The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1913-08-01
WASHINGTON SWEPT
BY A FIERCE STORM
DEATH AND DESTRUCTION IN
WAKE OF DISTURBANCE.
Three Killed, Scores Injured, Hun
dreds of Thousands of Dollars
of Property Destroyed

Washington, July 3O.-Like a giant
fail, a cycIonic storm of wind, rain
and hail whipped back and forth
across the National capital today,
leaving death and ruin in it's wake.
Three dead, scores injured and hun
dreds Of thousands of dollars worth
of property destroyed was the toll
rendered in the hurried canvass naoe
when the city aroused itself after an
hour of helplessness in the grasp OF
the elements.
Out of blazing sky, under which
the city was sweltering with the tenn
perature at 100 degrees, came the
storm roaring from the north, driving
a mass of clouds that cast a mantle
of darkness over the city. The gale,
reaching a velocity of almost seventy
miles an hour, swept the streets clear
unroofed houses, tore detached small
structures from their foundations,
wrecked one Office building, overturn-
ed wagons and carriages in the
streets and swept Washington's hun
dred parks, tearing huge branches
from trees, and even uprooting sturdy
CID elms, landmarks Of century.
Streets Barricaded.
Tonight Washington's we'll kept
streets, with their wealth of trees,
were Uttered with broken foliage,
roofs and dead birds, as if playful
giant had carelessly swished his club
I'D and down the city
AS the wind wreaked its havoc the
rain came, and in FIVE minutes the
temperature dropped from hundred
mark to between sixty and seventy.
Then the rain turned to hail, and hail
stones battered ON roofs and crashed
through skyi:ehtS aid windows.
For half an hour the city covered,
Daralyzed under the beating of the
storm, every activity suspended. Troll
ley cars, street trafhc and telephone
service were halted, government de-
partments suspended operations. The
wind wrecked a three-story brick Of
fee building occupied by the B. S.
Saul company, real estate dealers,
and fifteen persons were carried down
In the crash. w E. Hilton, vice pres
ident of the real estate company;
Thomas B. Fealy, IS years old, a
clerk, and an unidentified man, who
entered he building to try % rescue
those caught in the wreck, were TAX
en- from the ruins dead. Half doz-
en- 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
White House Lawns Damaged.
The neatly kept lawns of the white
house were devastated. Three huge
I'm 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 through several windows in
the white house proper. Secretary
Tumulty hurried the president and
Representative Korbly, OF Indiana
with whom he was comforting, to
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 impossible, and
hurrying to the vice presidents desk,
Senator Kern megaphoned with his
hands motion to recess. The mo-
ton was put and although the sensa-
tors could hear nothing, the senate
Quit work for fifteen minutes in con-
fusion.
On the Capitol Dome
When the storm broke, thirty-five
painters were at work on the dome of
the capitol, swarming over the curv-
ing surface or swinging high on
shakv scaffolding. William Reese,