The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-04-19
HAIL SOUNDS like
PATTER OF BULLETS
Heaviest Storm in Years Hits
City and Paralyzcs
All Traffic.
ROUGH ON CHICKS AND TREES
Icy Pellets Big as Robin Eggs
Do Damage to Trees
and Shrubs.

with the booming of thunder and
the rattle of million sent bullets.
the elements broke loose yesterday
afternoon. and treated Richmond to
| the heaviest hail storm the city has;
/ experienced in years. For the ten or
'!'teen minutes of its duration 1t
drove every living being from the
streets, and sent the workmcn on
scaHoidins of the skycrapers scurry-
ing FOR cover. Only the slowly NOV
ing street cars with storm doors
closed and curtains drawn. carefully
picking their way through tho, maze
or falling Ice, remained TO remind the
spectators at the windows that the
arteries of business were still alive
Specimens of the hailstoncs picked
up At the United states Weather
bureaus station a Chimhoraso meas
nred more than an inch throug the
greatest diameter. In tho hal5tonc
blue book chunks of ice Of this size
rank we'll up among the old families.
Expressed moro denocratically. it
means That several billion spheres Of
Ice ranging In size from a robins egg
to crabb apple descended upon
i'!chmond yesterday afternoon within
the space OF twenty-five minutes.
Capitol Squire Icc-Covcrcd.
At the end of the storm the green
turf of Capitol Square had disappear
cd under a blanket of ice For "A few
minutes the park presented the same
appearance 1t maintained during the
zero weeks in January only the
green trees and the Slaughtered
leaves lying at their feet bel!cd I've
midwinter scene. Tho squirrels took
to their heels as soon as the hail be-
gan falling, climbing high ard dry
out OF the storm into their tree
boxes
Despite the spectacle ana the noise
Perhaps the greatest sufferers were
budding fruit trees, In number of
cases trees pink and white with April
blossoms emerged after the lombard
ment stripped TO the naked bark
~ the Broad Street Park. where
Richmond and Petersburg were match :
ed for the opening game of the vir-
gin!a League season. the hail wiped on
:he base lines and packed tho grss
with treachcrous ice. In the Broad
street theatres the pounding OF the
hail upon the roofs all but drowned
the performances.
In the absence of an efficient vital
statistics law, the number of young
chickens That lost their lives Will
probably never he known. Coming n,
the very height of the breeding scason,
the hail wrought heavy carnage among
the feathered youngsters, a single
blow from a onelnch Maidstone des-
cending with the momentum acquired
in two-milc drop. was enough to
brain the hardest among them.
One citizen saved brood OF elgh-
teen chicks only four days old, by
prompt use of the telephone. With the
descent OF the first hailstones he rush
cd TO the booth and warned his wife.
who, as II later developed. was quietly
watching the storm from the front
windows comfortably ensconced be-
tween magazine and n box o: choc O
lates. She reached the back yard IN
the nick OF time, Ia place the room In
position over an exposed COOP.
saving eighteen lives.
Rainfall Was Heavy.
According to records kept by the
local weather bureau station, the rain
and hnilstorm yesterday, considering
the length of tire !, lasted, was the
heaviest In years. In less than ono
hour of precipitation The gauge reg
istcrcd SO inches Of rainfall Rain be-
gan falling at SAP o'clock and tho hail
came two minutes later Al 4 o'clock
the hailstorn had passed. but the rain
continued ten minutes longer.
An early edition OF the storm came
the day began falling Nine minutes
later came the first hail, lasting only
six minutes. By EGG o'clock the sun
was out and remained unobscured un-
I'll the sudden storm OF more than an
hour later. In point of size the hail
stones of yesterdays storm approach ed
closely to the record The largest ones
ever registered by the local station
masuring Is inches in diameter