DC's Great Tornado of 1881

Washington Post (DC) 28 Jun 1881 p1
THE CAPITAL IN A STORM
AN IMMENSE LOSS OF PROPERTY BY LAST NIGHT'S HURRICANE
[lengthy description of the damage to District buildings]
... Probably, for a private citizen, Mr. Samuel Norment, of 1013 M-street, will sustain as severe a loss as any. His roof was gone almost with the first blast, and traveled across the street, stopping almost at the door of Mr. Henry Clapp. The exposed condition of Mr. Norment's dwelling was an inviting spot for the water and got a fearful dose of the fluid. His handsome frescoed walls blended their colors and presented a scene that would have made mud look beautiful. His fine and delicate upholstery became streaked and changeable, while his satin covered chairs became watered in reality. He had not taken a full inventory last night, and was unable to fix the damages, but is satisfied that he has suffered pretty severely ...

National Republican (DC) 28 Jun 1881
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86053573/1881-06-28/ed-1/seq-1/
THE CITY UNROOFED.
WORK OF A TERRIBLE HURRICANE.
It Sweeps Over the City from the North With Hail-Stones as Big as Eggs-Thunder, Lightning, and a Flood of Water.
The severe storm which burst upon the city last evening surpassed in intensity, violence and in mischief any that has ever before taken place in this part of the country. Without warning, the rain suddenly descended in immense volumes, and soon every street was a river. The sewers speedily became choked up, and through the various traps and manholes poured forth their surplus water, creating eddies and whirlpools that engulfed everything within their reach. Down came the rain in great sheets of water, drenching everybody and everything. The high wind, almost a hurricane, bore along the aqueous column with terrible velocity, tearing down trees, shivering windows, tearing awnings to ribbons, and sending the various decorations that had been put forth in honor of the scheutzen flying through the air. The play of the lightning was positively appalling, so vivid, so incessant, and so terrible in its effects.
EACH BLINDING FLASH
was followed by the heaviest thunders of Heaven's artillery, and even amid the rolling thunder could be heard the crash of shivered trees, the falling bricks of overturned chimneys, the snap of sundered awnings, and the rattle of broken windows. The storm lasted about an hour, and to add to the ravages during the latter portion of its duration it hailed violently, many of the stones being as large as good-sized filberts. Much damage resulted from this cause. It is supposed that the storm commenced about a mile above Georgetown and spent its entire force upon the District. The amount of damage which has been done cannot be definitely ascertained, but there is hardly a square which does not bear marks of the fury of the storm in unroofed houses, upturned trees, or broken windows. The total damage is variously estimated at from $100,000 to $200,000. the experience of the storm
AT "THE REPUBLICAN" OFFICE
were of a character to give the attaches of this valuable journal a realizing sense of its violence. At the first outburst the windows of the city editor's room were blown open, the glass smashed, the gas put out and the driving rain came pouring in, giving everything a free bath. After frantically rushing to the windows and securing them, the lonely attache who was on duty in that department fumbled around until he found the stop-cock to the gas, so as to prevent its further escape, and just as he had succeeded in turning off the gas the windows again blew open, having been torn from their fastenings by the violence of the wind. A friend had fortunately entered, and while the scribe held one window fast he pressed the visitor into service to do the same by the other. There these two stood, each braced against a window, getting a free admission to the
GLORIOUS HEAVENLY FIREWORKS
outside during the extreme severity of the storm. The rain and hail pelted the tin roof overhead and the racket was increased by the crash of two chimneys which fell, frightening nearly every compositor out of his wits. They all wanted to go and get a drink to help brace them up, but Bloomer said they had been turn Sons of Jonadab and take the water which was literally pouring through the leaky roof. Down stairs in the editorial room the rain poured in at the windows before the
AUBURN-HAIRED MERCURY
could close them, and as he stood tugging away at the patent fastening, which is never good for anything when you want to use it, the lightning played about his ruddy locks, making him look like a Titian cherub. He was an awfully wet cherub before he was through with it though. In order to thoroughly familiarize him with electricity he was set to working the telephone, and as he took hold of the receiver he received an electric shock which sent him about four feet nearer Heaven than he will ever get again unless he goes into a higher building. Below is a statement of the damage occasioned so far as could be ascertained last night:
AT THE CITY HALL.
