The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-07-23

the Whit -Eunnei. ped Cloud Mows II
Swath AGO Feet Wide ami TNrce Nlllcs
Wreckasc cuts OH Top OF Boys Head
White he Is Running for EOme-rwO
Women Escape Ero:n Ruins of a House.
dis. strous tornado struck Pater-
son. n. j.. at o'clock yesterday after
noon. travelling from the southwest
to the northeS st ccro"s "a" city, cc.using
great destruction TO property, making
about sixty families homeless. killing four
persons, so fer as known az present, and
injuring scores OF others
The storm came from tho direction OF
Montcliir, ilonk the Notch Yoad. As IL
struck the outskirts of the city. at South
Paterson, those who scw ii scy tibet it did
not then have the rotary motion Of a tor
, nCdo, but 2 little further OF there was no
question Of its oh; rGcter. 1t was q "twister,
with q pCth about four hundred feet wide,
Gnu IL ltlt IhIll III itS MtshS'
The tornado was accompanied by heavy
rainstorm which lasted about twenty min
utes. The whole city was in darkness for
a short time. The tornado came with
| terrible suddenness, and passed off almost
as quickly. Men who saw its approach
say that they could moi estimate its speed
They had hardly time to run into houses
when it was upon them, wrecking their
homes.
The tornado struck Paterson at Barclay
and Dakota streets, in the southwestern
quarter of the city, and pursued a path about
| parallel to the upper reach of the Passaic
River and about a mile east of IL. 1t left
the city at The Boulevard and Ninth avenue,
crossing the lower stretch Of the Passaic
and vanishing to the northeast. The length
of its path across the city is about three
miles, and over more than half this distance
| very few buildings were left unchanged
! In the northeastern section of the city
! which is filled with fine residences, the
storm apparently lost r. great deal of ts
| fury, and its antics we're mild compared
with those in the lower part of the city.
The section which the storm struck first
| houses inhabitatcd by mill hands and
laborers These houses were of flimsy
construction. and it was among them that
the greatest havoc was done Entire
houses We're demolished and the streets
where piled high with debris, Timbers
were carried by the wind for blocks and
went crashing through the walls of build
ings From Barclay street the storm
crossed Main street. travelled over the
Erie Railroad tracks, and passed through
what is known as the Sandy Will section,
where de- truCtion was wrought almost rs
bad az that along Barclay street,
Along Madison avenue trees were blown
down on one side of the street end left stand
ing on tho other clearly marking the path
of the storm. The General Hospital 1T
| Market Cnd Mrdison streets WIS in is
WY. hut sFtnr ticking pert of tn" roof of
! this building the storm seemed TO become
less vicious. md the fine residences in the
Fest Side section, although the storm
NJ sset over them, did not show very serious
damage.
Had the, storm shown the same fury
there thrt il did in the lower pert OF its
prth the loss to property would have been
lust fluut double wha' it is. just what
the dG NJ &c done by the torn3do amounts
to will not be known prohThly for some
DAYS II hes rained in torrents since the
tornado disappeFro red End few people IN
the re- in nd darkness; last night could form
any accurate estimate "f the damage.
Ono estimate was S20O,OOO. but this may
ho far below the actual figures The police
were ordered out TO guard the ruins in that
part of the storms path where the greatest
havoc was wrought and not for some time
will it be known Just what did occur in
many places.
The cvClonir character of the storm took
everybody in Paterson by surprise. Al
though the city has been unfortunate in
having been visited with fir" and hood in
the last wear and half, few imagined
that it could suffer from a tornado, a.
mountains protect the city on three sides,
These mountains have broken III" force oi
many severe storm heretofore
Yesterdays storm came around the end
of Garrett Mountain, which is about mile
southwest of the city, II had been raining
off and ON all the afternoon, with heavy
thunder and sharp lightning For brief
period before the visit Of the tornado the
rain ceased Then it fell harder than ever.
II was about O'Clock when neopa in the
out skirts, who had n good view toward
the mountain caught sigh, Of the "twister
approaching.
At first, according To thOs" who had a
good view of il, il looked like he ordinary
black thunder-coud. II moved great
deal faster han the ordinary storm cloud
onI sweDt Through the not oh LA he noun