Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-04-07
THE RATTTLING HAIL
Bombards st. clairsville and Sur
rounding Country,
And Works Dire Destruction Thousands
OF Window Lights Shattered.
Green Houses Demolished.
Heavy Loss

The storm of hail which broke over st
Clairsville and surrounding country or
Sunday evening, has never been exceeded
in violence in this section. All day it had
been intensely warm for this season of
the year, and early in the afternoon the
the low rumbling of the distant thunder
was heard. Later the omin0us sounds
became continuous. The dark clouds
massed in the west and northwest, then
came up rapidly. Near o'clock the rain
began to fall gently, and then almost
ceased. Suddenly the clouds grew
brighter, and took on copper color, and
at once the hail began-snall at first, it
rapidly increased in size and force. In a
few minutes the Jumps of CONCEALED
moisture had become as large as hulled
walnuts, and driven by fierce wind they
beat on tin roofs and windows with fear
full roar and clatter. Every minute the
violence increased, and to go near win
dows which received the force of the
Wind ow panes were shattered and glass
flew in every direction. In the openings
made by the broken glass the rain pour
ed in torrents, and much damage to
blinds, curtains, furniture and carpets
was the. result In many instances tin
roofs were perforated, and old wooden
roofs had great holes punched in them.
After the storm the houses on the
south side of Main street looked as
though they had suffered from the effects
of battle with musketry. In many
houses scarcely whole pane of glass
was left on the exposed side. With the
exception of the Clarendon Hotel. which
has glass OF extra strength, scarcely
house in town escaped. In many, hun
dreds of panes were broken. The school
building seems to have suffered most,
the breakage there amounting in the
whole building, including the Masonic
Hall, to about 500 lights. The Metho-
dist church had the stained glass win
dows on the north side perfectly riddled,
sustaining a heavy loss. In the Court
house nine of the large lights were brok-
On. The Presbyterian church suffered
but little, while the U. p. church was
completely protected by wire screens. AT
the County Inirmary over 300 lights
were broken, and in every house the
amount of glass broken varied only with
the number of windows exposed. In a
few instances roofs of smaller buildings
were blown off, but the wind did but lit
tie damage in comparison with the hail.
1t seems but moderate estimate to
say that st. Clairsville alone suffered a
breakage of 10000 panes of plass. Jos.
Mellor, the nurseyman, east of town, suf-
fered heavy loss in the breaking of the
glass in his greenhouse, and the destruc-
tion of the growing plants and flowers.
All the hotbeds in the vicinity of this
place were also demolished.
The hail seems to have begun in the
vicinity of Louisville, and to have been
especially heavy in the vicinity of East
Richland. In one house there the hail
went thrugh the closed window shutters
and broke a number of lights. There,
too, the rain seemed the heaviest. The
water came down like deluge, and turn
ed small streams into torrents. The path
of the hail was not over or 4 miles in
width, although the rain extended over
much wider area.
Immediately after the storm all sem
blance of Sunday was gone. The hard
ware.stores opened their doors, and ev-
erybody made grand rush for glass. The
sound of the "'prentice" glazier at work,
could be heard far into the night. The
stock of glass was soon exhausted, and
heavy orders were sent to Wheeling and
Bellaire. Some boarded up their shat
tered windows, and the town presented
a woe-begone appearance. The loss in
no individual case is very heavy, but the
aggregate sums up pretty figure.
The people attending the Barnes fu-
neral were in the Union Cemetery during
the storm, but strange to say, all escaped
without serious injury. They experienced
some difficulty in controlling their teams,
but no accidents resulted. b. r. john
ston, the undertaken, had his hands bad
ly bruised while holding his team.
The storm extended to Martins Ferry, |
and was very heavy there also. 1t was
estimated that the breakage at that place
amounted to 10000 lights The garden
ers along the river were very heavy los
ers. The storm extended on east into
Pennsylvania. There were no persons
caught out in the storm and seriously in
jured more than has been above noted.
After the storm abated dense fog set
tied over the ground, and remained for a
half hour or more. One result of the storm
will be to make garden "sass" late and
scarce The demand for glass on Mon
day was unprecedented, and wholesale
houses had to send in repeated orders to
the factories.
Doctors.
The following physicians were ap-
pointed last week by the Infirmary
Directors to render medical aid in the
various townships:
; Colerain township, DR.. E. L. Haw
1horne; Wheeling, DIR. Workman: Union,
DIR. Hoge; Kirk, DIR. Lindsey; Richlan1,
Estep and Drennon; Flushing. Hobson
and Humphrey; Goshen, DIR. Gregg;
Smith. J. n. McMasters; Warren, DIR.