Perth Amboy evening news., 1912-08-22
SEVERE STORM FLOODS
PARTS OF CITY; ONE
KILLED BY LIGHTNING
(Continued from page IL

PA aio u u
which probably saved the lives of his
fellow firemen.
The nearness of the lightning caus-
ed the first assistant chief to send
the down town companies back to
their houses in READINGS for another
alarm. On the homeWard trip, when
nearing Warrington street, 1t began
to hail. Jim" the horse attached
to the Lincoln Hose wagon, started
to run away, but after a BLOCK Oh
spirited running, Hanrattie quoted
the animal and all arrived at the
fire house safe in limb, but drenched
to the skin.
Damage ON State Street.
State street from Smith street
to Hall avenue suffered much DAM
age. The awning on the hardware
| store of Max Semer in State street
was almost torn away and other arti-
cles In front of the building swept
loose by the wind and heavy rain.
A wagon loaded with furniture
belonging to a Woodbridge man
started from State and Smith street
at the height of the storm. At JEFF
ferson street the horse became I'M
manageable and started to run away.
Chairs, bedding and other household
articles were soon strewn along the
thoroughfare. The horse fell in
front Of the st. Stephens Polish
Catholic church. The man after
the storm started back over the
quick travelled route and regained
some of the lost articles. Many au-
tomobiles were abandoned by their
| nurrnre ,n1 lriunrc onI loft standing
in State street while the occupants
sought shelter in neaby stores.
Several Horses Runaway.
AS soon as the hail mingled with
the rain, then it was almost an i'm
possibility to guide horses. With the
%downpour of rain hindering ones
view and with the hail pelting the
animal, 1t was not an enViable task.
Several runaWays were caused by the
hail. A horse owned and driven by
Nels Martin, a grocer of Hall ave-
nue., was frightened on Upper Wash
ington street near the Lehigh Valley
railroad crossing, The driver tried
his utmost to check the speed of the
animal. At Amboy avenue and
Washington street the front wheels
locked with a hydrant and the rum
away was brought to a halt. Martin
suffered from a slight scalp wound
as the result of being thrown against
the side of the wagon When it hit
the hydrant. The horse was also cut
and the front part of the wagon de-
molished.
At Washington and State streets a
team attached to a large dump wagon
became frightened and started to
run away. One of the horses fell af-
ter running but several yards and
remained on the ground until after
the storm. bakery wagon belong
ing to a peddler from Budapest turn
ed over at the orn of DeKalb
avenue and Mechanic street and the
horse ran away. The wagon is a to-
tai wreck. Water under the Lehigh
Valley railroad bridges was over six
inches deep and when the apparatus
of Liberty Hook and Ladder Com
pany was on its homeward trip from
a false alarm the water washed the
side steps.
Trolley System Suffers.
Trolley connections between this
city and South Amboy were broken
for several hours owing to the sand
banks washed down on the tracks I'M
der the Pennsylvania bridges in
South Amboy. AS the heavy rains
came from the hills the sand swept
down and buried the tracks. When
traffic was resumed passengers were
forced to transfer at this junction.
At 9 o'clock the trouble was cleared.
Public Service Wires Down.
The Public Service lines suffered
| greatly between the L. V. R. R.
bridges and Woodbridge Creek.
Washouts at Gadek's house and in
front of the American Smelling and
Refining Company's plant tied up
traffic for two hours. Workmen leav-
Ing the various factories along the
line were forced to walk home. Sew
eral young boys endeavored to make
a temporary bridge under the l.. V.
r. r. tracks, but we're unsuccessful.
Stores Are Flooded.
Stores in both State and Smith
streets were flooded and many pri-
vate dwellings suffered loss by water.
Women who went calling for the af-
ternoon left windows up and many
could be seer Drawing the storm to
save their property. Many boats
were loosened from their moorings
and the parties who were sailing on
the bay came to this harbor to be
sheltered from the storm. Several
windows in the chemical works were
broken by the hail.
A good size tree at the corner OF
Gordon and Water streets was blown
over and several electric wires brok-
en-. The cellar Of the Lauer Drug
Company's store was flooded by
backed water. The law offices OF
Thomas A. Christopher in the Ameri-
can building were also flooded. A
window In the Princess Shop in the
same building was smashed.
Lightning Hits School.
Lightning struck public school No
s in Neville street and tore a hole
in the westerly end of the roof, in
curring damage amounting to approx
imately SIS yesterday afternoon
The bolt caused considerable smoke
to pour out of the building anG
neighbors thought for a time it was
afire.
School Commissioner Charles r
Fletcher al apprised of the incident
this morning and, following an inves
tigation, announced that the damage
would amount to about SIS.
New Brunswick Avenue Flood.
New Brunswick avenue from Fay
cite and Division streets to New
street was covered with water abou'
a foot deep during yesterdays storm