Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-12-17
THE BIG NORTHEAST STORM.
Forty Eight Miles-an-Hour Zephyr Makes
Things Lively in Washihgton.

4 OA~@A-->&.S.
A Forty Eight MiIes-an-Irour Zephyr Makes
Things Lively I'm Washington.
The wind never seems to blow quite a. hard
as people think it does. That IL 10 say, the
actual speed Of the wind IL almost invariably
slower than that popularity imagined. Last
nights borean performance gave great i'm
petus to the guessing propensities Of the aver
age Washingtonians, stimulated as they have
been of late by pumpkins, bean jars, French
clocks and other trade-alluring devices. This
| morning the estimator of the winds velocity
was in his glory. He was surrounded by the
most striking evidences Of high speed. such as
woful bowling, rumbling roofs, shaking win
dows, shattered glass; broken branches, even
uprooted trees, and he kept raising his esti-
mates all day long as fresh instances of the power
Of the air came to his notice. An enterprising in
dividual, taking advantage Of an assemblage OF
experienced guessers in his vicinity, gathered
in their individual opinions as to the velocity
of the wind mp TO 10 o'clock. An amusing
variety CT estimates resulted.
GUESSING THE VELOCITY OF THE VIVID.
The lowest guess was n miles an hour. Then
came the others as follows: 49, 80, 40. 43, As, Al,
two Sos "a. ''5s to g." Is, 66 20, IS, 90, 100
or over" The ''27-mile" man had an idea that
he'd surprise everybody with his sagacious low
estimate. He failed. The man who guessed
80 said that he didn't dare to say how hard it
blew when the wind took the clothes off his bed
during the night. The man Of 80 was an indi-
vldual who had come to work with a sad story
about having had to crawl olt on his roof at an
unseemly hour, clad in an equally unseemly
costume, in frantic race after the trap door
in his roof, which had been blown off to the
rain spout Ills estimating powers had been
warped by his sufferi1gs and he was declared
unqualified. The last man, he who had said
.'over hundred" lives in seven-story build
ing and his guess vas thrown out Then the
manager OF the guessing contest telephoned to
the signal Office for Information that would
settle the question and was told by the wind
mum wind up to 10 o'clock was AZ miles an
hour. 1t IL
ONE OF THE MOST SEVERE STORMS
that has visited Washington for some months.
The cold northeast gale brought with it just
enough rain to make outdoor life almost unen-
durable and the wind had searching. inquisi-
tive character about it that was annoying in a
high degree. Vehicles had hard time making
progress and pedestrians almost gave up the
struggle. The worst-storm-I-ever-saw' man
got III his work early In the day. but his hercdi-
tary enemy, the ''oldest inhabitant" soon be-
gan his handicapping by telling of the big
blow of 49, They are discussing the subject
yet.
DAMAGE By THE BLOW.
Several large trees were destroyed by the
wind this morning and the breaking of branches
was very ordinary event. Two large plate
glass windows in the Combination store. corner
18th and streets, were blown in by the wind
and quantity OF fine goods was ruined by the
rain. The glass is a third of an inch thick.
Awnings were ripped into ribbons and signs
suffered severely.
SCARE AT POLICE HEADQUARTERS.
few minutes past 9 oclock this morning the
detectives at police headquarters were seated
In the back room making out their daily re-
ports when Hack Inspector Quinlnn entered
and made a remark about the building being
blown down. One officer declared that he felt
the building shake. Hardly had the words
been spoken when crash was heard. Every
one in the room was startled. and for Il moment
they stood looking about to which was the
best way to escape, but the one sound was all
and that was made by the falling of portion
OF the chimney. There was pedestrian pass
ing at the time and he narrowly escaped being
caught beneath the falling bricks. The last
seen of him was his coat tail turning the corner
at a faster rate than the wind was blowing.
THE ROOF OF THE PENSION OFFICE DAMAGED.
The roof the pension office suffered from the
storm. The damage done was probably not
very heavy, but there were many pieces of the
metallic roof blown to the parking below, and
the grass looked as though it had been the
dumping ground for old tin shops.
BIG TREES BLOWN DOWN.
The trees on 1 street southwest between 9th
and 18th streets suffered more from the effects
OF the storm than in any other part Of the city.
The pavement on that street was recently re-
laid and III doing the work the workmen were
compelled to cut off many Of the roots. SO that
tn trees did not have such good hold upon
the earth az before In the two squares twenty
three OF the large trees were uprOOted.
SIGNAL OFFICE BULLETIN
The following was issued from the signal
Office this morning: Sowing to the absence of
reports :he morning map cannot be published
at the usual hour but will be issued later in
the day.
"A severe storm developed on the South
Carolina coast yesterday, causing general and
heavy rains in the south Atlantic states and
snow and rain in the lake region and the Ohio
valley Heavy northeasterly gales prevail on
the Atlantic coast from Maine to North Caro-
lima and will continue during the day. The
winds have shifted to northwest on the south
Atlantic coast. where the weather will clear
during the day. In the gulf states the weather
is fair, and high northwest winds will prevail
on the coast
WESTERN TELEGRAPH WIRES DOWN.
The telegraph companies are receiving all
matter filed today subject to delay" The
storm has played havoc with the wires in the
west. and most matter destined for that region
has to be sent through the south. Even there
the wires in such bad condition that the
kilograms are going ont in that direction very
slowly. The New York business has not been
seriously interrupted.
NOTES.
'Fve seen many flag taken in fight" said
an officer on duty at the White House this
morning, 'but the flag on the Executive Nam
sion was taken this morning without struggle"
The flagstaff broken off.
Seafaring persons were better able to get
through the wind this morning than those I'M
acquainted with the sailing Of vessel. This
rule was especially applicable OH the wide ave-
nues where the wind had fall SWAY. The women
had to do the most sklilful tacking for their
skirts acted as sails and rendered straight trav-
cling exceedingly difficult.
Mr.. Edw. Dubant of the health Office started
ont this morning with his wifes new umbrella
to protect him from the rain. Ne managed 20
get along. all right until he reached Mount YER
non Square. when the wind got under the nm
brella and carried it up like balloon and that
was the last he saw Of it.
POLICE RAIDS LAST NIGHT.