The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1910-01-12
A BLOW IN JAMAICA
Things That Happen When a Big
Stern Breaks Loose There.
A WEST INDIAN HURRICANE.
II viii Leap Out of Clear Sky and
Level Almost Everything In Its
Path - Then Comes TorrentiaI
Downpour That Ends In Flood.

Downpour That Ends In a Flood
Have you ever been through West
indian hurricane? said man who
has lived in the tropics on and off for
n number of years. do you want to
know what the experience Is like?
"a hurricane will leap out Of clear
sky. swoop down on a city. blow ey-
erythlng in It's path fiat and pass on.
Then follows the tall Of the hurricane,
II steady breeze blowing In the same
direction. but at n much lower veloci-
ty. This Is likely to continue for
many hours, sometimes for many days,
and Is always accompanied by tor.
rental downpour of rain.
II was In Kingston. Jamaica. Al the
time of the hurricane of 1908. At Q
O'clock In the afternoon | was In my
Office ON the top floor Of rickety
wooden building. AS suddenly AS a
clap OF thunder the room went dark.
81 had pretty good idea of what
was about TO happen and, going to tho
window, looked out across the roofs.
A black cloud had whirled up out OF
the southwest, obscurlng the sun, but
the mountains back OF the city were
still golden with light.
"In less than n quarter OF an hour
the wind reached us. The first struc-
ture that Went was wooden watch
tower about 200 feet high that had
been used In the old days to locate
ships approaching the harbor. II had
weathered ull previous hurricanes, but
this time II went down like house OF
cards. Spars of lumber from that
tower were carried as far as twenty
blocks before they came to the ground.
"Then the spire of the church went,
the roofs Of good many residences
were torn Off. and some fine palm trees
In the public gardens snapped OF about
halfway from the ground. Buildings In
Kingston. however. are calculated TO
stand pretty severe blow. They are
built only few stories high. and tho
roofs present broad and compare.
lively hat surface to the wind. Consid
ering the velocity at which that hurri-
cane was travelling. the damage was
not great. Even my crazy office build
ing withstood 1t. But the tail Of the
thing followed, with Heavier rain
To say that 1t came down in bucket.
fuls would be mild. 1t was as II the
clerk of the weather had taken the
plug out of some huge vat suspended
above our heads and allowed the wa.
tar s,t,. I..ts a
"ln three hours the macadam on the
streets had been washed into the har-
Dor. The street outside my window
was rushing river as much rs four
feet deep In places. saw q cart try
to cross II. but with the water above
the axle of the wheel and tho horses
legs being washed away from under 1t
It was an impossible task. and the
driver turned back. Big casks and
packing cases were dancing on the sur
face like corks
AS you can imagine. | did not get
home to supper that evening. II was y
o'clock before the rain stopped and the
water In the streets had drained into
the harbor. Even then traffic had not
begun to reorganize itself.
1.-The trolley ear tracks had been
washed out. and no cars were rum
ming. Cabs. however. were doing a
roaring business, and eventually | got
cabman to drive me home for three
times his customary charge.
''rhe damage TO property in King
ston mounted up to hundreds Of thou
sands OF dollars. but the real destruc-
ton was wrought In the country dis
tricts. Floods wiped out many a negro
village aud sent the timsy houses
floating down the rivers. The railroads
were tied up for nearly n week. Every
banana tree In the path Of the hurri-
cane was uprooted. oh. yes. a West
Indian hurricane can do LOT OF dam
age when II gets busy.
"Loss of life. did you say? or course
there was. Nearly 200 people were
killed throughout the island on that &C.
casion. but we grow accustomed to
that In the West Indies. We expect
hurricane every once IN awhile. and
we know that II will take Its toll Of
human life when II comes. lf you had
been telling the story you would prob
ably have mentioned that first OF all,
but sudden death Is so common below
the tropic OF Cancer that we get cal
ious. suppose. "-New York Sun.