Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1909-1915, 1910-01-28
Il Will Leap Out Of a Clear SKY and
Level Almost Everything IN It's
Path - Then Comes Torrential
Downpour That Ends IL q Flood. s3S$

direction. but at much lower veloct.t
E. This Is likely to continue for.
many hours, sometimes for many days,
and is always accompanied BY q tor
rental downpour Of rain. 81: #
II was In Kingston, Jamaica, at the
time Of the hurricane Of 1903. AT 3
o'clock In, the afternoon5I was Ia my
Office Cd The top door Of srtckety
wooden building. As sud denly as "a
clap Of thunder the room went dark. I
Il had a pretty good idea OF what
was about to happen and. going to the
window, looked 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. u, :: n: 53.f2s
I'm less than quarter Of an hour
the wind reached MS. The first struc-
turea that went. was q wooden watch:
tower about 200 feet high that had
been used In the old days, to locate
ships approaching the harbor. It had
weathered all previous hurricanes, but
this time it went down: like a house Of
cards. Spars Of lumber from that
tower were carried as far ais twenty
blocks before they came to the ground.
'Then the spire Of the church went,
the. roofs Of a 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. aapretty severe blow They are
built only few stories high. and the
roofs present a broad and compare.
lively fiat surface to the wind: Consid.
ering the velocity at which that hurrd.
cane was travelling, the damage was
not great. Even my crazy office build:
ing withstood 1t. But the tail Of .the
thing followed, with a heavier rain
than %I#have ever seen before or since
To say that it came down In bucket:
fuls would be mild 1t was as IL 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: (
I'm three hours the macadam on the
streets had been washed into the har.
Dor. The street outside my window
was rushing river as much as four
feet deep in places. i saw a cart try
to cross it, but with the water above
the axle of the wheel and the, horses
legs being washed away from under ii
it was an impossible task, and the
driver turned back. i Big casks and
packing cases were dancing on the sur
face like corks. "a, r -. r.! e +
"As you can imagine, / did not gel
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 no,
begun to reorganize itself, . :, 6. ;s 5:
'The trolley car tracks had been
washed out, and no cars were run
ming. Cabs, however, were doing 8
roaring business, and eventually | got
cabman to drive me home for three
times bis customary charge. -. :. ss s :: 7
The damage to property In King,
ston mounted mp to hundreds of thou,
sands Of dollars, but the real destruc
hon was wrought In the country dis
:tricts. Floods wiped out many negro
village and sent the fimsy houses
floating down the rivers. The railroads
We're tied up fer nearly q week. Every
banana tree in the path Of the hurri
cane was uprooted. Oh. yes, q West
Indian hurricane can do lot Of dam
age when 1t gets busy. T. n 5r j t.; g. y
Loss Of life. did you say OF course
there was. Nearly 200 people were
killed throug hout the island on that ioc
casion. but we grow accustomed .te
that in the West Indies. We expect q
hurricane every once in awhile, and
we know that It Will take Its toll 81
human life when 1t comes. If you had
been telling the story you would prob
ably have mentioned that first aof all
but sudden death is SO common below
the tropic OF Cancer that we get cal
lous, I.suppose. - New York Sun. 81