HURRICANE, CYCLONES AND GALES

1896 Atlantic hurricane season summary. Click on "the wind" below in lead article.

Cortland Evening Standard, Thursday, October 1, 1896.

MANY LIVES LOST.

Ruin and Death Ride in the Wake of the Gales.

MILLIONS OF DAMAGE DONE.

Buildings, Bridges, Trees, Wires and Other Property Destroyed. Worst Reports Come From Pennsylvania and Georgia, but Other Sections also

Suffered—Railway Traffic Seriously Impeded In Some Instances—City of Washington Suffered Severely,

 the White House and Other Public Buildings

Being More or Less Damaged. Heavy Loss of Life In Several Places Resulting From the Collapse of Buildings—Reports of Disasters Pouring In From All Quarters as Prostrated Wires Are Again Put In Working Order. Serious Loss to Shipping In Several Places—Streets In Many Cities Strewn With Wreckage—Returns Coming In Slowly on Account of the Prostrated Condition of Wires.

   WASHINGTON, Oct. 1.—Reports received from the suburban towns about Washington show that great damage was done by the storm through the surrounding country.

   At the Catholic university just outside the city the new dormitory, in process of erection, was demolished.

   At Brookland, a few miles out, the town hall was partially destroyed and many other buildings were unroofed and otherwise damaged.

   On the outskirts of the city few localities escaped.

   The train shed at Alexandria was blown down and the debris is across the tracks. Hence the trains that left Washington over the Southern railway and the Chesapeake and Ohio have not passed Alexandria. Three trains due in Washington from Southern points on the Southern, Chesapeake and Ohio and Atlantic Coast line have not been heard from and are stopped at some point south of Alexandria.

   In this city the papal legation was unroofed and the Chinese legation was damaged about $1,500. Communication by telegraph and telephone with the outside world is absolutely stopped.

   Reports from Rockville, Md., and other small places along the Metropolitan branch of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad show that the storm did great damage, but no loss of life was reported. The Episcopal church in Rockville was demolished and a tree fell upon the Episcopal parsonage, wrecking a portion of it.

   Houses were unroofed and trees blown down in all the smaller towns outside of Washington.

   Great damage is reported in the farming districts, where all grains in stack or shock have been strewed over the land. Many barns have been blown down.

   The White House was slightly injured by the storm, a portion of the copper roofing stripped off and other damage done. The tall flagstaff from which the signal was given to the city that the president was in town, disappeared completely.

   In the beautiful grounds surrounding the house 35 of the splendid trees, elms, sycamores, walnuts and magnolias, some of great age and of historical associations, were completely leveled, while full 50 of the surviving trees suffered the loss of their tops and principal branches and are permanently defaced.

   The vast pile occupied by the state, war and navy departments was touched on the southern side of the storm and lost portions of its roofing and many of the slates, while a structure erected by the signal service for the study of clouds was partially demolished. The new naval observatory building suffered in the same fashion to the extent of $1,200. At the Washington navy yard the big ship house was partially unroofed, and the gun shops were damaged slightly by the stripping of the roof.

   A special bulletin issued by the weather bureau states that for one minute the wind reached a velocity of 80 miles an hour.

DISASTERS IN PENNSYLVANIA.

Havoc Wrought, by the Wind and Rain at Many Points.

   LANCASTER, Pa., Oct. 1.—Telegraphic and telephonic communication has been established with the surrounding country and the later reports confirm the earlier advices of the wide extent of the cyclonic disturbance. Every section of the county has been heard from and the story is that ruin rode in the wake of the gale. While an estimate of the total loss is necessarily speculative, there does not seem any doubt that it will easily reach $1,000,000 and may largely exceed that amount.

   In this city the individual losses are, as a rule, comparatively small, but there are hundreds of them which will make the aggregate great. The wind roared through the streets with a noise like thunder, and houses literally rocked upon their foundations.

   During the two hours of terror, which kept a large part of the population awake, the air was filled with bricks, stones, slate, timbers and roofs of heavy sheet iron and tin, while gigantic trees were ripped up by the roots and tossed about like toys.

