St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-10-15
THE BIGGEST BLOW
Ever Experienced on the North
Carolina Coast.


WILMINGTON, n. c., Oct. 14.-The
oldest lnhabitant was forced to admit
that the terrific outburst of wind and
wave that swept through the city sur
passed any storm in his day or genera
ton. Wednesday night was stormy.
There were fitful showers and violent
gusts of wind that foretOkened the
furious gale that followed with the
early morning and that increased
as the day wore on until the
climax of the big blow was reached
near midday. The wind started in from
the southeast and held in this quarter
until about 2 p. m, when it gradually
veered around to the southwest, and the
rest of the gale was from this direction,
the wind blowing with diminishing
force after nightfall until about 10
o'clock, when it subsidized to almost
perfect calm, and the big blow" of
1898 passed into history.
But the tide was the highest known
even in the memory of the most anti
quated resident, being sixteen inches
above the nigh water mark registered
in 1858, which had ever passed all pre-
ViouS known records. On the river the
scene was most terrible in its grandeur.
The waves dashed with tremendous
force against the warehouse and sides
of vessels, throwing clouds of spray high
into air. The tide came in with mighty
force and SwiftnesS, covering the low
lands opposite the city and stretching
in an unbroken sea across the rice fields
as far aS the eye could reach. The
troubled stream as it swept by the city
| bore on its broad bosom an immense
quantity of wreckage, broken gang
ways, trunks of trees, drifting boats
and thousands of sticks of timber
washed from the timber pens at
the saw mills. There was little
shipping in port. and nearly all rode
through the gale in safety. The high
water did considerable damage at Water
street. All the wharves were under
water, and the flood swept through the
| lower floors of the warehouses. The
! city wharves at the foot or Water street
were washed up. and the wharf on
the north side of the dock was
landed bodily on Water street.
The wharves at the foot of
Prince and Walnut were also badly
damaged. and will cost the city con-
siderable sum to rebuild. The tide
swept over Water street at many places,
aud the flood was deep enough from
! Chestnut and Mulberry for row boats to
1
railroad wharves the flood covered
| everything, and some damage resulted
| to goods belonging to merchants and
| awaiting removal.
| The Wilmington compress warehouse
was also flooded, water standing from
SIX to eight inches OH the floor. There
were about 5000 bales of cotton in the
warehouse, all of which is damaged to
some extent by water. AT the Cham
NnrN
paratively slight, only a few bales
of cotton being in the water.
Telephone, telegraph and electric light
wires were all in tangle, and the su-
perintendents of each of the lines were
out with large forces of llnemen irving
to straighten out matters and get things
in working shape. One of the small
spires of the First Presbyterian church
was blown down about o'clock. Peo-
pie we're passing when it fell. and some
barely missed being crushed.
At Southport the storm was mnch
more severe than here. The custom
house building and nearly all the
wharves were washed away. Many
| residences, warehouses and other
buildings were badly damaged. The
brick foundation of the Oak Island
lighthouse was undermined and the
house settled down in the sand.
At Ocean View all the large pa7iIions
and many cottages were either swept
away or more or less damaged. The
loss there will probably reach S1O,-
600. No serious disasters to ship
ping are yet reported. but it is
feared some sad stories will be received
tomorrow. The only loss of life yet
known here was reported from Samp-
son, where tree fell on the house of a
farmer named Lane and crushed two of
his children to death. The total loss in
this Immediate section will probably
reach S150000.