The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-10-13
THECYCLONE'SSLOW TREAD
Its Force Well Spent Before
It Reached Savannah.
THE CITY PREPARED FOR IT.

THE CITY PREPARED FOR II
The Storm Center Passed Early This
Morning-A Day Of Activity and
Anxiety-The People on the Islands
and the Salts Flocked to the City for
safety-The Shipping Tied Up and
No Vessels Leave Port-The Blow at
Quarantine and Tybee Severe
Storms Record.
The heavy blow that threatened Savan-
nah yesterday was about tagged out
when it arrived
From all indications the city was about
70 be caught in as severe a storm as that
which passed over it Aug. "a, but up to
! o'clock this morning it had not come, and
there was nothing to indicate that the
blow which was on at that time would
develop anything more than a miniature
or mild specimen Of the West Idian cy-
clone.
There was good reason, however, be-
fore the storm arrived to believe, and on
that belief to predict that the blow
would be fully as severe as that which
had laid waste to thousands of dollars Of
property, and the statement that it was
as intense was based not on surmise, but
on such indications as are qualified to
give rise to predictions. AS his cyclonic
majesty advanced up the eastern coast
of Florida day before yesterday and the
night before that, he played such lively
havoc that it was believed that destruc-
ton would follow everywhere in his
wake
THE FIRST REPORTS.
The first reports from one of Uncle
Sans observatories came from Titus
vile, down on the eastern coast of Flor
ida They looked pretty bad, as they
stated that the wind had attained max
imum velocity at that point of fifty-six
miles per hour and that it was increasing
in intensity as it moved north or north
west, as it was supposed TO be moving at
that time. Then came the report, the eff
feet of which was to be added to that
from Titusville, that the swell on the
Tybee bar was the heaviest that had been
seen there in years-even heavier than
that which preceded the August storm.
All these reports were calculated to
make ones hair stand on end and put
leaden weights on his movable property.
Judged from these facts, for such they
were, 1t was thought that to say the
cyclone on hand was a repetition of
the last one would be putting it very
mildly.
SPENT ITS FORCE.
The storm decreased in intensity as it
advanced up the Florida coast, for Jack
sonville, after the worst part of the
storm had passed, reported that the max
imum velocity of the wind there was only
thirty-eight miles per hour While it at
tanned a maximum Of fortytwo here, it
was only for the space of five minutes,
and the real maximum or the maximum
velocity which was maintained for any
length of time was not more than it was
in Jacksonville. The wind here, however,
blew at that rate for some hours and
would make the pedestrian as he went
around a northwest corner think he was
rounding Hatteras.
The wind tried in vain to leave some
mark of destruction to Indicate its path.
But everything was either insured or fas-
tened down, and in neither case could it
do any harm. For while it played with
the tower on the Independent Pres
byterian church, which swayed to and
fro in such manner as to terrify the
passer-by for fear that it would topple
over on his head. Seeing the danger, the
city officials surrounded it with a Gordon
and effectually quHrantined it from all
contact with anybody or anything that
was liable to pass
TIE WIRES ALL RIGHT.
The street cars kept running until the
usual hour for stopping, there being no
fallen wires and no seeming necessity for
fearing that such would be the case The
telegraph wires didn't give the operators
much trouble, although an occasional wire
to the south would fall to the ground
somewhere along the line, and little
difficulty was met with in making
direct connections. Most of the
wires to Jacksonville went down
and relays had to be used until
they can be repaired Wires in the
other directions, however, were kept up
and no difficulty was experienced in
making all other connections Some of
the wires in the city became crossed at
various points and night hawks witnessed
electrical displays at almost seyery
corner, They were peculiarly brilliant at
Whitaker and Bay streets on the First
building and at other points.
THE TELEPHONES STAND 1T.
The telephones kept as much in order
as they usually do in a storm, and the
main difficulty In getting a connection
was in cases where the wires became
crossed, and three or four people at the
other end all asked to know at the same
time what was wanted. In fact very few
wires blew down nywhere-another in
dication that the storm was only mild
form.
Another reason why the blow did no
more damage was that everything that
was liable to yield to the force Of a severe
wind went down 11p6ar tho I,st l,,,,..;,.,,, ~.