The Washington Times

AFTERMATH OF THE STORM.
Strange Sights Witnessed During the Tornado in New Jersey.

NEW YORK, Aug. 25.-The tornado which tore things up in Jersey City and Hoboken yesterday afternoon was probably the most active meteorological exhibition which has been seen around since the tornado which wrecked the village of Woodhaven on Long Island. The weather-wise say that the cause of such outbreaks is the sudden invasion of the hot current of air by a cold current, or the reverse, and that this trouble-breeding preliminary occurred somewhere out at sea.

From the top of a high building in Jersey City today the path of the storm could be traced plainly. It was just one city block wide. The building which suffered most seriously was St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, which had its steeple cut off. When the building inspectors looked over it they found breaks in the rear and side walls which will probably mean that the building will have to be torn down. The church cost $125,000.

Two hundred men were working at the Bijou Theatre today, clearing away the wreck of the back wall, which was blown out. It was estimated that 100,000 bricks fell into the street with the fall of the wall. The Mother Superior of the Dominican Convent, on which building part of the wall fell, was standing at a front window and had a good chance to observe the tornado's antics.

"Just as the storm got over the theatre," she said, "it suddenly assumed a perfect funnel formation. This funnel came right down in the street behind the back wall of the theatre. In it seemed to whirl everything it had picked up. As it went around it seemed to suck the immense wall with it until it toppled into the street."

The city had 100 men at work clearing the streets of debris. Broken glass was everywhere. So were tin roofs, rolled up like carpets. It will be some days before Van Vorst Park is cleared of the wreckage of its trees.

A man who stood in a doorway in Henderson Street, near Montgomery, east of the city hall, saw an open umbrella floating several hundred feet above the earth. It came from the direction of Van Vorst Park, a block and a half to the west. It landed on the cupola and was subsequently recovered.

People who ran to their windows also saw some remarkable sights. One man said he caught a glimpse through the rain of a horse running down the street with a light buggy overturned on its back. The horse stopped near Barrow Street, he said, looked around, and waited patiently until a man relieved it of its burden. The rig was owned by Dr. Robert M. Petrie, of 279 York Street.

A grocer's wagon was upset at the corner of Bright Street and Jersey Avenue. The horse was pinned against an awning post by the wind and could not run away.