The record-union., 1896-10-01


azzas all torn to pieces and it's columns
prostrated. The Courthouse was terri
bly, damaged
THE DAMAGE AT WASHINGTON.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 3O.-The West
Indian tornado which struck Washing
ton between / .. m and midnight last
night respected neither official nor dlp-
lomatic property. It ripped off some OF
the coping of the White House and lald
low most of the historic trees in the
White House grounds, including the
elm tree which Lincoln planted, ana
this gave the relic hunters a field for
their search. 1t carried away part or
the roof of the State Department, where
the official papers are stored, but Ior-
tunately left them unharmed. The
costly roof Of the Patent Office was
rolled up and distributed all around the
neighborhood, and skylights half an
inch thick were remorselessly beaten
in. The Naval Observatory, and, in
fact, pretty we'll every other pubic
building, was more or less damaged.
Diplomatic residences were not
spared. That of the French Minister
was left roofless, and even the substan-
TALLY built Embassy of Great Britain
suffered the loss of the portico.
Churches and theaterS suffered alike.
The slate roof of the Church of the
Covenant, where President Harrison
used to worship, was blown down, and
each square of slate by curious freak
planted itself upright in the grass park
ing which surrounds the edifice.
<l,n fa re
of the New York Presbyterian Church
which Mr. Bryan recently attended. The
whole tower of that edifice was reduced
to matchwood and persons In search of
souvenirs had no difficulty in obtaining
them. Nearly every church in the city
suffered more or less, and their an
tipodes, the theaters, We're equally Wis
tied. The tower of the Grand Opera
house, formerly Albaugh's, was blown
down, fortunately without hurting
anybody The debris still obstructs
the whole width of one Of the broadest
streets in Washington. Several other
theaters lost their roofs in whole or in
part. The new Albaugh's Opera-house,
built on the site of Blaine's old resi-
dence, where the Seward assassination
W
the watchman's box at the corner,
where through several wintry weeks
newspaper men waited the progress of
the last illness of the great statesman,
was caught by the storm and crushed
into splinters.
The devastation wrought among the
beautiful trees Of the Capitol was heart
rending For years the Parking Com
mission, which controls this part Of the
National Capital decoration, had been
employed to have the redundant foliage
of these trees trimmed. The reply has
always been that there has not been
sufficient appropriation made by Con-
gress. Now these trees are blown up
by the roots or hopelessly dismembered,
and the damage done cannot be re-
placed by an appropriation five times
as large as that usually made by Con-
gress for any one years tree culture.
There was no loss of life as far as
known in Washington, though a list Of
twenty-four persons seriously injured
by falling branches aud crumbling
walls is given out by the hospitals.
The total destruction of property in
Washington City by the storm is esti-
mated at nearly 100000.
In Alexandria, the Virginian suburb
of Washington, just across the Poto-
mac River, the damage done by the
storm is estimated at not less than
100000, and at least two lives are
known to have been lost. The killed
are Mrs. Louisa Pelt and William D.
Stewart, crushed to death by falling
arIy cl0 boI1SpS xuara badly
damaged by the tornado in its course.
CLEVELAND'S HOUSE WRECKED.
WASHINGTON, Sept 30.-Presidept
Cleveland's suburban home at Wood
ley, near the city, which has been left
in charge of servants since the Presi-
dent and his family went away to
Massa achusetts, caught the full fury of
last nights gale. Roof and rafters
were carried away and landed 100 yards
distant, where they We're intermingled
with the ruins of a windmill which had
supplied water to the country seat Of
J. r. Mclean, adjoining the Presidents
property. Portions of Mr.. McLeans S
stables, which stood on a slight bluff
adjoining the Presidents grounds, and
which from their exposed position We're
termingled in the general mix-up. This
evening workmen were engaged in re-
pairing the ruin.
VIOLENT STORM IN VIRGINIA.
RICHMOND (Va), Sept 30.-The
most violent storm ever known in this
section burst upon the city last night
about 8 o'clock and ragged for two
hours. Trees We're uprooted, fences
blown down, windows blown in and
houses unroofed on every side. On
Broad street the roof of Jacobs cloth
ing store was blown in on some sleep
ing children and one of them was Sc
riously hurt The steeple of the Sec
ond Baptist Church was blown off, the
point of it going into the front of the
Y. NJ. G. A. building, which is on the
opposite side of the street, and doing
considerable damage to that building.
A colored church In Manchester, just
across the river from Richmond, was
unroofed and the Steeple blown down,
and parts of the steeples of the Broad
street Methodist Church and old ST.
Johns Episcopal Church, this city,
were carried away. The wires Of the
city fire alarm system are wrecked
The roofs were taken off the tobacco
factories of the ]. B. Pace Company,
the Marlborough and Cuttingworth and
the tank on the top of the Allen q
Ginter factory was blown off. The car
ID; ;ol.x IN