The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1900-05-16
MINIATURE CYCLONE
SWEEPS THE CITY.
Carriages Overturned, Awnings
Ripped Off, Trees Frustrated but
No Very Serious Damage Done.

of the storm those cars that were upon
the road between the Park and WASH
ington bridge at East Providence sud
denly lost their power and became
stalled. After patiently waiting Tor
about half an hour word was sent TO
the car barn at Riverside, ana the
headquarters In this city notified. "A
force of electricians worked all the eye-
nng along the line TO find the trouble.
but IL was a very late hour before the
break was remedied. The short trip
cars up Warren avenue as far as In
graham's Corners were able to make
their regular trips on schedule time, put
beyond that point the Crescent Park
cars were unable TO get any power, ana
the steam cars were largely patronized.
A SHOWER OF FISHES.
The Olneyville district, while IL suf-
fered the least, had the novelty OF the
storm, for with the downpour OF han
stones came one of fishes, which leli
in considerable quantities on Harris
avenue. Scores OF people, men, women
and children saw this remarkable
shower OF fish. and, what was a tar bet
ter proof, had the fish TO show as evil
dcnce of the remarkable occurrence.
The fish fell in much the same way and
at about the time the hail began To fall,
slightly preceding it, some say. Those
who were impressed with the peculiar
sweeping and whirlng force of the
storm were inclined 10 accept as most
plausible the theory that the storm
wind scooped water and fish and all out
of some shallow pond or river and car
ried them until they arrived over the
points at which they fell.
Bull pouts and perch in large quanti-
ties fell from the clouds and swan in
the pools and puddles formed by the
rain. and were soon gathered i'm by the
boys, who appeared 10 enjoy this novel
method of fishing without pole or line.
There appeared to be two of these fish
ing grounds during the storm. one
was on Harris avenue and Grove,
street near the Grove street railroad
crossing. Here hundreds of pout, from
two inches TO four and one-half inches
in length, fell on an area of about
quarter of an acre. The other fishing
ground was on Joslin street, neat Mani
ton avenue. on high ground. Here the
fall of fish was comparatively small.
But there was a little better variety.
While the shower OF fish was the
man phenomenon of the storm, and
was looked upon with more or less awe
by those inclined to be superstitious.
there was also a great deal of curiosity
manifested in and around Olneyville
square in regard to a shower OF ice
coated pebbles. that were certainly
not hailstones. After the storm II is a
fact that the sidewalks were strewn
with such pebbles which fell while the
storm was in progress. Altogether the
people of Olneyville had a great deal to
talk about, both during and after the
storm.
A SECOND STORM.
AT 1920 o'clock last evening there was
another thunderstorm and cloudburst.
The rain fell in torrents for an hour
and seriously interfered with several
social functions and the attendance at
the theatres. Washouts on the high
ways were reported from the several
police precincts. The heavy rain con-
tinued for more than one hour. Light
ming struck the chimney in DIR. Horace
Miller's house. 260 Benefit street. The
chimney was knocked over and stove "A
hole in the roof besides damaging the
furniture. 1t also struck the house OF
John O'Brien on Ascham street and
clapboards were broken off. a hole in
the wall was made and the plastering
broken.
One rather unusual result OF the ex-
cessive heat yesterday was that the
new rails on Washington bridge were
so expanded that after IL o'clock the
draw could not be sufficiently closed for
the passage of the electric cars. Chang
ing cars and much irregularity was
caused. Manager Potter stated that
the expansion of the rails was matter
of ordinary occurrence on warm days.
The fact that these rails were new ac-
counted for much OF the trouble. Tsu-
ally some allowance is made for such
expansion i'm laying the rails. but in this
case Il was not sufficient. As result
about one-half inch had to no crt off
the end of each rail before the draw
bridge could be properly closed.