The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1913-08-02
H.SiiSsIlu STORM SWEPT.
CYCLONE STRIKES CAPITOL CITY
HARD.
Three Persons Killed and Heavy Prop
erty LOSS Caused by Sudden SwoOp
of Enraged Elements.

across the nations capital today. leav-
Ing death and ruin In it's wake. Three
dead. scores injured and hundreds of !
thousands OF dollars worth OF prop
erty destroyed was the toll recorded |
In the hurried canvass made when |
the city aroused itself after half an
hour OF helplessness in the grasp of |
the elements.
Out OF the blazing sky. under which |
the city was sweltering with the tenn
perature at 100 degrees. came the !
storm. roaring from the north, divid-
Ing a mass OF clouds that cast a man
tie OF darkness over the city. The gale,
reaching q velocity OF over so miles an
hour, swept the streets clear. unroofed
houses. tore detached small structures
from their foundations. wrecked one
office building, overturned wagons
and carriages In the streets and swept
Washington's hundred parks tearing
huge branches from trees and even
Hb'~cbhs Stuias oiu eiihs, iuhuHldrhs
OF a century.
Tonight Washington's well kept
streets. with their wealth OF trees,
were Uttered with broken foliage,
roofs. debris and dead birds. as II q
playful giant had carelessly swished
his club up and down the city As the
MI lNNA Lasl H.
came. and In five minutes the temper
ature dropped from the 100 mark to
between so and 20. Then the rain
turned to hail and hailstones battered
on roofs and crashed through sky
lights and windows.
For half an hour the city covered.
paralyzed. under the beating OF the
storm. every activity suspended. Trol-
ley cars, street traffic and telephone
service were halted and government
departments suspended. The wind
wrecked n three-story brick Office
building occupied By the B. S. Salt
company, Zeal estate dealers. and IS
persons were carried down In the
crash.
w. +. Hilton. vice president Of the
real estate company; Thomas B.
Fealey. 65 years old. clerk. and an
unidentified man. who entered the
building TO try TO rescue those caught
I'm the wreck. were taken from the
ruins dead. Half a aoxen 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, fearing other
bodies might be recovered.
The, neatly kept lawns of the
Whitei House were devastated. Three
huge flm trees. uprooted by the wind.
were brown bodily across the lawn.
and UP to the very portico of the
buiidiig. blocking the drives.
PRECEDENT Wilson was seated In the
executive Offices when the wind
CRASHED through several windows I'm
the White House proper. Secretary
Tumufy hurried the president and
Repretentative Korbiey OF Indiana,
with 3hom he was conferring. to a
sheiteted inner 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 a deafenins roar. beating
on the glass roof OF the chamber. The
tumuit made further business impos.
sible and hurrying To the vice presi-
dents desk. Senator Kern magaphon-
ed with his hands motion to recede.
The motion was put and as the
senator's could hear nothing. the SEN
ate quit work for 15 minutes In con-
fusion.
When the storm broke 35 painters
were At work on the dome OF the
capitol, swarming over the curving
surface or swinging high on scaf.
folding. William Reese. the foreman,
hurried To 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 sue.
ceeded I'm scaling the dome In the
wind and rain and gained "a sheltered
ledge, where they weathered the
storm after trying I'm vain to get in
side. Boyle and Ford were caught
on n swinging scafrold just under the
ewes ~ the dome and there they
swung bufreted by the wind. beaten
by the hail and soaked by the rain.
while the flashes OF blue lightning
trickled around the dome. down from
the platinum lightning points on the
head Of ihe Goddess of Freedom that
surmounts the structure.
When the storm was over they