The Republican journal., 1900-03-08
The Gale OF rIarch Ist.

March was ushered in this wear with a
STORM which proved more disastrous than
any OF its predecessors. Snow fell all day
Thursday. but changed to rain aud hail in
the evening. There were about 10 inches Of
snow on the ground at sunset. During the
evening it alternated between snow, rain
and hail, and the wind rose to gale from
the east. At 10 O'Clock rain was falling in
torrents, and continued through the night.
and we'll into Friday, although the wind
went down and the rain was less heavy after
daylight. The roads and streets were or 6
inches deep with snow and water, and tor
rents were rushing down the cutters Friday
morning, The schools were called off for
the day There was very high tide, but the
wind was too far to the eastward to make
much sea in our harbor. The only damage
along the front was caused by the water
rising into storehouses and damaging the
contents, There was great deal of dam
age from wind and rain in the city The
most serious damage was at the screw driver
factory of F. A. Howard & Son, where
brick chimney 40 feet high fell, crushing a
part of the building and damaging the con-
tents. The factory is in the brick building
between High and Washington streets, for
merly known as the bowling ally, for which
purpose it was built in 1887. 1t is 35x85
feet, one story high, with basement. The
roof is of iron. The chimney stood upon the
northern end of the building, and fell on
he fb.ar
which forced out the wall for half the length
OF the building. The section wrecked com.
prised about one-fourth the area of the build
ing, and contained fifteen different machines,
with the necessary shafting, pulleys, betting
etc. The machines were one engine lathe,
two screwcutting lathes, and number of
special machines made for the screw driver
work exclusively and all were more or less
| damaged. large amount of material for
screw drivers in different stages of manufac-
! ture was at the various machines and bench
es, and two lines of shaftng and numerous
counter shafts were included in the wreck.
a heavy beam extends lengthwise in the
remainder from damage. The wreckage did
not break through the floor to the engine
and boiler rooms in the basement IL is
| difficult to estimate the amount of actual
| damage to the property. as some of the shaft
ing is badly sprung, while some IS apparently
all right, and the same is true of the machin.
cry and stock. All was flooded with water.
W. r. Howard put on an extra crew Fri
day forenoon, had the machinery cleaned
and put to rights, and employ ed Alvin Blod-
gett to put up temporary wooden walls and
roof 80 that the work of the factory could be
continued until warm weather would admit
of making through repairs.
There were many other cases of damage in
and about the city Water ran into the
boiler room at Mathews Bros. mill, and the
machinery could not be started until it was
removed, which delayed the work until
about a. IN. Friday. The roof on Fred A
Johnson's store in Masonic Temple sprung a
leak and bis stock was considerably damag-
ed. Eight hundred pounds of batting and a
large quantity of spool thread, silk, etc, was
soaked through About 10 O'Clock Thursday
| evening Mr. and Mrs. r. P. Chase were re-
turning home from a friends and call
ed into the store of A. D Chase &
Son, where they found water dripping
from the ceiling from leak IN the roof.
They at once removed sach goods as
they could and covered Others with oil
cloths, thus saving the stock with very little
damage. A snow slide from the roof made a
dam across the sidewalk In front of E. s
Pitchers store some time during the night
and turned a flood of water into the store,
where it stood about two inches deem in the
morning. The hen house of P. l.. Strout.
which was partially wrecked in the previous
storm, was finished in this one. A great
many cellars were filled with water, blinds
blown off, trees broken, and other minor
damage done. Along the shore below the
city the storm did more or less damage
The ice wharf at Little River was carried
away, and the sea walls built last season at
the Battery by E. S. Pitcher aud Coon bs and
Riggs were torn down. The latter are re-
building their wall with facing of logs
On the Kinds shore, just above, the bank is
from to feet higher than the beach and
drift stuff was carried % feet into the field,
by actual measurement The banks all
along the shore are badly washed in many
places, involving the destruction OF trees.
The tracks on the main line of the Maine
Central were left in such condition by
Thursday nights storm that trains were de-
layed the next two days. The Friday and
Saturday evening trains were 80 late that
the letter carriers did not go their full
rounds that night. They made a special trip
Sunday forenoon to deliver Saturday nights
mail.
The Belfast Schools.