Omaha daily bee., 1896-10-01
NATIONAL cArrra saDLY SHAKEN
Hurricane Reaches vcfocity OF Sew
cnty-Ffyc Mi1cS mn Hour

Hurricane Reaches a vcfocity OF Sew.
cnty-Fivc Miles rn' Hour.
WASHINGTON. Sent. 50.AThe most gen
orally destructive w,s. Indian storm thai
this vicinity has Known in many year,
passed over the city last night leaving be.
hind It trail of dismantled buildings ant
ruined trees Fortunately no loss of life
was caused within the city, but reports from
! Alexandria, six miles down the Potomac
river, state four persons were killed and
several injured. The loss in Washington
Is estimated at upwards Of a quarter of a
million, while in Alexandria 1t Is as great
A strong characteristic of the storm was
| the uniformity of the damage done, no part
of the city or surrounding country, escaping
| and likewise no part being so badly dam.
| aged as to indicate that II had been espe-
| ctslly singled out as an object Of the storms
wrath. Quite a number of houses were
| blown down, and there we're several miracu.
| lous escapes from death. but 1t is no loss
| to any individual buiiding, hut the vast
| number of losses, ranging from a few dollars
| to several thousands. that brings the aggre-
| gate up into the hundreds of thousands. In
| every section OF the city there were house
unroofed and otherSiae damaged, and all
the chief streets in each of the four quarters
| of the city were strrw1 today with broken
| trees and wreckage,s Fully 5000 out OF the
| 900 trees in the city. It is estimated, were
| destroyed by the storm,
Along the river front few boats escaped
| injury. The large excursion steamers all
were damaged to some extent and less than
| a half dozen of the smaller craft weathered
| the storm at ALL Southern trains were de-
layed and reported damage done to build
| ings all the way from Wilmington, N. c..
| to Washington. The storm completely shut
| off electric communtcs tion between Wash
| ington and the outside world and from II
o'clock last night until this afternoon not
telephone or telegraph wire was working
| from Washington. Forty minutes from
11;l5 the wind blew sixty-five miles an
hour, and for one minute of this time at
tanned the maximui,.. velocity of eighty
| miles an hour.
IT CAME pom CUBA.
The weather bureau gives this official
| history Of the storTp1 "The storm which
| passed over Washington last night was
reported on SEPTEMBER 26 as a tropical
| cyclone, moving northwest from the Carb-
bean sea, it being thra southeast of Cuba.
During the 27th II PASSED northwestward
into the southeastern part of the Gulf of
Mexico and on the 2bth moved northward
west OF Florida. Or the morning of the
Goth it was central over southern Georgia
and by a. m. of the 29th 1t had advanced
to southwestern Virginia. The center passed
over Washington about 1880 Tuesday night,
the first three days tie storm appeared to
have very little energy, but on the 29th
developed force rapidly as it moved north
ward velocity of Fifty -four miles occurred
at Charleston, and forty-fye at Wilmington
new brick building, FIVE stories, at
1913 Pennsylvania avenue, was demolished,
the ruins falling upol and crushing Beatty's
restaurant and Kelly's dairy lunch adjoin-
ing and imprisonng six men. Four of them
were soon released, George Sutton, a cook
.l =
leased until 2:45 o'clock. The steeple of
the New York Avenue Presbyterian church
was blown off. The tower on the Grand
opera house wasEl,srled to the sidewalk
Trees on every hSnd we're uprooted, their
branches being stree8 so <hiclly as to form
of these are madc1rampact with the addi-
ton 9f tin iT1 +, Of adjoIiSg hstaFees stSFfees
Telegraph. telephone and electric light wires
we're snapped and their ends dangled
furiously in the storm. horse stepped or
a live wire at Seventh street and Pennsyl-
yania avenue and dropped dead.
At the water front every boat received a
terrible wrenching. The Mattano, an ex-
cursion boat, had hole stove In its side
and was half sunken. The vessels were all
torn loose from their p,oorings and some
went adrift down stream or were dashed
against other boats and the sea wall.
1t Is impossible to compute the amount or
damage. The storm came up about 10
O'Clock last night. few minutes after 10
the wind struck the city with fun force,
the rain following Immediately. About IL
o'clock a crash that cou.d be heard mlle
away told those in its vicinity that the
Metropolitan railroad power house on Four
and One-Half street had fallen in. All the
houses within half block were shaken
to the foundations and in a few minutes
the streets were full OF reared people run
ming to the scene. Then 1t was found that
hal lie
gone down in a tangled mass OF iron
girders and bricks. Seven men were at
work in the building at the time 1t fell IN
and as they heard the cracking of the roof
which was of tin, they ran out OF the
structure Just in time to save their lives
w. w. Blount, a member of the Inter
state Commerce commission, was In Beatty 6
restaurant at the time of the crash, and was
carried into the cellar and SO badly bruised
about the head and face and body that he
has been unconscious ever since. 1t is
feared that he is also Injured internally
and that he may not recover.
The storms damage here is estimated to
run from $250,0O0 to 100000. No lives were
lost but several persons were injured Sew
eral houses were blown down.
DAMAGE IN THE SUBURBS
Reports received from the suburban towns
about Washington show that great damage
was done throughout the surrounding coun'
try. At the Roman Catholic university,
Just outside the city, the dormltory III
process of construction was demolished AT
Brookland few miles out, the town hall
was partially destroyed and many other
buildings wer unroofed. In the outskirts
Of the city few localities escaped. The train
shed at Alexandria was blown down and the
debris is across the tracks, hence the trains
that left Washington last evening were de-
layed. Three trains due In Washington this
morning from southern points on the South
ern. Chesapeake &c Ohio and Atlantic Coast
line have not been heard from and are
stopped at some point souta OF Alexandria
In this city the papal legation was un-
| rooted and the Chinese legation was dam
aged about 81 500. Communication by tele-
graph and telephone With the outside world
is absolutely stepped.
Reports from Rockville, Md, and other
| small places along the Metropolitan branch
| Of the Baltimore e. Ohio railroad show that
| this storm did great damage, but no loss of
| life was reported The Episcopal church
| was demolished and a tree fell upon the
| Episcopal parsonage. wrecking portion OF
| it, Houses were unroVfed and trees blown
| down in all the smaller towns outside oil
| Washington. Great damage is reported In
| the farming districts where all grain In
| stack or shocks has been strewn over the
| land. Many barns have been blown down
The white house was slightly injured by
| the storm. a portion of The copper roofing
| being stripped off and other damage done
| The tall flagstaff, from which the signal
was given TO the city tbat the president was
| In town, disappeared completely. In the
| beautiful grounds surrounding the house
| "a Inns