   The storm outside the city was scarcely less severe and of course the destruction of the Pennsylvania railroad bridge across the Susquehanna at Columbia, overshadows all else in relative importance. The bridge, which comprised 37 spans, was completely demolished. It was insured for $300,000, and everything was carried away except the stone piers, the single iron span and one of the shore spans. The bridge proper was crushed to splinters. It was lifted bodily off the piers and deposited just above, in the water, a portion resting on the piers. Not a timber was left standing. All through freight south was run over the Columbia bridge and the Frederick division to Baltimore and other southern points.

   It is settled now that there was no loss of life, as a search of the debris has failed to reveal the bodies of two men who, it was feared, were in the bridge when it was swept away.

Buildings, Trees and Wires Wrecked.

   SHAMOKIN, Pa., Oct. 1.—A terrific storm passed over this section of the state and caused many thousands of dollars' worth of damage. All the telegraph and telephone wires and hundreds of trees were blown down in every direction, and it is impossible to learn the particulars of the havoc done in surrounding towns. A dozen or more houses and buildings were either blown down or unroofed in Shamokin and Carmel, and railroad trains are all delayed by trees and other obstructions that were blown across the tracks.

   A block of eight new houses erected by Dr. F. D. Raker at Springfield were leveled to the ground. Barns and hundreds of outbuildings were overturned in all portions of the town. The Lincoln school building, the Windsor hotel, the Beury block, the Wolverton building, the Pennsylvania roundhouse and many other buildings in Shamokin were unroofed.

   The damage caused by the cyclone that passed over this section is greater than early reports indicated. It is now thought the total loss will reach $350,000.

   The Patterson breaker is almost a total wreck, but the debris was saved from the flames by the downpour of rain that followed the wind. Superintendent Vincent places the damage to the colliery at about $40,000.

   Fourteen of the dwelling houses and 20 board shanties occupied by the mine workers were also blown down and five of the former were consumed by flames. Two of the tenants were killed, several injured and 11 cattle were crushed to death beneath the dismantled barn.

   The killed and injured are:

   James Hanton, crushed in the debris of his home; died in a few hours.

   Minnie Kline, fractured skull, jumping from second story window to escape fire; died from injuries.

   Mrs. Drobinski, leg fractured.

   Mrs. Spielka, head badly crushed.

   Mrs. Crawford, arm fractured.

   James Kopola and wife, severe contusions of body.

   Infant of John Dummkie, badly cut by being thrown through window.

   Charles Clitchie, leg broken.

   Shamokin, Mount Carmel, Locust Gap and other surrounding towns suffered heavily.

   Reports from the farming districts indicate that barns were demolished by hundreds.

   At the Colbert mine, the fan and engine house, both boiler houses and all of the smokestacks were demolished, throwing 400 men and boys out of employment.

DISASTROUS RESULT IN GEORGIA.

A Dozen Lives Lost and Damage Amounting to $1,000,000.

   SAVANNAH, Oct. 1.—The hurricane which swept over Savannah cost nearly a dozen lives and entailed a financial loss of nearly $1,000,000. Each report that is received is worse than the first. It was thought only one death would be the result of the hurricane, but the number has increased until there are 11 persons reported dead.

   The dead: J. E. Johnston, Captain C. E. Murray of the tug Robert Turner, and the following, all colored: Mary Waring, Eliza Beatty, Fannie McFall, Ruby Williams, Julie Jackson, two deck hands of the Robert Turner, an unknown man and an infant.

   A great many persons were injured. The most seriously hurt are: Fannie Jackson, back broken; W. F. Thompson, leg fractured; A. S. Farnham, leg broken; James Smith, seriously hurt by falling timbers; John Sheehan, struck by falling timbers; S. R. Pritchard, hurt by falling bricks; Ben West, colored, struck by falling barn; Joseph Hamilton, colored, struck by falling barn; John Wilson, hit by falling chimney.