An attache of THE REPUBLICAN was in an F street car (No. 36) directly in front of the monument facing the City Hall when the storm struck that building. The tin roof was lifted form the structure, broke in two pieces, and, accompanied by boards and planks, was whirled into Louisiana avenue, one part landing in front and another in rear of the car. The occasional flashes of vivid lightning showed the car to be in a sea of mud, while the debris flying around, the pelting hail-stones, the terrified horse, frightened passengers, and heroic driver, who stood manfully by his animal, made a never-to-be-forgotten scene. The car was compelled to stop and take the brunt of the pitiless storm, which drenched the passengers. All along the route after a start was effected trees and telegraph wires were found obstructing the track. When the junction of Ninth and F was reached a swollen torrent of water, like a mighty river, was rushing down Ninth street into F, filling the barber-shop under the drug store on the southwest corner to the ceiling, and driving all the occupants of the basements on the south side of F street, from Ninth to Tenth, to the upper floors.
CENTRAL PORTION OF THE CITY.
There is hardly a square in the city that did not suffer in some way from the storm. In the central part of the city, though the damage was not very extensive in any particular place, there were numerous cases of small damages. The tin roofs of the Masonic Temple, the Spencerian College, the Georgetown Medical College, Schneider's building on Pennsylvania avenue, near Eleventh street, were blown off.
The roof from Masonic Temple landed in a dining-room on the south side of F street, tearing the front out of the same and stirring things up generally.
The plate glass window at Harvey's, Seventh and E streets, in Mockabee's shoe store, corner Twelfth and F streets, and Wimer's engraving and printing establishment corner Thirteenth and F streets, were smashed.
The roof of a building at the corner of Twelfth street and New York avenue is taken half a square away.
Gibson's printing office and the contents thereof were considerably damaged by water, the building being unroofed.
At Young's, No. 736 Seventh street, the front blew in, exposing a quantity of silk, &c., the damage to the same being given by Lieutenant Arnold at $5,000.
Gunnip, Day & Co. suffered considerably by the water getting into their stock of cottons and linens stored in their cellar.
The entire front of Walter's coach shop and blacksmith shop on D, between Thirteenth-and-a-half streets, was blown in, and the rail around the Pension-Office building was knocked off by the lightning.
At 1304 F street northwest, Mrs. Margaret Butler's, the windows on the third floor front were blown in and the floors flooded with water, running down the stairways like a cataract. A partition on the same floor was blown completely down, and the mother of the lady of the house, Mrs. Sullivan, was buried in the debris and severely injured.
Several chimneys were blown down on the south side of F street, between Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets northwest.
AT POLICE HEADQUARTERS
things were very lively during the entire storm. The shocks of electricity came in in rapid succession on all of the numerous police and fire-alarm telegraph wires leading into that building. In the fire-alarm room flashes illuminated the room constantly. In the telephone room below the incoming electric fluid played lively tunes on the wires, the snapping and snorting being very interesting for the operators, who, for safety's sake, found quarters in other parts of the building during the progress of the storm. The wires, however, did not suffer much, and in ten minutes after the elements had quieted down they were working as good as ever. Mr. Noyes, who looks after the interests of the fire-alarm telegraph wires, expected that he would be broke up entirely by the storm, and was surprised upon making examinations afterward to discover that the wires were not injured in the slightest.
THE STORM AT FORDS' OPERA-HOUSE.
During the early part of the commencement exercises at the Opera-House the storm, which had been gathering, burst forth in terrific fury. The skylight on the north side of the roof was torn off, and soon the rain made its way through the ceiling. Before the windows on the D street front could be closed the rain poured into the theatre in torrents. Confusion and terror prevailed for a few moments. Ladies screamed and fainted, and young maidens clung to their escorts more closely than usual so early in the evening. A panic was imminent, and serious injury might have resulted to many, had not Brother Tobias given the signal to the orchestra to commence their music. This had the desired effect, and soon the performance again went on smoothly. Save a few new bonnets ruined and a good scare the ladies escaped injury. Several persons, however, were cut about the face and neck by the breaking of one of the windows in the balcony.
THE STORM AT DRIVER'S.
"Well, sir," said George Driver, when the first drip from the sluice gates spattered down last night, "there'll be no business this evening. Summer-garden investments have been played for about all they're worth."
George was about right. Hardly had his words ceased to echo through the marble halls when "Flip!" "Boom!" "Bang?" came one of his "masterpieces" dashing in from the garden bearing a trombone, drenched to the skin. "Bang!" "Boom!" "Flip!" and the base drum and "Reminiscences of the War" followed. The "Blue Danube" in the shape of the cornet player who parts in hair in the center, followed next, and Driver was, to use a favorite expression, completely paralyzed. It was a bad lookout for him, as a representative of the business elements of the city, and he acknowledged it by going gracefully off into a swoon. He was placed on ice, with a fair prospect of being resuscitated by sunrise.
