The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-08-30
SWEEPING STORM!

SW hhflNG OlOhM
The Beautiful Capital City Catches
the Fury of the Gale.
Columbia journal.
Beginning at p. m. yesterday afternoon
the city of Columbia was pelted tor eighteen
hours with an unceasing and nerciless rain.
The accompanying wind, vicious, cyclOnic.
unprecedented for inland sections, made
strong men nervous, and brought great,
mighty oaks to the earth, their roots upturn.
ed and all their support aud strength con.
quered.
and the gale which came on, not violent at
first, increased every moment and reaching u
climax at midnight retained It's strength and
exercised it's fun power with unabating fury
until after Daylight.
Branches of trees were snapped Off like chalk
crayOns. sign boards and window shutters
were wrenched off and carried many yards.
The wind whispered and whistled aud whlrl'
ed around hundreds OF homes; the storm,
with It's high wind, its dashng, spark ling.
hurryiug rain In huge drops and In torrents
and in Sheets fairly shimmered and CLEANED
and radiated. We were on the edge OF ma
ture's fury, the fringe of a cyclonic terror.
ut seemed as though the tyranny OF the
open nights too rough for nature TO endure. y
But through the storm, with Its distress ana
partial disaster, there Is evidence this morn
| ing that He who "guides the storm and d.
rects the whirlwInd" was close to the people
| OF this city and turned the sweet smiles OF
His protecting graces and tempered the storm
to US here, spared us storm swept city anu
spared the lives of our inhabitants.
or course the storm Is not local. y oriei
review OF this the third one, near our coast
brings out the fact that 1t comes from the Gull
stream east Of the Florida coast. Yesterday
morning IL had advanced somewhat nearer 10
the coast with It's center east or Southern
Florida, its course being toward the norlh.
northwest. At AtSo'clock last night IT. was still
Ia
apparently moving nOrthward. It's progress
during the preceding twelve hours WAS very
slow. Titusville reported last night current
wind velocity OF "a miles per hour anu a
maximum velocity OF i6 miles. Jupiter re.
ported q current velocity OF "a miles and a
maximum of Sc miles. Cloudiness prevails
along the South Atlantic coast.
| DAMAGE GENERAL.
The damage is general and an accurate
| statement OF 1t Ia detail Is impossible. Walk
| ing up Main street one cannot nee out any OF
| the cross streets more than two squares for
| the fallen trees, which block them In every di-
| rection. The eastern portion OF the city sui-
fered especially In this respect. Many OF the
handsome shade trees that have been Column
bias pride succumbed In the storm and now
lie Frustrated with the telegraph, telephone
| and electric light wires buried under them In
inextrica6le confusion.
WIRES ALL DOWN.
| The destruction OIL t0eSe wires Will prove
the greatest inconvenience TO the city for the
ne xI two or three days, az II will take Al least
that long 10 repair theu.
The Electric Light and Power Company's
| wires are all down at different points, and the
running OF the cars Is an impossibillity. as
will be the lighting of the city tonight and
probably tomorrow night.
The tall bill boards ON Main street are all
down, q mass OF ruins. The poor little Eng
lish sparrow that hud nested In the trees
along the streets lie dead At the trunks there
or all over the city, their nests scattered to
the winds. Here and there may be Seen the
wreck OF an umbrella torn from It's owners
hands leaving hun to make his flight 10 The
nearest shelter through the rain.
Such thing as travelling without getting
wet from o'clock last night 10 this morning
was impossible even to the most expert rain
dodger. The residences of the city and the
stores suffered alike from leaks and the blow
Ing OF the rain through every little niche. IL
Is safe TO assert that not one-fourth Of the
buildings OF the city are free from the effects
of the rain ON the interior. Many Of the
Main street stores are leaking freely, and In
many instances the pastering has fallen T.
The Injury OF things In The stores, hotels and
other places.
NO wIBEs WORKING.
The telegraph, telephone. electric light and
fire alarm wires are all down and at many
places trees have, fallen across them bringing
poles and all ITO The ground. There Is not h
telegraph wire running TO or from the city
that Is not down somewhere.
For the first time In the history OF the
Western Union office they have not wire
that can be operated. Manager Grey said
this morning that force Of twenty-five line
men were WORKING between here and Chur-
Iotte and that probably some OF these would
De put 10 work between this place aud Angus.
Ia and by tonight at least one wire will be
working.
The wires of the Postal Telegraph Company
are all down and they have number OF liue.
uf 4.
| lor street alone there are ten trees lying
across the wires Of this company, and II is
thought that the damage will be grenter in
| the country,
THE FIRE ALARM USELESS.
Capt. j. NJ. Bateman. city electrician, was
seen this morning and he Says the fire alarm
system Is now cut OF and entirely useless. II
stations will be In working order by this af
ternoon, but 1t will BIZ several days before the
entire system will be working.
TRAINS ALL DELAYED.
At the depot everything was as quiet as
could be at IL o'clock. No trains were In
| from any direction and the wires all down, so
| that no news could be heard from the trains.
The greatest interest and anxiety WAS felt on
all sides as 10 the late Of Charleston and
every one was wanting all day 10 know what
had been heard from there.
SEA BIRDS BLOWN INWARD.
That the storm and the wind was very se-
we're on the coast IL shown by the fact that
number or sea birds were seen flying about
the Union depot today. Among them were
several mother Carey chick kens,"H II bird that
inhabits the coast alone. They were un.
dou btedly blown this far in the interior by
the force Of the gale.
THE WATER RAN IN STREAMS.
There were few houses In the city that were
not more or less damaged by leakage. The
wind blew the waller under the tin roof of the
Grand Central and The builing leaked 10
mum mber OF places TO the considerable damage
| Of the ceiling. floors and walls. In this In.
stance, az well as In many others there were
not enough barrels, tubs, buckets, etc., to
catch the falling streams and nothing could
be done except TO let the water run In rivulets
on the floors.
THE RIVER BOOMING.
At o'clock today, the Congaree river meas
ured fourteen feet above low water mark and
was still rising at the rate OF tIo~eet An hour.
The flood is sure TO cause great destruction OF
crops in the law lands south OF the city.
Meagre reports from the up country show
that rain has been terrific In that section and
a very much higher rise is anticipated before
nipht