Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-09-09

Porto Rico, Aug. o7.-It had been I'M
pleasant all day long Monday, no sun
and just cloudy enough to make the light
pleasant, a very pleasing change from
the glare under which Ponce lies during
the summer. There is properly speaking
no rainy season here. as they know it in
cuba, yet a rainy season is it, consisting
of mild, soft showers which lay the dust
and make the heat of the summer tolera-
Bile.
Everybody thought it was preparing
for a three-day rain. so there was no
alarm felt when toward night. on that
memorable Monday. August I. the wind
arose n the clouds lnassed before the
breeze.
That evening few stirred out in Ponce.
Although it is a city of many inhabitants
few are abroad after nightfall and SO it
happened that. under the clouds and the
threatening rain the city was asleep by
II o'clock. Even the Alcalde had retired
with his household and there We're no
clerks on watch. for the Alcalde, the rel
let of the days when Porto Rico was a
Spanish island. is lazy and will do no.
thing he is not compelled to do. His
clerks had all gone home and Porto Rico
might as we'll have been an island lying
unprotected in mid-ocean as a part of
the great possessions of the United
States so far as civilization was of use
u ilci as Il Wal III VI liz 1IipSlluitlS
calamity.
Finishing my duties. which that even
ing kept me until late | went to my home,
opposite the old gray stone church and
closing the storm doors after me, in good
American fashion and barring the blinds.
went to bed. That act saved my life.
Had [ left my windows and doors open
my house would have been unroofed and
and my family would have stood, as
others did. homeless in the streets by
morning.
1t might have been midnight, it might
have been later. when l woke to hear a
tearing noise. succeeded by a loud thud.
AT the same time l heard the wine how
and shrek. Going to the window l ooked
ont in time to see a sign torn off a house
half way down the block on the opposite
side of the street. and borne by the wind.
come flying down toward me, until it
landed plump upon the portico of the
church opposite and dashed itself to the
ground.
Other signs came floating down the
street, then came chimneys and window
blinds. and here and there through it all
sailed a board lifted from a pile of
building material that had been deposit
ed somewhere in the city by some enter
rrising American builder.
Calling my wife we sat by the window
and watched the destruction go on. How
long we sat I do not know. but l remem-
Der my wife's telling me that it vas 4
O'Clock and reminding her that I had had
no sleep.
started for my bed when suddenly
outside there rose such a Whiri and such
a swirl, such a mad rush, such a wild
soughing that / started back to see what
was the matter outside. Just then the
house rocked. and far beneath US there
came a singular crushing sound as
though the foundation ton We're being
ground against each other.
Another wild whirl came. and again
the house rocked. Calling my wife and
telling her to dress herself and the little
ones, I ran through the house closing all
the doors and windows. I debated as I
ran whether to remain upstairs in the
second story or to gather together on the
ground floor. the latter plan I adopted
and in five minutes we sat huddled by
the front door binding our ears to the
wind, ready to rush forth should the
house begin to topple over us.
Such q wild time as was going on out
side. The street might have been filled
with artillerymen firing their volleys,
stones might have been hurled from the
hands of a frantic mob, sledge hammers
and battering rams might have been at
work upon the doors and windows, yet
there could have been no greater noise.
II was as though all the demons and flu
ries were at work in their wild task of
singing the furniture of the streets
against our households. And still the
din increased. 1t was terrible. My
wife and children cowed to the floor,
budding close together with shawls over
their heads: and at each wild gust I
sprang to the door ready to take dow
the bar and let them out into the streets
should the house twist over our heads.
AS the day grew on it grew lighter. At
8 my wife prepared hastily a cup of cof-