The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-06-27
FIERCE STURH 1T PI13SB URG.
Great Damage--WOm kil cd-people
 Panic Stricken.

Plttsburg, June 26.-The storm which
 struck Pittsburg and vicinity this at-
 ternoon was snort in duration, put ter
 rife in power and disastrous In result.
 The lightning and thunder was practl-
 cally continuous for about thlrty mln-
 utes, the wind attaining velocity ot
 thirty miles an hour and .46 of an men
 of rain fell. In two minutes of the time .15 of an inch of water fell, which would represent three inches an hour One woman was killed instantly by lightning and several other, persons
 may die from the same cause. Num-
 berless houses and trees were struck by lightning.
 In the city proper no fatalities are reported. but in Homestead Mrs. Alice
 Lester, aged twenty four, was struck by lightning and instantly killed. Her husband is a steel worker employed at Newcastle, Pa.
 Miss Grace Jackson, aged nineteen, of Homestead, was struck and her re- covery is doubtful.
 | Richard Fucker, also of Homestead, was frightfully burned by the electrical | fluid and will hardly recover. | Rev. John Saulton and Clay Flands were badly shocked, but they will re- cover.
 | The waters rushed down the hills around Homestead and literally enguf- l ed the town The extent of the dam age done there Is the worst in the his- | tory of the town and will reach many | thousands of dollars in property loss.
 Besides the numerous houses that were | partially wrecked, four iron bridges Of | the Monongahela street railway were washed out. Dozens of Washouts oc- cured between Pittsburg and Hazle- | wood, and street car travel was sus- pended for over an hour.
 At South avenue park at the end or 1 the Cass Suburban Traction company's l line, a picnic party composed Of l,2oo persons, 700 of whom were children, gathered in the dancing pavilion for shelter from the storm. Lightning struck a tree within eight feet of the
 navilion and set fire to the structure. | The picnickers were panic stricken.
 Fortunately the heavy rain extinguish- ed the flames and though large num- Der of the party were more or less hurt in the panic none were seriously ln- jured.
 | A similar panic ensued at St. Josephs s narochiaI school on Mount Oliver, where commencement exercises were | being held. The hall was filled with | children and their parents when light | ming struck the building, tearing DOT ton of the roof away. Pandemonlum reigned for time but no fatalities are l reported
 All through the south and west ends the storm carried destruction with it. Phillipps' glass house at Nineteenth and Mary streets had it's 1000 pound sheet roof picked up and carried across
 the street. the south side Presbyterian church was struck by lightning and nu-
 merous houses suffered the same fate. Sarah street from Twenty-ninth to l Thir+ieth was field with water as was l also Arlington avenue to Amanda ave- nue, Knoxville. Castle Shannon tunnel
 on the Beltzhoover side caved In and traffic was suspended for the day. A
 heavy landslide at Twenty second | street, Southsde, covered the tracks or the Pittsburg, Virginia and Charleston railroad with mud and stones to the l depth of about fifteen feet and trains
 were blocked.
 The east end and Williamsburg suf- fered equally with other sections of the
 city with the exception of fatalities.
 Sewers overfowed, filling cellars and
 making creeks of the streets; roofs
 were carried away and much minor damage was done but no person was seriously hurt.
 From all surrounding towns reports are coming in telling of the wide l spread damage done by the storm all
 the correspondents uniting in saying 1t
 was the severest known in years,