FIRST STREET AND NEW JERSEY AVENUE.
M. R. Woodward, 727 First street northwest, roof and rafters completely off; house flooded.
Mrs. Wise, 725 First street northwest, roof off and wall partly down.
Grocery-store and dwelling corner of Second and Massachusetts avenue, roof off and house flooded.
House 103 K street northwest, roof off.
Small house on First street, between K and L streets, completely demolished. Woman and small child barely escaped.
Four houses on New Jersey avenue, between L and M, unroofed.
C. P. Thompson's, New Jersey avenue, between I and K streets, unroofed. Roof brown nearly a square.
Ex-Mayor Emery's house, 207 I street, General Grant's old house, unroofed.
M. M. Rohrer, 200 I street, chimneys and walls blown down and roof loosened.
House on H street east, between Sixth and Seventh, roof off.
Twenty-one shade trees between First and Seventh streets were counted blown down.
The gas in the houses in the northwestern part of the city went out.
K STREET AND VICINITY
The metal roofing of the K Street Market was rolled up for some twenty or thirty feet.
The roof of the three-story brick residence of Mr. Rockman, on the south side of K, near Fourth street, was lifted up by the force of the hurricane, the north and west walls of the upper story blown completely out, and the roof itself left suspended upon the partition-walls.
The roof of No. 1009 K street was also blown off, and carried, with rafters and sheathing, clear across the broad street.
The basement of Mrs. Dr. Edson's residence, 1308 I street, was flooded to the depth of several feet of the stopping up of the sewer; and No. 1312, a few doors west, lost its roof, and was flooded form top to bottom.
The upper-story of the house on the southwest corner of New York avenue and Twelfth street was nearly demolished, the roof and several feet of the brick work being carried away.
The roof was blown from a large house on M street, near Fourth street.
The beautiful shade tress at the intersection of Fourteenth street and Massachusetts avenue were almost completely destroyed, especially those in front of General Schenck's residence.
At Thirteenth and K streets the shade trees were also almost entirely destroyed. They were blown across and landed in the yard of the house on the northwest corner.
On O street northwest, between Twelfth and Thirteenth, the large brick building on the north side was unroofed, and two lead-colored houses were not only made roofless, but a portion of the walls were thrown down.
WESTERN PART OF THE CITY.
The walls of a house in course of erection at the corner of New Hampshire avenue and L street were thrown down.
Two houses on the corner of Twenty-second and L streets had their basements flooded to a depth of six feet by back water from Slash Run sewer.
The storm was very severe in the extreme northwest of the city. The house of Dr. A. P. Fardon, near Dupont Circle, had the roof blown off and the brick cornice badly damaged; it was also badly flooded. His brick stable adjoining was badly damaged.
In the same neighborhood, the stable roof of Mr. Daish was blown off.
The house of Mr. St. Clair, corner of Q and Nineteenth, badly damaged.
Several of the walls of the new houses in course of erection near by were more or less damaged.
The destruction of trees about the Sixteenth street and Dupont circles was very great; also along the whole line of K street. Many of the large trees on the hills north of the city were blown down.
DAMAGE TO THE TREES.
The devastating effects of the storm was seen in the havoc made upon the shade trees throughout the city. There was not a street but that one or more had lowered its leafy head to the pavement and lay a wreck. Some of the trees were torn entirely from the roots, and hurled across the street. In the square fronting THE REPUBLICAN office an entire row of trees was blown down, and the destruction among these beautiful ornaments in other portions of the city was still greater. The small trees did not seem to suffer as much as the large ones, and while they bent before the fury of the storm the others snapped and fell in ruins. Portions of branches were thickly strewn over the streets, and these wrecks were perhaps the most melancholy vestages of the great tornado. A very pertinent suggestion, or rather comment, was made in this particular, and that was the trees should be kept more closely trimmed until they had secured a firm rooting in the ground. As it is now many of them are top-heavy and fall an easy victim to the first hard wind. A large tree on the right entrance to the President's grounds from the avenue was blown across the roadway, blocking it up.
The roof of the Academy of the Holy Cross, on Massachusetts avenue, between Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets, was ripped up, but the damage is said not to have been great.
It is stated that a number of panes of the thick glass in the roof of the Treasury Department building were shattered by the hail, and that much damage was done to the Government records by the rain beating in.
THE ISLAND DEPOT.
