People's Pilot, Volume 5, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 January 1896 — MUCH DAMAGE DONE. [ARTICLE]

MUCH DAMAGE DONE.

EASTERN STATES VISITED BY A TERRIFIC STORM. Numerous Dl*a*ter* on Land and Sea Reported —Cold Wave Follow* the Gale Various Canadian Cities Suffer Los*. " New York, Jan. 1. —A tempest that brought with it arctic temperature struck this city and its vicinity Tuesday. At 3 o’clock in the morning the gale reached a velocity of seventy-two miles an hour. Bay Ridge, Staten Island, the Jersey shore, and Coney Island received the full force of the windstorm. Houses were shaken, and many people, roused from slumber by the trembling of their beds, were too fearful to again seek repose. As morning advanced the wind decreased slightly in force, but it was still blowing a fifty-mlle-an-hour gale at 10 o’clock. From the Battery to the Narrows the harbor appeared to be a mass of broken ice and snow, tossed to and fro by the wind. At 10 o,’clock the thermometer registered 32 degrees. In the Interior of the state the storm was very severe. At Little Falls the West Shore railway tracks were washed out, and much damage was done to roads and property generally. Reports from the Adirondacks indicate that much damage was done there by the wind. There was a light fall of snow in some places. During the gale a coal-laden coaster bound east was blown ashore on Hog's Back Rock, south of Ward’s Island, near Hell Gate. .There was a strong flood tide and the crew had difficulty in getting ashore in the small boat. The vessel and cargo may prove a total loss. The schooner Emma Jane, from Connecticut, loaded with coal, was sunk at Rockaway Beach during the storm. Her crew had a narrow escape. The schooner Dungill, of New York, coal laden, was wrecked in Jamaica Bay. She dragged her anchor and collided with the trestle of the Rockaway Beach Railroad, going down in twenty-five feet of water. The captain and crew managed to reach the trestle from the rigging of the craft.

IN MASSACHUSETTS. Heavy Financial Los* All Along the New England Coast. Boston, Mass., Jan. 1. —Not for many years has there been such a severe storm as that which swept the coast Monday night and Tuesday morning. The storm began at an early hour in the evening and kept increasing in fury, until at midnight it had developed into a veritable hurricane. The rain fell in torrents and the roar of the gale was at times deafening. All along the cape are signs of the work done by the wind. The roundhouse of the Cape Cod Railroad company, 400 feet in circumference, with a tower 150 feet high, was razed as clearly as if dynamite had been used. Trees, fences, 'Outbuildings, and in some places barns and houses were leveled to the ground. The great tidal wave of last year was exceeded in nearly every coast village. At Gray Gables the beautiful lawns were covered fully three feet of water. At the mouth of the Monument River a small schooner lies across the big bridge, fifteen feet above low-water mark. In this city the rainfall was light, but at Northfield, Vt., it was 1.62 inches, while the wind there did not exceed thirty miles an hour. In Boston the wind blew steadily at about forty to forty-five miles, while at Haverhill, Melrose, and Exeter it exceeded fifty miles. Along the coast there was no way of telling the velocity. It was simply a cyclone. MAKES A NEW RECORD. Worst Storm Experienced Since the Memorable Gale of 1869. Providence, R. 1., Jan. 1. —The effects of the storm Monday night along the eastern shore ■of Narragansett Bay were more severe than any experienced since the memorable September gale of 1869. At Bristol the gale seemed to be most severe. Washouts along the Providence, Warren and Bristol branch of the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad so undermined the rails that traffic was delayed for several hours. The government launch Casten was badly damaged, and the main railway at the Herreshoff shipyard was wrecked.

At Buzzard’s Bay, Mass., the gale was very severe. The chief damage sustained was that along the tracks of the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad between here and Bourne. The bridge on the Woodshole branch was badly strained, but did not fall. Along the coast of Maine a terrific storm raged all night. The wind from southeast blew a gale, and was accompanied by torrents of rain. The disturbance was followed by a very high tide. Wharves were submerged and cellars of storehouses were flooded. DAMAGE AT BUFFALO. Terrific Windstorm and Heavy Rain Cause Much Loss. Buffalo, N. Y., Jan. 1. —This city was swept by a terrific windstorm Monday night, which attained a velocity of sev-enty-three miles an hour. Along the water front basements were inundated, driving the occupants out into the storm, with such of their household effects as they could carry. Thle roof of the Kellogg iron works was blown off, Strawberry Island and Squaw Island are completely submerged, and the waters of Niagara River are seething and roaring like a mountain torrent. The Erie Canal has overflowed its banks in many places. Dunkirk, N. Y., Jan. I.—A terrific windstorm prevailed through Chautau-

qua county Monday night, doing much damage to telegraphic and telephonic communication between towns and in this city almost prostrating the electric light wires. A heavy snowfall follows in the wake of the squall. FELT IN CANADA. No Lives Lost, but Much Inconvenience and Interruption to Business. • Montreal, Quebec, Jan. 1. Yesterday’s storm was the most severe Montreal has suffered for years. Up to this time no lives have been lost, but the damage is extensive. Telephone and telegraph wires are down everywhere, roofs have been blown off in different parts of the city, and the tower of the new Anglican church in St. Gabriel came down at 9:30 a. m. All through the Province of Quebec great damage was done by the storm, which attained a speed of seventy-five miles an hour, the greatest experienced here during twenty-five years. No fatalities have yet been reported in the country, but at Valois a barn containing a horse was carried quite a distance, and at St. Anne de la Parade a new bridge was carried away. St. Catherine, Ont, Jan. 1. —The wind blew eighty miles an hour at 3 a. m. Tuesday. The storm was followed by intense cold. Niagara Falla Bridge Threatened. Niagara Falls, N. Y., Jan. 1. —Yesterday the river below the falls was thirty feet higher than usual, the water reaching the roofs of the houses on the docks. The dock on the Canadian side was torn from its foundation and about ?500 damage was done the abutments for the new arch bridge on the Canadian shores. The upper bridge trembled in the gale in an alarming way, but sustained no damage, as far as observable. When the wind abated the water began subsiding and by evening had reached its common level.