The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1910-01-12
A BLOW IN JAMAICA
Things That Happen When a Big
Storm Bre AXIS Loose There.
A WEST INDIAN HURRICANE.

" VIII Leap Out OF Clear SKY and
Level Almost Everything In Its
Path - Then Comes a Torrential
Downpour That Ends In a Flood.
Have you ever beelk through West
Indian hurrcane?" said man who
has lived in the tropics on and off for
number of years. "Do you want to
know what the experience is like?
"a hurricane will leap out of clear
sky, swoop down on city, blow ev-
erythlng 'in its path Hat and pass on.
Then follows the tail Of the hurricane.
a steady breeze blowing in the same
direction, but at much lower velocl
ty. This Is likely TO continue fol
many hours, sometimes for many days
and is always accompanied by tor.
rental downpour of rain.
~ was in Kingston. Jamaica. at the
time of the hurricane of 1903, At 3
O'Clock In the afternoon | was In my
Office on the top floor of rickety
wooden building AS suddenly as
II had Il pretty good idea Of what
was about to happen and. going to the
winG -... Uoked out across the roofs.
"A black cloud had whirled up out of
the southwest obscuring the sun. but
the mountains back Of the city were
still golden with light. -
"In less than Il quarter of an hour
the wind reached us. The first struc-
ture that wenl was wooden watch
tower about 900 feet high that had
been used In the old days to locate
ships approaching the hnrbOr 1t had
weathered all previous hurricanes. but
this time 1t 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 Off about
halfway from the ground buildings IN
Kingston, however. are calculated to
stand pretty severe blow. They are
built only few stories high. and the
roofs present broad and compare
lively fiat surface TO the wind Consul
ering the velocity at which that hurr
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
than ] have ever seen before or since
lt1f mo n, I'm laf
fulS would be mild II was as If the
clerk Of the weather had taken the
plug out of some huge vat suspended
above our heads and allowed the wa
ter to plump straight down on us.
SIN three hours the macadarl on the
streets had been washed into the har
Dor The street outside my window
was a rushing river as much as four
feet deep III places, saw cart try
to cross it, but with the water above
the axle of the wheel and the horses
legs being washed away from under it
1t 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. 1t was
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.
'"The trolley car tracks had been
washed out, and no cars were run.
ming. Cabs. however. were doing a
roaring business. and eventually | got
q cabman to drive me home for three
times his customary charge.
i, "The damage to property in King
etoD mounted up to hundreds of thou
sands of dollars. but the real destruc.
Hon was wrought In the country dis.
tricrs. Floods wiped out many negro
village aud sent the himsy houses
floating down the rivers. The railroads
were tied up for nearly a week. Every
banana tree In the path of the hurri
cane was uprooted Oh. yes. IA West
Indian hurricane can do lot of dam
age when II gets busy
"Loss of life. did you say'i OF course
there was. Nearly 200 people were
Killed throughout the island on that oc.
Easion, but we grow accustomed to
khat in the West indies We expert a
hurricane every once in awhile. and
we know that it will take its toll of
human lie when 1t comes. If you had
been telling the story you would prob
ably have mentioned that first Of all
but sudden death Is so common below
hha tronic of Cancer thot yp ppt cal
Aous, | suppose" New York Sun
AIh;on and coIun,h;a