The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-08-25
When Bricks from the Building e
struck the Stage and Caused
Two Beasts to Roar in Terror.
DAMAGE IN PENNSYLVANIA
WHERE CREEKS AND RIVERS ARE
FAR OUT OF THEIR BANKS.
Man and Three Boys Drowned While
watching Raging Torrent that
Swept Away a Bridge.

NEW YORK, Aug. PA most violent
and protracted rainstorm, accompanied by
wind. which at times. in some sections. ap-
preached the proportions of a hurricane
swept over New York city. westchester
county and the northeastern portion OF
New Jersey this afternoon. The most dam
age so far reported was at Jersey City,
where buildings were wrecked. including a
church and a theater
Rain had been falling intermittently all
morning. and about l o'clock the low
hanging clouds began to discharge torrents
of water. and this was kept up until after
o'clock. About o'clock the wind In
creased greatly in violence, and at $3.50 Jer-
sey City began to have the worst storm ex-
perienced in its history. Blasts OF wind
carried widespread destruction. Two wind
storms seemingly met in the neighborhood
of Newark avenue and Barrow street, and
a cyclonic condition resulted. Horses stand
ing in Newark avenue and the wagons to
which they were hitched were blow over.
Telegraph poles and wires fell. A moment
or two later the steeple of st. Mary's Ro-
man Catholic Church, the largest in the
city, fell backward upon the church, strik-
ing the roof. Piles of brick from the spire
crashed through the roof and down upon
the pews.
Two blocks south of st. Mary's Church
and nearly on a line with 1t on Newark
avenue is the Bijou Theater. 1.-The Man
Who Dared" company was rehearsing for
an opening of the theater for the season.
Two lions that are used in the play were
in cages on the stage, when sudden rush
of wind made the building tremble. Warn
ing cries caused the performers to leave
the stage not second too soon. Bricks
came down from the high walls running the
stage and bending in the lions cages. 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 corridor
fled, panic-strcken. The lions did not es-
cape, 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 0p-
posite the theater the roofs of twelve three
story buildings were ripped off. 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 theater 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 avenue and in
many other parts of the city the cars
stopped because the wires were broken.
Between the theater and st. Mary's
Church is the St. Bonface Roman Catholic
Church. It's roof was loosened in places.
The storm struck st. Matthew'S German
Lutheran Church, demolishing the roof
and part of the steeple. In Van Worst
Park trees that were the growth of many
decades were uprooted or broken off as
though they were made of pipe clay. A
piece of the roof of the Union League Club.
which stands in York street opposite the
middle of the park, was lifted high and
carried over to the park and dropped on
the broken remnant of tree. No one
was reported killed or injured.
The storm iii New York city was con-
fined to heavy downpour of rain with a
violent wind. 1t the heaviest in
Brooklyn, where the streets were flooded
At the Fordham station of the New York
Central G. Hudson River Railroad there
was considerable sand on the railroad
tracks and trains were unable to get
through. AT the One-nunureu-and-elgnt
third street station the platform on the
downtown side of the railroad was lifted
and washed on TO the tracks. This, with
the water, blocked all the south-bound
trains. while the trains going in the oppo-
site direction became stalled at Melrose
The branch running between Port Morris
and Melrose and used exclusively for
freight traffic is covered, il is estimated
with five feet of water mixed with sand
The same is true of the branch running
between Pennyfield and Westchester.