The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1901-08-27
CYCLONE UNROOFs HOUSES
AND WRECKS CHURCHES.
SMALL PANIC AT THEATER
Trolley Wires Down - Railroads
Covered with Several
Feet of Water.

New York, Aug. GA most violent
and ~protracted rain storm accom-
panied by wind which at times in
some sections approached the proper
tions of a hurricane, swept over New
York City, West Chester county and
the northeastern portion of New Jer-
sey this afternoon. The most damage
SO far reported was at Jersey City,
where buildings were wrecked, in
Guiding a church and a theatre. Rain
had been falling internationally all
morning, and about 1 p. m. the low
torrents of water, and this was kept
up until after 5 o'clock. About 3
o'clock the wind increased nightly
in violence and at $3.50 Jersey City
began to have the worst storm exper-
fenced in it's history. Blasts of wind
carried widespread destruction.
Two wind storms seemingly met in
the neighborhood of Newark avenue
and Barrow street and a cyclonic con-
dition resulted. Horses standing in
Newark avenue and the wagons to
which they were hitched were blown
yer. Telegraph poles and wires fell.
A moment later the steeple of st.
Mary's Roman Catholic church, the
largest in the city, fell backward upon
the church, striking the roof. Piles
of brick from the spire crashed
through the roof and down upon the
pews.
The two blocks south of st. Mary's
church and nearly on a line with it on
Newark avenue is the Bijou theatre.
''The Man Who Dared" company was
rehearsing for an opening of the
theatre for the season.
Al Two lions that are used in the
play were in cages on the stage
when a sudden rush of wind made the
building tremble. Warning cries
caused the performers to leave the
stage not a second too soon. Bricks
came down from the high walls, ruin
ing the stage and bending in the lions
cage. The lions roared in terror.
AS the performers rushed out a
shout was raised in the street that
the lions were loose and the crowd
which had sought shelter in the cor
ridor fed panic stricken. The lions
did not escape but their cages were
hit and the beasts were cut by the
bricks, but the bars held them.
On the south side of Newark avenue
opposite the theatre the roofs of IL
three-story buildings were ripped off
and great pieces of tin fell in the
street. The roofs were so completely
ruined that the rain soon deluged the
buildings.
An immense telegraph pole just
east of the theatre fell against the
brick building on the north side of
the street. Show windows crashed and
the glass Uttered the street. The
breaking of the wires stopped the
trolley cars moving up Newark ave-
u and in many other parts of the
city the cars stopped because the
wires We're broken.
Between the theatre and st. Marv's
church is the st. Boniface Roman
Catholic church. It's roof was loosen
ed in places. The storm struck st.
Mathews German Lutheran church,
demolishing the roof and part of the
steeple. At Van Worst park trees,
that were the growth of man de-
cades, were uprooted or broken off
as though they were made of pipe
clay. A piece of the roof of the Union
League club, opposite the middle of
the park, was carried over to the park
and dropped on a broken tree. No n
was reported as killed or injured.
The storm in New York City was
confined to a downpour of rain with
a violent wind. 1t was the heaviest
in the Bronx, west streets were food
ed. The Harlem division of the New
York Central and Hudson river rail
road which runs from Melrose to Will
Inns bridge was flooded to a depth of
from two to four feet. The branch
running between Port Morris and
Melrose and used exclusively for
freight traffic is covered, it is esti-
mated, with five feet Of water mixed
with sand. The same is true o sthe
branch running between Pennyfeld
and West Chester.