   Among prominent buildings damaged by the storm are City Exchange, Duffy street Baptist church, St. Philip's, African Methodist church, Central Railway warehouse, St. Patrick's school, Henley hall, Georgia Hussars' armory, City Market, Electrical railway power house, Vale Royal mills, Comerhull & Co.'s guano factory, Commercial Guano company's factory, Jones' Marine railway, Fawcett Bros.' wholesale grocery building, Henry Solomon & Sons' wholesale grocery, M. J. Doyle's retail grocery.

   Hundreds of residences are injured and the most beautiful trees in the city are down.

   The loss to shipping will amount to over $100,000.

   The most serious casualty was the capsizing in midstream of the Savannah river of the Norwegian bark Rosenius, grounding of the Morgan bark Cab, drifting of the Norwegian bark K. D. Metcalf and the total loss of the tug Robert Turner. The steamer Governor Safford of the Beach & Miller line is aground in Copper river and small craft has suffered much, many naphtha launches and small sailing vessels having gone out to sea.

   The Tybee railroad is badly damaged, many bridges being out of plumb. Tybee, Montgomery and Isle of Hope, all prominent resorts near this city, were hurt by the blow.

St. Mary's Catholic Church in 1896 was located on property where the school building now stands.

CORTLAND STORM NOTES.

Some Further Details of the Hurricane of Tuesday Night.

   Further details of the storm of Tuesday night keep appearing and it would seem that it was very widespread. At 5 o'clock Wednesday morning the telephone company could make but one phone on the whole system work, and that was the one at the D., L. & W. station. There were so many wires of all kinds down that as soon as the Traction company started their dynamoes the trolley wires [about 600 volts d.c.] were the means of burning out all the telephones that did not have metallic circuits. There was no connection of any kind with other places so that not till 6 o'clock last night could Manager Nolan get word to Syracuse to get extra help. To-day nearly all the local lines are fixed, but there is not yet a telephone line running out of town that can be used. They will be fixed in a few days though.

   The storm took half of the tin roof from the residence of W. G. McKinney, 29 Hubbard-st.

   George Allport's barn west of the village was unroofed.

   Elysium park was badly damaged.

   Fifty trees were uprooted or broken over in Cortland park.

   Eye witnesses state that the top of the steeple of the Baptist church swayed back and forth from four to six feet. Six windows were blown in.

   The steeple of the Methodist church at Marathon was blown off and demolished but singularly the bell was not even cracked. Many buildings at Marathon were unroofed.

   The damage to apple orchards was very great in the surrounding country. It is estimated that half of the apple trees are destroyed. Whole timber forests were laid flat. One piece of fifty acres near East Homer is reported as having hardly a single whole tree standing. Great devastation is reported from Freetown and Solon, and in fact from every direction in the surrounding vicinity.

   The storm blew a large tree across the Lehigh track near the residence of Mr. Wells Niles at South Cortland. Mr. Niles and his two sons went to work with a will to remove the tree, but could not get it off before the arrival of the early westbound train. One of the sons was sent towards Cortland and flagged the train. When the train reached the tree a chain was attached to the trunk of the tree from the engine, the train was backed up and the tree swung around so that it could be rolled from the track.

   A circular window within a larger circular window at the south end of St. Mary's Catholic church was blown in, but the outer circle was not injured. In times past there have been some questions raised regarding the stability and safety of the spire of that church, but as it passed safely through this hurricane its firmness and strength is pretty thoroughly demonstrated.

   Part of the roof of the rink on Main-st. was torn off, but workmen have been busy to-day and the repairs are nearly completed. Daniels' dance will occur as usual Saturday night.

   These are great days for carpenters, masons and tinners. Every one is as busy as he can be.

WHITESON'S FALL OPENING.

A Handsome Souvenir to be Given To Each Customer, Saturday, Oct. 3.

