Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1910-01-15
A BLOW IN JAMAICA
Things That Happen When a Big
Storm Breaks Loose There.
A WEST INDIAN HURRICANE.
II Will Leap Out Of Q cloar Sky and
Level Almost Everything In III
Path - Then Comes q Torrent
Downpour That Ends In a Elond.


Level Almost Everything In 4
Path - Then Comes q Torrent
Downpour That Ends In q Flood. A
Have you ever been through a fest
Indian hurricane?" said a mauNho
has lived In the tropics Oh aud Tor
q number OF years. do you nt to
know what the experience is "!
"a hurricane will leap out "a clear
sky, swoop down on citySlow eV-
erything in its path fat al pass on.
Then follows the tail of thhurricane,
a steady breeze blowing9 the same
direction, but at a mucbo"er Veioci-
ty. This is likely continue TOT
many hours. sometime8tor many days
and Is always accom- anied by tor
rental downpour ofAln.
II was in Kingste Jamaica at the
time OF the hurricae OF 1908 AT y
O'clock in the aftenbon l was in my
office on the tor floor of a rickety
wooden building As suddenly as
clap Of thunder che room went dark
81 had a pretty good idea of what
was about to happen and, going to the
window. looked OBJ across the roofs.
A black cloud had whirled up out of
the southwest, odcuring the sun, but
the mountains blk of the city were
still golden withkght.
ain less than quarter or an hour
the wind reachd us. The first struc-
ture that went las a wooden watch
tower about I'd feet high that had
been used In b old days to locate
ships approachBg the harbor. 1t had
weathered all tevious hurricanes. but
this time II we down ike q house or
cards. Sparsbf lumber from that
tower were cried as far as twenty
blocks before icy came to the ground.
"Then the Dire of the church went,
the roofs of good many residences
were torn of nd some fine palm trees
in the publickrdens snapped Off about
halfway fronhe ground. Buildings In
Kingston, hkever. are calculated to
stand a pref severe blow. They are
built only few stories high, and the
roofs preset broad and compare
lively fat STAGE to the wind. Consid
ering the vFcity at which that burrl-
cane was hveling. the damage was
not great. zen my crazy office build
ing withstd it. Hut the tail of the
thing follced, with q heavier rain
than | has ever seen before or since,
To say th ii came down In bucket
fuls woutbe mild. 1t was as II the
clerk of lie weather had taken the
plug QUIT some huge vat suspended
above ouheads and allowed the wa
ter to plup straight down on us.
"In thr hours the macadam on the
streets II been washed into the har-
Dor. TT street outside my window
was fshing river as much az four
feet de, in places. | saw cart try
to crosdt. but with the water above
the All of the wheel and the horses
legs beg washed away from under 1t
it waian impossible task. and the
driveHurned back. Big casks and
packi1i cases were dancing Oh the sur
face lie prks.
"As loulcan imagine, | did not get
home b spper that evening. 1t was 3
o'clockbeore the rain stopped and the
waterlin he streets had drained into
the h;tcbF Even then traffic had not
begun to sorganize itself.
1.-THE pIley car tracks had been
washed ut, and no cars were run
ming Cos. however. were doing
roaring isiness. and eventually | got
a cabmato drive me home for three
times hcustomary charge.
THE amage to property in King
ston mited up to hundreds of thou
sands dollars, but the real destruc
ton WI wrought in the country dis
tricts loods wiped out many negro
villagtand sent the tiimsy houses
floatirdown the rivers. The railroads
were d up for nearly a week Every
banartree In the path of the hurri-
cane ms uprooted oh. yes. a West
Indislhurricane can do a lot of dam
age len it gets busy.
us of life. did you say? OF course
Their was. Nearly 200 people were
killethroughout the island on that &C.
cast but we grow accustomed to
than the West Indies We expect a
hur,ane every once In awhile. and
wenow that 1t will take its toll of
huin life when 1t comes. II you had
beitelling the story you would prob
alb have mentioned that first of all.
blsudden death Is so common below
tftropic of Cancer that we get cal.
hi l suppose. New York Sun.