The Baltimore and Potomac depot was surrounded with about five feet of water. The passengers for the Virginia train were ferried across to the depot door and the train was delayed. The Ninth street cars were stopped and the hotel 'busses waiting on the Avenue for their passengers. The depot looked like an island, and the volunteer boatmen did a thriving business. The water extended along B street from Four-add-a-half to Seventh street, and at one time rose as high as the seats of the Metropolitan Railroad cars. The travel on this route was entirely stopped for some time.
The roof on two houses on C street was carried off and thrown against the front of the Metropolitan Church, smashing in the lower windows and the front door. They broke the lamp and demolished the corner of the fence around the church.
The cellar of Beall & Baker, the grocers, on the Avenue, near Sixth street, was flooded, and considerable damage was done. Perhaps this firm suffered a greater loss than any of those on the south side of the Avenue.
The residence of John A. Baker, on Indiana avenue, was struck by lightning and the roof was torn off.
The large tree, two feet in diameter, corner of Four-and-a-half and C streets, was snapped off like a sapling just above ground.
The Chauncey building, on Four-and-a-half street, was unroofed, and the roof carried to the opposite side of the street.
The Hillman House, on North Capitol street, was unroofed and flooded.
The lightning twisted the ironing railing on top of the Pension-Office into curious shapes.
The gable-end of Bradley's Law building, on Four-and-a-half street, was blown in.
The rectory in the rear of Trinity Church, occupied by Rev. Dr. Addison, was unroofed, but no further damage was done.
The residence of Mr. McDonald, on First, above D street, was unroofed and the side forced in.
No. 3 engine house on Capitol Hill was unroofed and flooded, driving the  men out of their sleeping-berths.
The tower on the south side of the Franklin school building was blown down and now hangs over the side. The Wallach school building, Eighth street and Pennsylvania avenue southeast, was unroofed and the corner stove in.
MORE OF THE DAMAGE
PLACES RUINED BY THE STORM.
Severity of the Gale--Churches, Houses, and Trees Thrown to the Ground--How the Steeples Suffered--Wrecks on All the Streets and Avenues.
The storm that visited Washington last evening was something unprecedented in this region. It might possibly have been equaled by some of the tornadoes they have in the West, but certainly Washington never experienced anything like it before. An hour or so previous there was a brilliant and singular display and lightning. The atmosphere seemed full of electricity, and the light shimmered and shone in vivid and varying flashes. All this, however, was but a prelude to what was about to follow. While the people were watching from their open windows and doorways the brilliant coruscations of light, suddenly and without premonition a storm of unprecedented fury swept over the city, carrying destruction before it. It was such a storm as could not be seen. It was a roar of wind, a blinding gust of rain, a tempest of hail-stones, a blind rush of the elements on a reckless errand of destruction. The lightning blazed in a continuous flame, while the thunder followed each discharge of electricity with the suddenness of a hundred batteries of artillery. No one could face such a storm and see it. Few had the courage even to stand at their windows and look into the tempest and face the glare of the lightning and the sharp crashes of thunder undaunted. Those who had momentary glimpses of it saw such a sight as is seldom witnessed. It seemed as though all the power of the elements had been gathered in the grasp of the storm and hurled through the air like a catapult. It was a storm comet shooting through the atmosphere. But the storm was soon over, and in half an hour the thunder rumbled off in the distance and people stepped out into the clear, purified atmosphere to see the result. This was hard to see, because lanterns have gone out of fashion and the street lamps were not lit, of course. Among the damages the shade trees of the city, now at their fullest luxuriance, suffered greatly.
On N street northwest, the storm did a lively business. One house on the north side, between Thirteenth and Fourteenth, was unroofed.
On the next square there were a number of accidents. The house of Mrs. Judge Pascal was unroofed, as was also the vacant dwelling next door.
GENERAL WILLIAMSON,
the ex-commissioner of the Land Office, on N street, between Twelfth and Thirteenth streets northwest, had his house unroofed, and the water poured into the building, doing a large amount of damage. The General and Mrs. Williamson found friendly shelter with Judge MacArthur. The Judge himself was out trying to do what he could to aid his unfortunate neighbors.
The house of General Palmer, on the south side of N street, between Twelfth and Thirteenth streets, had some of the windows broken by the hail. This square is blocked by tin roofs, stretching entirely across the street.
The scaffolding on the building on N street, now in course of erection for Mr. L. Spanier, was blown down and scattered along the pavement, some of it being carried as far as Twelfth street.
