Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1892-06-30

Mondays storm was the most violent
ahat has visited this city for many years.
The damage done was very great. This of
Sourse was mostly confined to the low
lying portions of the city in its south and
southwestern regions. At the moment of
writing only an approximate figure on the
loss Gun be made and this will probably
total anywhere from $50, 900 to $50 OW.
The main proportion of the loss will be
borne by the morocco manufacturers,
whose cellars, stored with bales of skins
were quickly filled waist deep with water.
During one hour and ten minutes of the
most violent rainfall Monday afternoon
the ram gauge at the city engineering de-
partment registered a precipitation of 3
and 551O0 inches. by far the heaviest on
record. What incidentally aided in caus-
ing ne great damage. IN the lower part of
the city was the fact that 2.f9 o'clock was
the hour OF high tide. Tho flood from the
Christiana backed up and allowed no OPP
portunity for the main sewers and inlets
to carry off the water. Shipley Run and
other main outlets WERE therefore, for a
time source of danger rather than OF
relief. Hundreds of cellars were flooded.
The furnaces of many of the manufacture
ing, establishments along the river front
ana Front and TO Second and Third streets
We're put out by the influx of water.
street and Sewer Commissioners Carpen-
ter and Gawthrop were investigating mat
tiers during. the evening along the lower
course of Shpley Run sewer. Although its
capacity has only recently been increased
1t was definitely shown by Mondays
storm that the main is insufficient for such
sudden and excessive incursion of flood
The comment of course is that the sewer
was not constructed for such extraordinary
and unusual occurrences.
Although the lightning played wildly
mr. hra
hours continuously, no fatal occurrences
are reported.
At the Postal Union Office Manager
George III. Brown reports no local damage
The storm didn't disturb us much" he
added. 1T was OF course bad, like any big
storm. None of our wires were down.
We were sending all the time. Lightning
came in very sharp about 80 and burnt
us out five or six times. We are all right
this morning and every wire is working"
WESTERN UNION FIREWORKS
AT the Western Union Office Assistant
Manager Isaac W. lIallani tells an in
spring story.
"oh, yes,h he said, at was quite lively
here between and A o'clock. We were
brilliantly lit up pretty nigh all the after
noon. Didn't need any arc lights Electric
explosions were going on all the time all
around us in the office 1t cut of about
100 spiders The spider is small spiral
uon conducting wire.
1T was abont the grandest and most
/ destructive ELECTORAL exhibition Eve seen
Turing my 30 years of telegraph office SER
yice. Nearly every flash came in here.
5ut no one was hurt Our insulating
iystem thoroughly protects us. Everything
$ INTACT this morning"
At this moment Manager John L. Hall
Joined in the conversation.
I'VE were little previous in Our Fourth
of July celebration yesterday afternoon, y
he remarked, smiling, ~ think if we
could have saved some of it for next Mon
,lay we would have made our record here
for the finest fireworks display in Will
inington. But ior the spiders all our
Instruments would have been burnt out
all the time. One burnt ont at my shoulder
with the report of Il rifle"
At the central telephone exchange the
officials reported Mondays electrical
storm as the severest on record. None of
the operators experienced any accident
I'VE never work through u thunder
Storm was the explanation. Zone flash
OF lightning sends all the indicators down.
That prevents us getting messages. We
stopped from after ! p. in. to about 3.45
o'clock and then again about q p III. We
worked hardly any in the evening"
"A great many wires went down in all
parts of the city. They wont be fixed up
until this evening. We cannot reach
down State points. We are getting phila-
dolphin little this morning."
There was quite n little fireworks
around the office one of the young ladies
remarked. II wish it could be impressed
on the people," she added, 'that we can
not work during an electric storm, no
matter how light. All the indicators i'm
mediately drop. There are 100 to each
operators head, and then, of course, she
can hear nothing. An electric shock at
the operators ear is so times heavier than
zone you would get at your phone during a
storm"
Manager Mahaffy, who was met on the
street, says the damage is not MS great as it
was thought to be Monday night The city
wires were in order by Tuesday night.
1t was certainly" he added, 1.-The most
stunning electric storm in my experience
y lind that there was no electric disturbance
ibclow Middletown. 1t must have come
from the east. was just talking to
Chester. They simply had it terrible there. y
At the Water Department Chief Bond
has received no reports of damage to the
works. The Brandywine is not very high
IL is pretty muddy and the city mill is shut
OH. The reservoirs are reported intact.
The total rainfall from l.30 p. IN. tC
about 10 p. m, inclusive of an intermis
won when little or no rain fell from about
80 to 7.35 was Al inches. This is com
iented upon as phenomenal for this loca
On.
ALONG SIMPLIFY RUN SEWER.
For the second time within a yeai
people living along the line Of the Shipley
Kun sewer were visited by a tremendous
flood Monday, and for the second tim,
were many of them forced to leave theii
dwellings on account of the bursting
of the sewer, which inundated theii
properties and drove them from theil
homes. On July 10Th last the bursting oil
this same sewer rendered "A score of house,
iininhabitabie for long time and entailef
individual losses aggregating $4,000. III,
storm OF yesterday was even more sever,
than that OF year ago and the damage tt
property was greater.
The most damage to the sewer which
had but short time ago been PRACTICAL,
reconstructed by the Board of Street AM
Sewer Directors, was midway between
Madison and Monroe streets on Fifth
Here great gaping hole, large enough t,
bury several wagons in, was made in til,
sewer right beneath buildings Nos. 720anC
722 West Fifth street, which threaten /,
topple into the excavation in the sewer
In fact, nearly all the houses along thu
south side of Fifth street between Madison
and Monroe were inundated by the hoot
and some of them undermined. The fur
niture in most of them was ruined.
4 small frame house in the rear of No
6l4 West Fifth street Is occupied by Mrs
Nate Murphy, an aged widow As soon a.
me sewer collapsed the flood swept int,
Mrs. Murphy's house, filling the first stor,
ana covering the floor with several inchc
OF mud and filth from the sewer. Tn,
stove was also overturned and everything
turned topsy-turvey. The aged occupan
o. tne house was standing in the centre o
tne moor when reporter approached TIN
open door way. The storm seemed all |
blank to the good woman and seemed /,
nave taken away her power of speech com