The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1891-01-30
Castle Ronald Wrecked Again.

NO great damage was cone III NeWGoWn
by last weeks tempest. save on Ronalds
peak, where destruction reigned supreme.
All day, the rain fell and the winds blew
and beat upon the ruined castle, until
Frederick Hartmann, the coachman
whose rooms are in one of the arches,
began to be seriously alarmed. Between
2 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon, sud-
den fierce blast of wind, almost a whirl-
wind in force, attacked the castle. With
a crash that was heard even at the Street
the entire southern wall fell inward upon
the arches, crushing to bits the tempo
rary roof over them, but doing no harm
to the solid arches themselves. Hart
mann was SO frightened that he could
hardly move forhours. The rain poured
into the rooms in the arches and Hart
mann and the housekeeper were obliged
to sleep in the barns until a new roof
could be put on. They declared their in
tention of leaving the peak at once, the
housekeeper to return to New York and
Hartmann to find board in the Street; ;
but they finally decided to stay for the
present. The masonry which fell COM
prised the entire southern wall above the
arches, with the exception of about nine
feet on each end, solidly built into the
corners. At least so feet have fallen. The
with parapets four feet higher and it is
estimated that there we're more than 100
tons of stone i'll the wall The loss can
not easily be stated, as it has been dis
covered that the intense heat to which
the stones were subjected at the burning
of the castle had cracked them, although
this did not at first appear. They had,
however, begun to disintegrate and it is
likely that the entire wall would have
been taken down before the castle could
have been rebuilt. That the cement and
workmanship were good was shown by
the fact that large masses of the stone
work remained intact after falling. No
damage was done to the northern wall
| by the wind, but part of the broken and
splintered roof was hurled against its
center SO violently AS to crack it and part
of the wall will have to be taken down.
About the same time, also, the windmill
which stood near the castle was blown
| partly over, breaking the castings at the
top of the tower. The wheel then ran
violently in a horizontal position until all
fans were gone and the wood work bad
ly damaged. The fragments have been
taken down, but the tower and pump are
uninjured. The matter Of replacing this
will be left until the return Of Mr. Ron.
aids from Europe. This is the third
wind mill on the peak; the first, made
by Mast, Foos s. Co., being too small, al
AerInotor was substituted, which blew
off the mast; another was put up and has
followed, after having three fans de
stroyed by previous storm. As soon Al
the accident occurred, G. w. Stuart, the
local manager, notified r. 1. Ronalds, Jr
/ in New York and was informed that, ow.
| ing to sickness, he might be. unable tc
| come to NeWtoWn for weeks; in the
meantime, Mr. Stuart is to use his OWL
Judgment in repairing damages and plan
ming for the future. He began By clear
ing away the stones and broken roof from
/ above the arches and has got the new
roof Of timber and waterproof paper
nearly on. He is to anchor it witt
heavy wires to prevent, if possible, fur
Their blow-offs.
i Mrs Charles Hamburger is moving intt