The San Francisco call., 1913-07-31
Wind, Rain, Hail and Light
ming Flail District of Co.
lurnbia-Three Men Perish
in the Ruins of Wrecked
Building-10O Girls Faint
While the Tempest Rages
ENTIRE GOVERNMENT
SUSPENDS OPERATION
River Craft Are Sunk or
Stranded-Countryside Is
Observation-Disclosures on
Capitol Dome Are Buffet
ed in Terrific Gale-Debris
and Dead Birds Litter City

WASHINGTON. Ju'v 80 Like gis nj
fail. = crelonic storm OF wind rain
and hail whipped back ana forth across
he nations capital today. Leaving dea tn
snd ruin in It's wake. There We're
tilHd. scores injured and hundreds OF
thousands or dollars worth Of prop
"~ty mined. according to hurried
can~ass made when the city aroused
SELF tro~a half an hour OF helpless
0N@e in the grasp of the elements
Out q b'a-ins sky. unde- which
- oitv vas So A,tering with the tenn
"erstu~e at the 100 noirt. cane the
~-o-r0- roa~inc fro-o TIE north. drlv-
're mass Of clouds that cast man
r total 6artnees over The town
rhH gale. reaching velocity OF near
- - miles an hour swept the streets
'esr Vnroofed houses. tore detached
~-~sll structures from their foundations.
'vfecked one office building overturned
- gors End "a ria ges in the streets and
sv-ept WaShington's hundred parks.
'.a~ing huge branches from trees and
even uprooting sturdy old elms. the
landmarks CT a century.
sstRALYZEs CITY
Tonight washine;on-$ we'll kept
streets. with their wealth of trees. are
Uttered with broken boughs. roofs and
dead birds
As the wind wreal,ed its havoc the
rein came and in FIVE minutes the tenn
nsrature from the 100 mark dropped to
hetween so ard 10. Then the rain
turned to hail and the hailstones
crashed through skylights and win
dows
For half an hour the city covered.
parslyzed. under the beating OF the
storm. every activity suspended. Troll
Icy lines. telephone lines and street
traffic were halted and the government
departments suspended operations.
The wind wrecked the three story
brick Office building occupied by the B.
{. Saul company. real estate dealers,
and 15 persons were carried down IN
the crash.
". E. Hilton, vice president of the
Real Estate company; Thomas B.
Fealey. clerk. and an unidentified man
Who entered the building to rescue
hose caught. were taken from the
wreck dead.
Half a dozen were taken TO hospitals
seriously injured and half a dozen
more were treated for slight injuries.
Tonight the police still were digging
IN The ruins for other bodies that they
feared might be there
PRESIDENT HEARS TEMPEST
The neatly kept lawns of the White
House were devastated. Three huge
olm trees uprooted by the wind. were
thrown bodily across the lawn and up
10 the very portico of the building.
booking the drives President Wilson
vas seated in the executive offices when
the wind crashed through several win
dovs in the White House proper. Sec
retary Tumulty hurried the president
and Representative Korbly of Indiana,
with whom he was comforting, to a
sheltered interior room.
The capitol. set high above the city.
caught the brunt of the wind, rain
and hail and lightning The senate
was in session when the hail swept
down with deafening roar. beating on
the glass roof of the chamber. The
tumult made further business impos-
sible, and hurrying to the vice presi-
dents desk Senator Kern megaphoned
with his hands a motion to recess. The
motion was put. and although the sena-
tors could hear nothing, the senate quit
work for Is minutes in confusion.
PAINTERS IN PERIL
When the storm broke So painters
were at work on the dome of the capi-
tol, swarming over the curving sur
face or swinging high on shaky scat
folding. William Reese. the foreman
hurried 10 the dome and got most of
his men to shelter inside the big in
verted bowl. But Jim Boyle, John Ford
Noble Bailey and Bruce Jones were too
late. Bailey and Jones succeeded in
scaling the dome in the wind and rain
and gained a sheltered ledge where
they weathered the storm after trying
in vain to get inside. Boyle and Ford
were caught on a swinging scaffold
Just under the caves OF the dome and
there they swung, buffeted by the wind,