Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-04-25

The occurrence was the strangest
ever seen in this city, according 70
those who have lived along the wa
terfront for years and have seen
high tides. strong and freakish winds
but never anything which swoupeo
down and wrecked a place as did
this tornado and then disappear as
quickly as it came.
No one was injured as the result
of the occurrence as, fortunately,
there was nobody near the houses
at the time. It would be difficult
to estimate the weight of the thirty
three houses which were ripped w
from their foundation, broken In the
middle and then thrown either to tbs
ground or out into the water
The fifteen houses on the extreme
north end of the chain of bath
houses were carried a distance cf
about fifteen feet from where they
originally stood. The remaining
houses were carried a distance o<
about twenty-five feet over the bulk
head and into the water. The roof
of the porch of the larger fssls3il 60
! used as store and Office was tuN
over as neatly as though it had b4
lifted by a crane and deposited y
side down on the floor of the pore,
The actual work of this freak
nature was witnessed by only Or
or two, but word of the unusual of
currence spread quickly along the
waterfront and about the city and
soon afterwards many curious people
were found inspecting the ruins.
Il IS no oddity i'll sections visits
by toradoes and cyclones to haa
the wind perform feats of this typ
but for one of these tornadoes
visit this section Is something sc
dom, if ever, heard from. Hig
winds during hard storms haA
caused the wrecking of building
but with no warning whatsoeyt
today's tornado-or whatever
might have been-appeared witho
any warning. spared the large nul
ber of buildings and boats on [
Raritan Yacht Club property, fail
to touch any of Samuel Bayaf
bathing houses which are in di4
line with Sofeld's and then !
scended with all Of its fury upon
single row of lighthouses and
porch roof at Sofiield's.
There were two rows of bait
houses erected upon the 50
property, these facing each
with a walk between them.
wind did not damage those
in the western row, but ripp
all of those on the eastern sid$
Roy Newman and the stewa
the Raritan Yacht Club were
nesses to the strange occurrences
description given by both OF tA
being the same. They said III
noticed a column OF whirling dD
and dirt sweeping down frem th
sky almost directly over the Yacht
Club. Watching it descend they
saw it strike the row of houses a.
Soheld's, pick the long chain ef
structures up in the air, break them
in the middle, drop half Of them 70
the ground, hurl the remaining
houses overheard and pick up the
porch roof, turning it completely
over. The funnel-shaped column OF
wind, dirt and parts of the wreck
age then assembled and Disappeared
William Sofeld, proprietor of the
beach. was along the shore when the
tornado occurred and Immediately
set to work. together with several
assistants, to salvage the materials
which were thrown into the water
and started to drift away
Had this oddity occurred during
terrific storm the occurrence would
not have been considered so unusual
even though tornadoes are not in the
habit of frequenting these parts, but
occurring as it did while the sun was
shining persons who viewed the
wreckage could not believe such
thing possible.