   A special invitation is extended to the people of Cortland and vicinity to visit the store of I. Whiteson, the clothier, on his great fall opening day, Saturday, Oct. 3. Special preparations have been in progress for the past week to make this opening day a grand success. All former efforts along the line of artistic display for making the store attractive have been surpassed. Goods of finer quality for the money were never before shown. The fine appearance of the store, the great variety and extremely low prices at which goods are sold, the immense bargains offered and above all the handsome souvenir which will be presented to each customer on opening day, are sure to attract such a crowd of buyers as has never been seen upon a similar occasion.

   The window display for the occasion is unusually attractive and its artistic elegance is the result of the personal supervision of the head decorator of the establishment, Mr. Seymour P. Bloomfield. Every department is complete. Men's suits, children's suits, overcoats, pants, furnishing goods and hats in style and variety to suit every taste and at prices which are sure to please.

   The store will be open every evening until 9 o'clock. Watch the windows for souvenirs.

McGRAWVILLE.

Crisp local Happenings at the Corset City.

   Mrs. George Lanpher visited friends in Freetown last week.

   Mr. and Mrs. I. A. Dibble returned Tuesday evening from Skaneateles, where they had been visiting since Friday.

   Mr. and Mrs. N. H. Gillette are in Irvington attending the wedding of Miss

Agnes Warren and Mr. Seabury Mastick, notice of which has been published.

   Mrs. Green of Syracuse and Mrs. Parker of Cortland called on friends in this village Wednesday.

   Mr. Fred Matherson on Tuesday brought into our office a cluster of strawberry vines in full blossom, not a berry having formed. They came from the farm of W. L. Bean.

   The Willet boys have an engagement in Marathon on Saturday and cannot play [baseball] here, but in order that no one can say they are afraid, they have been challenged to play here on Saturday, Oct. 10.

   The nines of "Pat" Leach and C. D. McGraw are booked for a game here Friday afternoon.

   The Republican banner is finished and will soon be raised. The portrait and other painting was done by Mr. Louis J. Higgins of Cortland and is an artistic piece of work.

   The wind storm of Tuesday night did not spare South hill it seems. The barns, orchards and sugar bushes of Orra Rowe, D. H. Crane, Edward Shufelt and others are more or less wrecked. Many humorous points are coming to light, among which are Frank Burlingham's escape by hiding in the cellar and Mrs. B. H. Randall trying to keep the front door of their residence closed. The wind blew her and her ironing board prop, part way up the stairs. Another story is of a load of straw in the barn of Will Russell being blown out of doors and the straw being blown through a window wrecked by the wind, into and all through the house. Fred Dunbar was preparing breakfast when called upon Wednesday morning and, although his sugar and fruit orchards were pretty well wrecked and one enormous tree had crushed the pig pen, he hadn't yet learned that the wind had blown on the previous night. Charles Salisbury was informed that his pet fruit tree was a wreck and in his hurry to investigate discovered, to his sorrow, that the steps from his house had also been blown away.

TRUXTON.

   TRUXTON, Oct. 1.—The residence of Mr. and Mrs. Burdette Pierce was the scene of a very pleasant wedding Wednesday evening, Sept. 30 at 7 o'clock, when their oldest daughter Nellie M. was united In marriage with Dr. Harry S. Braman of Cuyler. Miss Pierce is one of our most popular and esteemed young ladies. She is a graduate of the Cortland Normal and has taught successfully at McGrawville and Amsterdam. The groom is one of Cuyler's most promising young men and is a rising physician. The happy couple have our best wishes.

   Miss Grace M. Wicks, who has been visiting relatives in Binghamton for the past two weeks, returned home Tuesday.  

   The funeral of Mrs. Submitt E. Kenney was held at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Otis D. Patrick, Wednesday at 10:30 o'clock. A large number of relatives and friends were present. Rev. Mr. Haskel, pastor of the Baptist church, officiated. The bearers were Messrs. John Hodgson, Delay Pierce, John Miller, Hiram Bosworth, William Beattie and Sabin Pierce.

