Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1908-07-03
TERRIFIC HAIL STORM
1t Was a Local Visitation Breaking
Directly Over the Village
Windows Broken by Hall, Garden Crops
Cut to Pieces and the Roads Badly
Washed.

years, and with high wind visited Brat
! tleboro yesterday afternoon and did much
! damage. The storm appeared to be con-
| lined rather strictly to Brattleboro and a
little south. There was scarcely any rain
or hail in Dummerston, only a slight
| sprinkle on Ames hill and no hail fell at
the dam site although the shower was
brisk for time there Even at West
| Brattleboro the shower was not looked
upon as a heavy one and the hail stones
| came only internationally.
| The lightning struck at several places
about town, although little damage was
| DONE The greatest damage was at the
| home of Chauncey 1. Dickinson on Clark
street A bolt struck the corner of the
ell to tho house and descended to the
ground. Mr. Dickinson was standing in
the back doorway watching the storm
and was stunned and thrown to the
| ground. Mrs. Dickinson ran to a neigh
| boris for help but when she returned Mr..
Dickinson had recovered and was pump
ing water with which to put out the fire
| which had started in a closet upstairs
through which the lightning passed. Sew
eral states were torn off the roof sew
eral clapboards were loosened and a
| board was torn from the house and hurl-
| ed to a neighboring garden. When the
| lightning descended to the ground floor il
tore off large section of plastering. A
| telephone call was sent in to the fire sta
ton and the chemical engine responded
| Dut udu uOlHlnB TO 40 Wnen IL arrived
During the storm a number of bricks
were dislodged from chimney of tho
Brattleboro House and 1t is possible that
| lightning may have struck there. AS
there was no sign of it on the inside Of
the house it is more probable that they
were loosened by the wind or hail. The
storm was at its height over Esteyville
and the lightning was striking in every
direction. A maple tree in front Of
George Bishops house on Maple street
was struck and shortly afterwards the
wires were struck at almost the same
place. Several bolts of lightning went
down among the trees on top of the hill.
| The lightning played havoc with the tele-
phone lines and communication by wire
was attended with vexation or was i'm
possible. Many lines were out of COM
mission altogether and others were badly
crippled. At the dam site the lightning
hit a dynamo cable but did little damage.
Few people remember ever having seen
such a fall of hail. The shower started
in with gusts of violent rain with the wind
| blowing brislkly from the SOUTH After
| about 10 minutes of intermittent rain the
| hail came and continued to come for
about 20 minutes. But few of the pellets,
were smaller than ten cent pieces and
many were fully an inch in diameter.
Their fall was like the pelting of good
| sized marbles. Here and there an ir-
regular mass, where the hail stones were
| frozen together was found which meas
ured several inches across. The hail cut
| the leaves from the trees and laid waste
| the gardens. Corn was laid fiat but will
| probably recover as 1T was not tail
| enough to be actually broken off. Po-
tatoes suffered badly, the hail cutting
the vines almost to pieces. Tomatoes
were badly cut and unless they were Sc
curely staked suffered much damage. All
| delicate plants were cut to pieces and
many woman went out after the storm
| to mourn over the wreck of her flower
| bed Luckily for the tobacco growers the
| violent hail was confined to Brattleboro.
| None fell in Hinsdale or Vernon so far
as known. So thickly did the hail come
that in many places it lay on the grass
| several inches deep and could be scooped
up by the dipperful. At least one woman
| tried the experiment of using the hail
stones to freeze ice cream with and de-
clared that 1t was perfect cuccess and
saved much trouble.
c. e. Allen, the florist and scotsman,
lost heavily from the shower, more than
100 lights Of glass being broken in his
| greenhouses and much of his outdoor
| gardens being ruined He recalls a
shower about 1869 which he believes was
as violent as this one, but knows of none
| like 1t since Several windows were re-
ported to be broken by the hail at va
| rious places in town.
Although the wind came from the south
1t was no summer zephyr. From a few
|
worst had passed, it blew in violent
gusts, thrashing the trees about and do
| ing its full share of damage. to the To-
liage and to the gardens. 1t laid low the
growing things in the gardens and al
| lowed the hail to take them at a dis
advantage. Several fine shade trees were
nearly ruined by the wind besides the
| large number that lost the best of their
| foliage through the threshing it gave
them. One tree in the yard of Mrs Ellen,
Donahue on Elliot street lost a large
limb which was blown off and fell across
the telephone and electric light wires in,
| the street tree below the depot was
| split by the wind. All the sidewalks and
| lawns were Uttered with fallen leaves
and broken branches and it will be some
time before the trees resume their normal
| appearance
One of the worst features of the storm
was the destruction of bird life. Just at
| this time the nestlings are getting ready
| to leave the nests or have already flown.
The violent wind threw many Of the little
| birds out of their nests and left them at
the mercy Of the hail and rain. In the
| thick woods there was ample shelter and
| protection and they escaped with a good
| wetting but in more open ground they
were doubtless killed in large numbers
| Several young robins were found dead
or dying on the sidewalks, having been
| thrown from their nests in the trees over
| head. The birds which nest on the
ground were also in bad plight as the
water rose so suddenly that many Of
their nests must have been flooded and
the nestlings drowned.
The greatest damage, in a financial
way, is to the roads which were badly
washed by the sudden rush OF water
They were so dry and dusty before the
rain that when 1t came great gullies were
washed out. 1t was bad enough right in
the village where the streets on the hills
suffered heavily, but on the dirt roads
just outside of town the damage was
much greater. milestone brook rose in
half an hour from a placid summer
stream to a raging muddy torrent. It's
trail of mud and debris could be seen far
out into the Connecticut river for hours
after the downfall. Although the actual
fall of rain was not officially recorded Il
was said by men who have watched the
weather for half century that they had
never seen so much water fall In so short
a time nor had they ever seen hail
storm of such violence. It is. probably
comparable only to the memorable storm
OF 1869. f-}
One Of the liveliest places during the
hail storm was at the depot. The stones
i pelted the horses so numerically that
they were all driven on to the platform
while their drivers and the trainmen
amused themselves by pelting each other
with hail stones.