The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1913-08-01
STORM IN WASHINGTON
oo-NrLE WIND RAIN AND HAIL.
Three KILLED, Scores Injured and
Many Thousands of Dollars Worth
OF Property Destro. ed.

Three KILLED, Scores Injured and
Many Thousands of Dollars Worth
OF Property Destro. ed.
Washington, July 3O.-Like a
giant Hail, cyclone storm of wind.
rain and hail whipped back and
forth across the National Capital to-
day, leaving death and ruin in its
wake. Three dead, scores injured
and hundreds of thousands of dol
lars worth of property DESTROYED
was the toll rendered in the hurried
canvass made when the city aroused
itself after an hour of helplessness
in the graspNof the elements.
Out of blazing sky. under which
the city wask sweltering with the
temperature 1T 100 degrees, came
the storm roaring from the north.
driving a mass OF clouds that cast
mantle OF darkness over the CITY.
The gale, reaching a velocity of al
most seventy miles an hour, swept
the streets clear, unroofed houses,
tore detached small structures from
their foundations, wrecked one Off
ce building, overturned wagons and
carriages in the streets and swept
Washington's hundred parks, tear
ing huge branches from trees, and
even uprooting sturdy old elms,
landmarks Of a century.
STREETS BARRICADED.
Tonight Washington we'll kent
streets, with their wealth Of trees.
were Uttered with broken foliage.
roots and dead birds. as IL n playful
giant had carelessly swished his club
up and down the city.
As the wind wreaked its havoc
the rain came, and In five minutes
the temperature dropped from the
hundred mark to between sixty and
seventy. Then the rain turned TO
hail, and hail stones battered on
roofs and crashed through skylights
and windows
For half an hour the city covered
paralyzed under the beating Of the
storm, every activity suspended
Trolley cars, street traffic and tele-
phone service we're halted. Govern
ment departments suspended opera
tiOns The wind wrecked a three
story brick office building occupied
by the p. S. Saul Company, real
estate dealers, and fifteen persons
were carried down in the crash. w
f. Hilton, vice president Of the real
estate company; Thomas p. Fealv.
65 years old, clerk, and an un-
identified man, who entered the
building to try to rescue those
caught in the wreck, we're taken
from the ruins dead. Half dozen
were taken to hospitals seriously in
jured, and half a dozen more were
treated for slight injuries. Tonight
the police still were digging in the
ruins, fearing other bodies might be
recovered.
WHITE HOUSE LAWNS DAMAGED
The neatly kept lawns OF the
White House were devastated. Three
huge elm trees, uprooted by the
wind, were thrown bodily across the
lawn, and up to the very portico of
the building, blocking the drives.
President Wilson was seated in
the executive Offices when the wind
crashed though several windows i'm
the White House proper Secretary
Tumulty hurried the President and
Representative Korbly, OF Indiana.
with whom he was Conferring. to a
sheltered interior room, away from
the searching lightning flashes.
The Capitol. set high above the
city, caught the brunt OF the wind.
rain, 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 i'm
possible, and hurrying to the Vice
Presidents desk, Senator Kern
megaphoned with his hands a motion
to recess. The motion was put and
although the senators could hear
nothing, the senate quit work for
fifteen minutes in confusion.
ON THE CAPITOL DOME.
When the storm broke. thirty
five painters were at work on the
dome of the Capitol. swarming over
the curving surface or swinging nigh
on shaky scaffolding. William
Reese. the foreman, hurried to the
dome and got most Of his men 10
shelter inside the big inverted bowl.
But Jim Boyle, John Ford. Noble
Bailey and Bruce Jones were too
late. Bailey and Jones succeeded
in scaling the dome I'm 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 or the dome and there they
swung, suffeted by the wind. beaten
by the hail and soaked by the rain,
while the flashes of BILE lightning
trickled around the dome, down
from the platinum nghtning points
on the head OF the Goddess OF Free
dom that surmounts the structure.
When the storm was over they crept,
shaken and bruised to safety inside.
Here and there throughout the
city panic appeared Horses driven
frantic by the wind and hail. dashnd