Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1889-05-24
4 TERRIFIC GALE,
Il Remarkable Wind Storm
! Causes Havoc i'm Many Places.
Some Lives Lost and Great Dam
age Done to Property,

A storm swept over Manhattan Island the
other afternoon which was one Of the most
unusual ever experienced by the people of a
great city. For fifteen minutes the wind
blew with rapidly increasing force. The
clouds OF dust swept up the streets
into windows and doorways, and
ruined everything that was exposed. Horses
were frightened. vehicles overturned, show
cases broken and windows smashed Barrels
were lifted up, boxes tumbled into the street,
and hats and bOnnets that once got started
were as good as lost. At $50 o'clock
the full height Of the storm was
reached, at which time the wind was blowing
at the rete of forty-five miles hour 1t
then gradually began to decrease in force,
and with the dying away of the wind the
rain began TO fall, accompanied with thun-
der and lightning. By 6 30 the rain ceased.
Prior to the storm the humidity of the at
Tnosphere was SO degrees, but Immediately
after it was but so degrees
The steamer Fletcher, the barge Harvest
Home, the Hoboken and Erie ferryboats had
a narrow escape from a collision that would
have resulted in a serious loss of life. When
the storm came on thei- engines were stopped
and the boats allowed to drift.
In Brooklyn at 5:15 the wind blew gale
and the sky was darkened by clouds of smoke
like dust. Buildings were rocked in many
portions Of the city, and those who were
abroad had to dodge flying boards and pieces
of roof slate. Quite a number Of stately
trees were blown down.
Harry Buchanan, a seven-year-old boy,
was swept from the pier at the foot of Dock
street, Brooklyn, by the wind, in the height
of the gale.
at the rate of about forty or forty five miles.
The ferry boats experienced no little diff
Guilty in making Roadway against it, and
they were delayed considerably on the trips at
that time.
The storm in New Jersey was unusually Sc
we're. At Chadwick, near Manasquan, the
lightning struck the house of Benjamin Truax
and instantly killed his daughter Annie, aged
nine years. The entire family were more or
less injured.
The wind blew terrifcally in Newark for
fifteen minutes after o'clock and considera-
bic damage was done.
Trees were blown down in the Oranges,
and, as in Newark, houses in course of cree
ton were badly damaged.
The wind was followed by a driving rain
storm of forty minutes duration, accom-
panied by violent thunder claps
At Philadelphia a huge dark cloud came
sailing swiftly southwark, carrying de-
struction in its wake. 1t complete
sky, and was composed of sand and
dust. No rain accompanied the cloud,
although the rumbling OF distant thunder was
heard and an occasional flash or lightning
western portions Of the city with terrific
force binding pedestrians and stopping all
the street cars. The police reported fifty odd
buildings unroofed. Still no rain fell.
When the storm struck the grand stand on
the PhiIadelphia's club base ball grounds
terrible scene of excitement was witnessed.
The building shook from side to side and the
2O00 spectators made a rush to escape.
Players umpires, telegraph operators ana
other employees joined in the rush, winch
was made madden when the dust filled the
eyes of the struggling mob.
at West Chester, Penn, a gigantic oak
tree was hurled across the engine of a pas
senger train, breaking the boiler. The fires
Ead to be drawn and the train abandoned
Nm suddenness and violence the storm has nc
parallel for years.
Reports came in from the country dis
fricts about Reading Penn, that the storm
was of snort duration, but fearful IN It's
power of destruction in that city. -Four OF a
handsome row of houses covering an entire
block on Eleventh, from Center to Douglass
Streets had their roofs torn off.
While three workmen were busily engaged
On q church building in course Of erection at
Geneso N Y, a sudden gust Of wind struck
them with great force, knocking them to the
ground, dis lance of forty feet. Two Of the
men escaped serious injury, but the third,
named Reed, of Rochester, was fatally
crushed, and he died shortly afterward.
A sudden wind and rain storm, resembling
q cyclone swept over the Potomac Valley
near Point of Rocks, seventy miles above
Washington. Twenty-Five men working on
a railroad trestle spanning the river We're
blown off into the water sixty feet below.
In the country adjoining Easton, Penn,
trees were uprooted, fences blown down and
barns unrOOfed.
The tornado struck the tents of Barnum &
Baiiey's show at Y li'iamsport, Penn. The
performance was about half over, and al
least 5000 people were present, All the i'm:
mense canvas was Frustrated to the ground
except the large hippodrone tent, where
the audience was seated. The cages
containing the animals were overthrow,
and the dressing-room was blown zoe
yards away. Several performers were
injured by flying poles and stakes. Az
antelope was killed and several horses in
jured, among them the famous stallion Fire.
brand, formerly owned by the King OF
Hanover. The excellent discipline of
employees saved the audience from injury.
MIR. Bailey estimates the loss at $50, 600,
Ichatoo, a Japanese; Nellie Flynn, Mollie
Thompson, Lille Deacon, Eric French, and
George Marks, performers, were severely
wounded.
In some places in the Housatonic Valley, at
Connecticut, hailstones as large as hickory
nuts fell, causing considerable damage.
At Susquehanna, Penn, William Clapper,
of Gulf Summit, n. Y, was struck by light
ming during the storm and instantly killed.