The Coolidge examiner., 1938-09-29
An Eye Witness
Account of Terrific
Storm

interesting letter from her sister,
who lives in Mansfield, Mass, and
who gives a first hand account OF
the storm that struck the East
Coast. with a result of hundreds. OF
lives ,ost and hundreds of millions
Of dollars damage done The letter
is dated September %, and reads
arr follows
81 know that if you have been
. listening 10 the radio and readinz
the papers, you are very much con
cerned over our fate here We are
al safe though only miracle
makes it possible for rs to say so.
Vernons bir hday was Wednesday
/ the 21st, and we had been planning
~ ~ 30 p~~7-iHo-co. Drodo Island
to celebrate as we had never been
here and we thought we would
stay for dinner and go to a show.
! stopped for Vernon early and we
got to Providence just as the hur-
ricane struik (about 2:$0)
It came first as a very high win
and we did not know what were in
for. We stayed in the car a While
then bought a few things in the
stores and ar~ued whether or not
to stay for dinner rs planned or
to go home was very nervous
for one could just feel something
in the air. Finally we decided TO
60 home and eat dinner and go to
show there as We didn want to
try and get out of town i'm a storm,
and al night too. We started to
leave Providence and got caught
for almost half an hour in traffic
jam everyone hurrying. to get TO
shelter liko they do in a bad wind
storm When we finally got
started we drove all the way home
through that hurricane, with trees
crashing on all sides, and great
power ines down, Splitting green
fire. Bv this time We knew that
i was the hurricane that the radio
had been telling about for several
days but no hurricane had ever
come this far north on the Coast
in the history Of our United States,
so no one expected il to this time
and wo were not watching for it.
A half hour after we got out of
Providence. the tidal wave struck
and people drowned everywhere in
streets. Where our car had been
parked there was ten to fifteen feet
OF water and great beams and
timbers were carried in by the
raging tides, crushing autos and
buildings.
Eansfield had it very bad as did
all of New England, but there was
no tidal wave here as we are in
land. We still do not know how
many are dead as there is very
litt3e communication even yet. Ac-
re the highways and everywhere
here are great old trees that have
beCn standing for years and years
and so the hurricane was so much
worse because it felled these great
trees everywhere, tearing down ali
Iigh wires, telegraph and telo-
phone and crushing cars and hous-
es and everything in its path. |
thought l had a good head, but I
sure gnew what stark terror was
on that ride home. If it hadn't beea
that Vernon kept on driving, we'd
have been killed sure enuff. !
couldn't have held that wheel if
| had been out alone.
A man just got through today
from New London, Conn, For two
davs all the news we could get
from there was what airp,anes fly
ing over, reported. The man said
New London is on fire and no way
to stop it. We none of us have
lights, or any way to get help in
case of fire We probably won't
have electricity again for a week.
They found a hundred bodies on
the coast at Warham today, and
they think they are people from
( Block Island. Arplane can't find
no trace of Block Island and think
it was completely washed away by
the tidal wave. Several towns on
Martha's Vineyard are not even
there any more, thoogh no one can
get through yet to find out if there
are any survivors.
Martha's Vinyard is an island Of
rich peoples summer homes. Emily
Post has her summer home there