Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-07-31
Raging Elements.

No human agency can possibly Tore
stall or wrest with such a visitation or
the elements as that which devastated
Washington Yesterday. Not for many
wears has ~ capital been stricken so
heavily br 4 storm, and it is to be hoped
that man. gore years will pass without
a similar s<oerience. Fortunately the
loss of Iifo vsss small. Indeed it is little
short of miraculous that many persons
were not killed by the flying objects torn
from their places ny the wind. by falling
trees and by crumbling walls. That two
persons died in one of the building wrecks
marks the storm as a tragedy not before
paralleled in local history, and yet in the
circumstances the escape from a greater
sacrifice of life Is remarkable.
II is impossible to estimate the damage
wrought yesterday by the storm. In
terms Of broken windows. wrecked roofs
and other incidental items of destruction
to buildings the bill can be totaled with
approximate correctness But there is
a loss beyond this which passes the terms
of actual accounting. that of the many
hundreds of trees in the parks and on
the streets which were broken and up
rooted by the storm. Never before was
such a sight presented to the sorrowing
eyes of the people of this city as that
which confronted them when they came
from their places of shelter after the
fury of the wind had abated. Literally
miles of wreckage strewed the streets in
practically every part of the city. Trees
that have been growing for decades and
that have contributed immeasurably to
the comfort and attractiveness of Wash
ington had been snapped as though they
were pipestems. 1t will take many years
10 replace this damage. and possibly not
within the experience of living Washing
tonians will the parks and streets regain
their full glory of the foliage they dis
played when the storm broke yesterday
afternoon.
A remarkable feature of yesterdays
visitation was the narrow space within
which it wreaked it's fury While the
city was in darkness for over a quarter
Of an hour, with a combination of wind
and rain and hail and lightning that has
no parallel in the memory of living resi-
dents. the surrounding country was prac-
tically untouched. The storm had been
bred evidently by the intense heat of the
city and circled about an area of a few
square miles and then apparently evap-
GRATED. 1t was an appalling manifesto
ton Of a cyclonic creation operating
within rigidly defined limits
Intensely dramatic features accom-
panied this brief reign of terror through
which Washington passed. Narrow es-
capes from instant death were numerous.
The slender margin between life and de-
struction was illustrated in scores Of
cases. There was. for instance. the re-
markable' experience of Mrs. Pasis- and
her family. who took refuge in the ice
box of her store when the building was
wrecked by the storm. But perhaps most
thrilling of all was the situation Of the
workmen who were caught by the storm
on the dome of the Capitol as they were
engaged in repairs to the giant statue OF
Freedom. Probably never before was a
storm witnessed from such a point of
vantage, and yet 1t may be doubted II
these men would again choose so elevated
a position from which to observe the rag
ing OF the elements.
The storm has passed and now the
work of repair and restoration begins.
For those who displayed heroism In the
face OF danger there will be public
thanks and for those who suffered from
the raging clements there will be commits
GRAFTON, and, as far as may be needed.
assistance