   This town was visited by a destructive cyclone Tuesday night, the worst windstorm ever known here. The wind began to blow about 3 o'clock and until daybreak. The destructive hurricane swept up the valley from the south sweeping nearly everything in its path. Buildings, fences, and chimneys were blown down, trees uprooted, roofs blown off. The loss in this town will reach thousands of dollars. The large locust tree in front of the Truxton House was blown down falling across the street. Large trees in front of the residences of Mrs. Twentyman, Michael O'Brien and D. M. Patrick were blown down. Both chimneys were blown off the Baptist church, the chimneys were also blown off the residences of W. N. Jones, A. L. Lansing, P. J. Dwyer and Thos. Dodd's shop. Mr. William Beattie's barn was unroofed. Mr. William Stevens' horse barn was blown down. Several entire orchards were blown down.

   Mr. Charles Ward of East Homer has rented Mr. Thomas Dodd's blacksmith shop and takes possession this morning. Mr. Ward comes here highly recommended as a blacksmith.

   Mr. George Crofoot is repairing his blacksmith shop which improves the looks very much.

   Mr. and Mrs. George Beard, Jr., and son Ralph of Little Falls are visiting at the home of Mr. Beard's parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Beard.

   Rev. J. E. N. Barnes of Rome, N. Y., delivered a temperance lecture at Woodward's hall Tuesday evening to a fair sized audience.

EAST SCOTT.

   EAST SCOTT, Sept, 30.—Mrs. John Gillett entertained the King's Daughters last week. A goodly number was present and many stitches were taken. The next meeting will be with Mrs. Geo. McDonald at Preble, Oct. 8.

   Mrs. Harriet Gillette of Connelsville has been the guest of Mrs. C. H. Gillette for a few days.

   The wind blew in East Scott last night. Most of the apples lie on the ground. Many limbs of trees were broken off, and here and there a tree uprooted.

   The tops were lifted off from bee hives. Stacks of corn and beans were blown down, and cattle can walk through the fences.

   On Sunday last the remains of Mr. Alex. Henry were carried to their resting place at South Spafford. Mr. Henry died in Broome county but was buried near his former home.

BREVITIES.

   —The fire alarm system has been entirely repaired and is now in perfect working order.

   —The clothing stores will close at 6 o'clock every night till Nov. 1 except Monday and Saturday.

   —New advertisements to-day are— F. B. Nourse, choosing wedding gifts, etc., page 4; C. F. Brown, snap shot, page 6.

   —Another newspaper in a small field has ceased to exist. The South New Berlin Herald has yielded up the ghost.

   —The Western Union people got their first direct wire to Syracuse in working order at 2:30 this afternoon and restored Tisdale's broker's wire at the same time.

   —Mrs. George C. Hubbard will give a delsarte entertainment this evening at 7 o'clock at the home of Miss Harriet Allen, 182 Tompkins St., before the Fortnightly club.

   —The Hotel Burns in Syracuse to-day changed its management and its name. It will hereafter be known as the St. Cloud. A number of improvements in the hotel have been made.

   —Mrs. Hannah Hume died in Cortland at 12:30 o'clock to-day, at the age of 71 years, 9 months and 12 days. The remains will be taken to New York on the 11:20 train and burial will occur there.

   —Mr. S. J. Parmiter has just completed the job of putting in at the Central hotel on Court-st. owned by Wickwire Bros., a forty-drop annunciator of the Holtzer pattern. The system works to a charm and Mr. Parmiter may justly feel a satisfaction at the perfection of his work.

   —While H. B. Williams was last night letting his horse drink from the trough on Tompkins-st. opposite the Squires block, the horse became frightened at something and started on a run up Main-st. on the walk on the west side. When opposite the grocery store of H. B. Hubbard the wagon collided with a telephone pole and the horse stopped, no damage being done.

   —Several hundred extra copies of The STANDARD of yesterday containing the account of the storm were printed last night, but all have been sold and there is a great call for more copies. The same item appeared in The Sentinel this morning and will be in the semi-weekly to-morrow morning. Extras will be run so that all that may be desired can be furnished.