Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1901-05-16
ALMOST A Cyclone.
G~OLDSBORO'S STORM LAST
NIGHT UNPRECEDENTED
AND 1T WAS ALL HER
OWN.
An Historic Tree Gone.
Daily Argus, Monday.

About Z o'clock yesterday even
ing, in the midst of what gave
promise CT being a gentle May
shower, with an occasional punce
ture of lightning, a dark swing
ing cloud appeared in the South
west and those who saw it and
watched its rapid approach feared
a cyclone, and their fears were al
most realized; for never b,fore has
Goldsboro had such a visitation of
destructive wind-an1 the cloud
in question seems to have struck
Goldsboro alone and spent itself
here. Its visitation Nas, FORUM
a,ely, of brief duration; but in
that time it did great devastation
to trees and fences, and roofs and
telegraph poles. And yet, little
serious damage was done, after
all, to property, wherein Colds
boro is to be congratulated and
still holds the palm as the favored
city by nature and the elements.
The roof of one of the build
ings at the Table factory was
partially taken Of, and the roof
of Mrs. Fl. M. Dewey's home
was partially carried off, a new
frame for a two story residence
in Eastern Goldsboro was blown
down, and the kitchen of Mr.. AL
bert Kornegay was badly dam
aged by a big tree being blown
down upon it, and a number of
fences were blown down. O.her
than these, the damage is cons
fined to trees, many of which
went down under the sudden
blast in all parts of the city. But
the chief tree Of interest that
now lies PROSTATE is the historic
sweetgum that stood opposite
the Southern Express chce at
the corner of East Centre and
Chestnut streets, beneath whose
widespreading branches in years
agone many prominent persons
ages. of political life have spoken
to the public. Among these are
numbered. Jefferson Davis, Pres
ident of the Southern Confed.
eracy, Alexander Fl. Stevens,
Gen. Wade Hampton, Governor
z. b. Vance, and Senator Matt
W. Ransome. Here, too, when
the great fire of 1869 swept the
opposite square. on West Centre
street, in which the Messenger
printing Office was located, AID
while the confagration was still
smouldering, the late ia. Bonitz,
with what material he had been
able to rescue from the flames,
'sgot out" a small edition of the
Messenger, and printed it under
the shade of this tree from a
small Liberty" job prees, which
was clicked" by Mr. W. Fl. Col
Inns, now City Tax Collector, who
was at that time forman of the
Messenger printing house.
Many of Jul citizsns, although
seeing this tree daily for years,
did not know of it's historic past,
and few of them were even cog-
INFANT of the fact that it was a
sweetgum tree.
In falling last night this tree
swept every wire out of the tele-
graph Office, near by, and snapped
the two large telegraph poles adj
iacent to it, rendering the Vests
ern Union office without a single
"ticker' in working order and
doing damage to the Office not less
than five hundred dollars. But a
extra force of hands, by special
car, were soon on the scene, and
by noon to-day they had the office
temporarily equipped for service.
In the meantime, while the storm
was still sobbing itself out over
the wreck it had wrought Mr.. Jno.
G.. Sizer, the efficient manager,