The evening star and Newark advertiser., 1907-09-24
DAMAGE BY STORM
ONE THAT SWEPT CITY
SMASHED THINGS.
Hit Fair Grounds and Caused Some Ex-
citement-Wind Leaves wreckage
in Its Path.

- hc NCAiiHC RAIN dnu WHO SlCTIl Ol
yesterday afternoon swept across Olym-
pic Park, the scene of the Essex County
Fair, and left ruin in its path, tearing
up trees, destroying tents that housed
exhibits and injuring a number of prize
animals and fowls, and to top the cii-
max blew a portion of the music hall
off the grounds. But for the efforts of
the employees at the grounds greater
damage would have been done.
The ravages of the storm spread all
trees uprooted, electric wires torn from
poles and in several instances fiimsy
buildings laid low by the combined ef.
fort of the rain and wind.
This city especially had to bear the
brunt of the savage onslaught, the un-
protected northern section of tile city
suffering most severely, where trees
were felled, in several places tearing
holes in roofs, ripping shutters off and
damaging windows.
The total rainfall for the lay, &C
cording to the records at the local
weather bureau, was 2.34 inches.
Today General Superintendent OF
Works Shipman, of the Board Of Works,
with a force of men is visiting various
parts of the city, removing fallen trees
and other debris, and expects that 1t
will be several days before the 1amago
caused by the storm will be entirely
removed. And in this respect the storm
will hit the city tax office in another
form, when property owners in front OF
whose property trees will have to be
removed, find the cost of the removal
added to their tax bills.
During the height of The storm an
aged German woman with several little
boys was seen chasing wildly through
West Side Park in pursuit of :, num-
bcr of agile porkers that departed from
their happy home when an extra rtrong
gust of wind had carried their pen
away, and showed a strong inclination
to enjoy their liberty without restraint.
The last seen of the porkers and their
aged owner was n meteoric flash going
down Springfield avenue.
And there was something doing when
the tents began to fall at the fair
grounds First the tent containing the
prize fowl went with crash, and the
air was filled with flying blue-blooded
poultry, while the bedfaggled attend
ants made vain efforts to convert them
selves into flying machines to capture
the bewildered fowl, and while they
were busy at this the pigeon tent went
and the feathered tenants rose wildly
and soon disappeared through the driv-
ing rain.
At this juncture the helpers threw up
their hands and sent for reinforce
ments to the Irvington police depart
ment, and Chief Greene sent out Po-
lcemen Finnegan, Wolfe, Browner and
Coleman. They arrived in time to help
corral the prize dogs, whose covering
was snatched away by the wind. a
number of animals were tangled IN the
debris and suffered injuries, and sew
eral more escaped and are now at large
in the woods surrounding the park
But the most of them were caught
and tied in various parts OF the park
The damage to the music hall was
quickly repaired, but owing to the
small attendance no performance was
given last night. Manager Herman
Schmidt, of Olympic Park, declared
that everything would be In shape by
this afternoon.
In the centre of the city the water
and WinG-SWept streets were diiio9e
deserted, only those that were forced
to be out Drawing the elements.
There was mistaken idea that the
storm of yesterday was the equinox,
but many thought that it was several
equinoxes rolled together. 1t may nave
been the forerunner of the astronomical
phenomena when the sun strikes verti-
cally the imaginary line called the
equator, and the days and nights VIII
be of equal duration. In other words
the sun will Gross the line at O'Clock
this afternoon, and will continue south
of the equator until about December
%. during which time the days Will
be shorter than the nights
From the latter date the nights VIII
shorten until March 22, when the YER
nall equinox will have begun
According to the almanac ana pop
ular belief the equinox began two days
ago, but astronomical observation ana
deduction shows that this year 1t is
two days late, which can be accounted
for by the fact that the revolutions OF
the earth on Its axis around the sun
does not always correspond with the
number of days in the calendar year,
and this simple fact Is what caused the
equinox to be considered belated by the
uniuformed.