The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-08-25
JERSEY CITY STORM
WORST YET EXPERIENCED IN ITS
HISTORY.
MUCH DAMAGE TO PROPERTY.
Rrr NONE REPORTED To LIFE OR
%. LIMB.

m,xo storms Seemingly met and
Church and n Theater Nearly
Wrecked-In the Latter Two Ter
,ifed Lions Were the Cause of
Panic TO Rehearsing Actors-Trees
Inrooted and Blown Down in
Every Direction.
New York, Aug. 25.-A most violent
md protracted rain storm accompanied
hv wind, which at times in some Sec
.ons approached the proportions of a
hurricane, swept over New York City,
West Chester county and the north
eastern portion of New Jersey this af-
+arnoon. The most damage so far re-
norted was at Jersey City, where build
ings were wrecked, including church
and a theater. Rain had been falling
,ntermittently all the morning, and
about p. m. the low hanging clouds
hegan to discharge torrents of water,
and this was kept up until after 5
o'clock
About 8 o'clock the wind increased
nightly in violence and at $3.50 o'clock
Jersey City began to have the worst
storm experienced 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 condition
resulted. Horses standing in Newark
avenue. and the wagons to which
\
Telegraph poles and wires fell. A mo-
ment or two 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.
Two blocks south of st. Marys
Church and nearly on a line with it
on Newark avenue, is the Bijou Thea
ter. 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 their cages
on the stage when the terrific rush OF
wind made the building tremble. Warn
ing cries caused the performers to
leave the stage not a second too soon.
Bricks came down from the high Walls,
running the stage and bending in the
lions, cage. The lions roared in terror.
AS the performers rushed out a shout
was raised that the lions were loose
and the crowd which had sought shell
ter in the corridor fled 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 theater, the roofs of twelve
three-story buildings were ripped of.
Great pieces of tin fell in the street.
The roofs were so completely ruined
that the rain soon deluged the build
ings.
NanVorst Park, the ornament of the
most pretentiouS part of the downtown
community, was the scene of the
storms fiercest wreck. 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 drop
ped on the broken remnant of tree.
No one was reported as killed or in
jured.
The storm in New York city was
confined to a heavy downpour of rain
with a violent wind. It was the heav-
lest in the Bronx, where the streets
were flooded. The cut through which
the Harlem division of the New York
Central and Hudson River Railroad
runs from Melrose to Williams bridge,
was flooded to depth of from two to
four feet. At the Fordham station
there was considerable sand on the
railroad tracks and trains were unable
to get through.