strewed with boards, beams,
and debris of all sorts, my guide ex-
planned that what | saw was the result
of the great January gale, which had
demolished the large shed used as an
engine-house, scattering the loose fiag
ments far and wide. | begged him to
give me his recollection of it.
During the forenoon preceding the
gale we observed nothing very unusu-
al but the clouds kept sinking and
sinking until the summit was quite
above them. Late in the afternoon my
comrade, Sergeant NJ, came to
where | was lying abed sick, and said,
There is going to he the devil to pay,
so I'll make everything snug
"By nine in the evening the wind
had increased to one hundred miles an
hour, with heavy sleet. At midnight
the velocity of the storm was one
hundred and twenty 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 fire-in fact,
where you are now sitting.
''At this time the noise outside was
deafening. About one o'clock the
wind rose to one hundred and fifty
miles. 1t was now blowing a hurri-
cane. 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 ut once came Il crash. M
shouted to me to get up; but had
tumbled out in II 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 i'll the dark" "
He rose to show me how the shutters,
of thick oak, were first secured by an
iron bar, and secondly by strong wood
en- buttons firmly screwed i'll the win
dOw-frame.
eve had scarcely done this" resum-
ed 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 Il
hard tussle we again secured the win
dOws, by mailing Il cleat to the floor,
against which one end of board was
fixed, using the other end as IL lever
You understand ~ 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
i'll momentary expectation that tn,
building would he blown into Tucker
mans, and we with it. At four O'Clock
in the morning the wind registered one
hundred and eighty-six miles. 1t haC
shifted then from east to northeast
From this time it steadily fell to tel
miles, mt nine o'clock. This was tn,
biggest blow ever experienced on the
mountain"
'Suppose the house had gone, an,
the hotel stood fast, could you have ef
fected an entrance into the hotel y
asked.
1--WE could not have faced the gale.
''Not for hundred feet ? not i'll
matter of life and death p
"ImpOssible. The wind would hav
lifted us from our feet like bags O
wool We would have been dashe'
against the rocks, and smashed lik
egg-shells," was the quiet reply.
"And SO for some hours you expect
ed to he swept into eternity 7"
eve did what we could. Fac
wrapped himself in blankets and quilts
binding these tightly around him wit
ropes, to which were attached bars q
iron, so that if the house went by tn
board we might stand a chance-a sliI
one-of anchoring somewhere, some
how
Somewhere, indeed
When, on the following morning,
busted myself getting ready to G
down the mountain, heard II prOfoun
sigh, followed by some half-audibl
words, proceeding from the adjoinin
room. These words rang in my eaT
all that day :
"Ah, this horrible solitude ~ S.
DRAKE, in Harper's Magazine for July