The Washington herald., 1907-09-22
DAMAGEIN new YORK
Half-hOur Storm Worst Felt
There in Years.
QUEER PRANK OF LIGHTNING
Dividing in Mid Air. Bolt strikes
Hospital and Church Three Blocks
Apart, Soaring Patients and Break
ing ID Confessional, Besides split
tins the Metal StcepIe.

New York. Sept. g--The liveliest kind
of an electrical storm played about the
city at 5 o'clock this afternoon. II had
been threatening an the afternoon and
gathered considerable fury before il
broke. and then there was a constant roar
of thunder and the sky pyrotechnics were
vivid.
The clouds were so dense that electric
lights were turned on in all downtown
buildings. Rain feu in torrents. and came
down so suddenly that many were
drenched in running for shelter. For
tunately for those who were caught the
storm did not last long. and in half an
hour the rain had stopped and the clouds
were clearing away. At the weather bu-
reau it was said that the storm was a
most severe one. and what was more re-
markable was that the rainfall amounted
TO 4-l0Gths of an inch, and this fell in
from fifteen to twenty minutes. Before
Jne storm the temperature was s. de-
grees. and at $50 o'clock it had fallen to
IS degrees.
over in Brooklyn there was a hailstOTm.
and for about i've minutes hailstOnes fell
heavily in the business section of the
town and about the city hall Ia Flush
ing there was a high wind with the
storm, and some damage was done.
The wind did considerable damage in
Queens County. At Whitestone it was
declared to be the worst storm in twenty
years. Trees, signs, and awnings were
blown down, and lightning set fire u two
barns and put the electric lighting plant
out of business.
Hits Church and Hospital.
4 bolt of lightning falling while the
storm was at its height. split in two in
mid-air. striking a church and "a hospital
three blocks apart, damaging both build
ings and setting the occupants in a panic.
The hospital. St GATHERINGS. is located
at Bushwick avenue and Ten Eyck street.
Williamsburg. The church. the German
Roman Catholic Church of st. Nicholas.
is at Devoe and Olive streets.
The excitement in the hospital was in
tense. one hundred and sixty patients
were scattered through the five floors
The terrific detonation of the bursting
thunderbolt threw the patients into tn,
utmost CONSERVATION. The sisters in
charge Of the hospital the house ply
sician and surgeon. and the attendants
ran through the various wards assuring
the terrified patients that there was no
danger but their utmost efforts barely
kept the patients I'm their beds. Some OF
the sisters themselves. too terrified tc
help rushed into the chapel and fell be
fore the altar praying for help.
No less confusion was occasiOned by
the part of the bolt which struck the 81
Nicholas Church. on this building are
four metal spires, twenty feet high. and
standing one on each corner. The Spirc
on the southeast corner was shattered by
this part Of the bolt and tilted over to-
ward the street at a dangerous angle
but did not fall. Within the church were
forty parishioners and Fathers Hoffman,
and Bender who We're i'm the confession
ais. The lightning, after shattering the
spire. ran down the wall of the church in
great streaks of fire. Some of those
within the building fell on their knees in
fright while others rushed franticaIly tc
the sidewalk and there knelt in the
drenching rain.
Reseryes Called to Church.
The two priests ran from their confes-
sionals and tried to reassure their parish
toner's, but order was not completely re-
stored until the arrival Of the police re-
serves from the Herbert street station.
The Long Island side Of BIackwells Isl
and bridge seemed To be the particular
playground for lightning and small tor
nadOes during the progress of the storm
A steel travelling crane. capable of lift
ing sixty tons, which was situated on a
track in the RavenswOod Park track,
near where the Long Island City span of
the new bridge approaches its anchorage
east of Vernon avenue. was struck by a
bolt Of lightning and torn asunder into a
complete wreck.