Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 April 1894 — SINK IN THE STORM. [ARTICLE]

SINK IN THE STORM.

MANY VESSELS WRECKED ON THE ATLANTIC COAST. Ship* Founded to Pieces In ths Sight oi Men Who Can Render No Aid—New Jersey Towns and Railroads Softer. Sea Hath Its Perils. A Score of Lives Lost For two days last week the whole Atlantic coast from Boston to Balti* more was in the clutches of the worst storm since the never-to-be-forgotten blizzard of 188®, and not only the coast, but all the States north of the Carolinas and east of the Allegheny Mountains, including the whole of New York State, sucked in the icy blasts and drew them as far as Buffala It was a terrific strife of the elements, and did incalculable dajnagq to life and property tKrdughout the most densely populated part of the country. For twenty-four hours the winds of the ocean rushed furiously past Sandy Hook, up through Hell Gate, at the rate of sixty-nine miles an hour. This would have been disagreeable and dangerous if the wind had no companions, for such a wind nat only, wrinkles the sea and makes it turbulent and perilous to ships and their burdens, but it has power enough t> overturn buildings, to uproot trees, and to play havoc with the means of human communication. But the wind was not alone this time. It was accompanied and assisted by snow and sleet, which made it bitter cold. Together these three swept the sea and the land,covering the habitations of men with an icy veil, heaping the earth high with a blanket of snow, playing witn mighty vessels as children play with whittled boats, lifting them high on the crest of a mighty wave and then plunging them into an abyss of churning waters and crushing them there; breaking men's limbs and beat.ng their lives out against the jagged rocks, hurrying through the streets of cities, as a mountain torrent plunges boiling through a narrow gorge, tearing down telegraph poles as if they weie toothf dcks, twisting thick and heavy wires ike cotton thread, and withal roaring and howling in hideous triumph, like the myriad devils bf a nightmare. In some respects this storm was more dreadful and disastrous than the blizzard which paralyzed New York six years ago. That was fiercer, but it did not diffuse itself over so great an area. Thursday every foot of ground east of Buffalo was covered with thirty inches of enow, which had been falling for more than twenty-four hours. Nearly every telegraph and telephone wire in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware was torn down by the fury of the blast. New York was practically isolated. Baltimore, Boston. Philadelphia and Washington were in a similar plight.

Terrible Work of the Storm. The work of the storm along the Jersey coast was something terrible. Furious gales of wind and monstrous seas wrought havoc and destruction. Buildings, trees, telegraph and tele- , phone wires, railway tracks, embankments, wharves and fences all yielded to the destructive fury of the elements. Above it all stands out the loss of human life. Many vessels, large and small, were wrecked. The crews of the Sandy Hook, Sauan and Long Branch life-saving stations yut Qj.it to the assistance of the disabled vessels as soon as they were reported ashore, but it was not known when the first dispatches were tent out that a single life had been saved, as the furious sea running and the blinding snow prevented any effective work upon the part of the life-savers. Atlantic City suffered considerably. Waves dashed over the board walk, and at times this famous attraction was threatened with being carried out to sea. Gen. Earl’s hotel, says a dispatch, the Normandie-by-thp-Sea, is likely to be totally wrecked. At Galilee the ocean is undermining St. Peter's Church, which the tide will also probably bring down. In Morris, Bergen and Warren counties roads were impassable. Trains on railroads running into Jersey City and Hoboken were all delayed. The meadows between Jersey City and Hoboken and Newark are several inches under water and nothing is visible except telephone and telegraph poles. At Bayonne many boats and boathouses were washed awav. At South Amboy a partially erected house was blown down, and at New Brunswick electric light, telegraph and telephone wires were levels Ito the ground. Incalculable damage was done to the fruit'crops. The peach crop suffered particularly, and it is feared that the entire crop will prove a failure. Farmers throughout the State will be heavy sufferers.

Wrecked Off Milwaukee. A. little yawl biat, nine feet long, drifted to the beach, teveral miles north of Milwaukee, bearing the unconscious form of Capt. William B. Wood, the only survivor of the schooner Island City. The other two men who comprised the crew of the lost boat were undoubtedly drowned when the boat went down. Capt. Word was so nearly dead from exposure that 1 e barely managed to crawl to a farmhouse near the shore and then became unconscious again. He arrived in the city in the afternoon and told the story of the loss of his boat. ' Overflow of News. A severe snowstorm prevailed in Western Minnesota. An incendiary, fire destroyed 5,030 bales of straw at Anderson, Ind. Fifty-two Samoans'have arrived at San Francisco for the Midwinter Fair. Fifty Alabama court officials have been indicted for making fraudulent returns. T. & W. R. Carnahan’s dry goods store burned at Findlay, Ohio. Loss $70,000. The German Reichstag has adopted the commercial treaty negotiated with Uruguay. At Buffalo, N. Y.. two white men and four Chinese were arrested for smuggling. J. D. SCRINGER was arrested at Benton Harbor, Mich., charged with embezzling SIOO. Congressman' Hermann was renominated by the Republicans of the First Oregon District. At Brinton, Fa., three men were killed and fourteen injured by the premature explosion of a blast. Mrs. Mary Vineyard, an old settler of Eastern Indiana, was killed by a Panhandle passenger train at Florida, During a wind-storm at Siloam Springs, Ark., the house of John Simpson, living one and a half miles from there, was blown away and W. S. Simpson, a brother, killed. E. D. Smith was arrested at Laramie, Wyo. It is alleged that Smith embezzled S6OO of Government funds while he was postmaster at Jewell, Kas. The prisoner was taken to Topeka.