ON L STREET NORTHWEST,
between Thirteenth and Fourteenth, the roofs of six houses on the north side adjoining Mrs. Dahlgren's property, in one of which lives Dr. McDonald, of the Post-Office Department, were blown off. Portions were carried across the street into the front yard of Colonel Hosmer's house; some were carried into the parking of All Souls' (Unitarian) Church, and one roof doubled itself up like a sheet and lay across the telegraph wires, as if it had been hung up to dry. This square was rendered absolutely impassable by the fallen roofs, the shattered trees, the scattered timbers from the cornices, and the telegraph wires that had fallen down.
On M street northwest, between Twelfth and Thirteenth, the handsome residence of Dr. Turner was unroofed, the roof being carried across the street and landed against the frame house opposite. The rain, which drenched the house, did great damage, especially to the Doctor's library, which is one of the most extensive private collections in the District.
Rev. Dr. Forrest's house, on Indiana avenue, near Third street, was unroofed. At the corner fire-alarm wires and poles were blown down.
The south tower of Trinity Church, corner of Third and C streets, was blown down. The tin roof was carried a great distance and pieces of stone filled the air.
The house of Mr. Augenstien, on C street, near the Metropolitan Church, was struck by lightning. Sheets of flame burst from the Latrobe stove, and bricks and plaster from the wall were thrown upon two children who were sleeping in the roof. They were very much bruised. A large jagged opening was made in the wall.
The three-story brick house of John Major, on I street, near Fifth, was unroofed and the house flooded.
The lightning struck the house of Herman Rakemand, K street, between Fourth and Fifth, and tore out one side. The roof was carried away, as was done some years ago.
The roof of Odd-Fellows' Hall, on Seventh street, was torn off.
The Faunce House, on First, between K and L streets, occupied by Mr. Kearney, was blown to pieces.
The roof on house 103 K street was torn off, and part of the roof of house on corner of First and K streets. Also house corner of New Jersey avenue and Pierce street.
The two new houses corner of Sixth and Q streets was damaged by water, and the roof was torn off of the house next the southwest corner of Eighth and P streets.
The roof was taken off of the entire row of houses next to the Hamline Church.
The residence of Dr. Adams, 1116 Seventh street, was struck by lightning, and the Doctor received a shock.
The roof was stripped off of four houses on New Jersey avenue, between L and N streets. In one house there was a corpse and in another sickness.
Mr. Prather's house, No. 907 M street, was denuded of its roof and rafters, and the interior thoroughly drenched.
The shoe store of Moran, on Seventh street, between New Jersey avenue and L street, was unroofed.
The Marble Saloon, corner of Ninth street and the Avenue, was flooded and closed; also the coffee house of Vogts, on the opposite side of the Avenue.
The residence of George W. Knox, 803 K street, was unroofed.
On P street, between Thirteenth and Fourteenth street, the roofs of three houses were blown off.
The roofs of houses 1424 and 1426 Ninth street, occupied by Mr. T. J. Gardner and Mr. West were torn off.
The roof was taken off of the row of houses on Columbia street, and also of the house 1704 New Jersey avenue.
The roof of three houses on O, between Twelfth and Thirteenth streets, was torn off.
The house owned by General Grant, 1813 O street was unroofed.
Three houses on Seventh street, between P and Q streets, were dismantled of the roof, and considerable damage was incurred from the water.
The roof of the dry goods store of Jacob E. young, 736 Seventh street, was lifted, and a quantity of water came down through the lower stories.
At St. Peter's Church, Second and C streets southeast, an entertainment was in progress. The wind burst in all the windows, and, to increase the confusion, the gas was blown against the lace curtains of the altar and set them afire. The fire was extinguished with slight damage and the excitement allayed.
The Seventh Precinct Station-House, corner of F and First streets, was flooded, and the men driven out of their beds.
The large gilt cross surmounting the tower of St. Aloysius' Church was completely shattered and blown a considerable distance from its proper position.
The wind raised the roof of the Baltimore and Ohio depot on New Jersey avenue, and slide it easily off into the street.
L. Smidt's restaurant, No. 470 K street, was unroofed and damaged to the extent of $500.
A small frame house at the corner of First street, between G and H, was completely destroyed by a heavy roof from an adjoining house being forced against it.
OTHER HOUSES UNROOFED
in this vicinity were Turkish bath-rooms, E, between Fifth and Sixth streets northwest; Stephen Talty's, Second street and Massachusetts avenue; Murphy's blacksmith-shop, near Massachusetts avenue and Third street; W. W. Daniels', at the corner of D and First streets; Dennis Quill's, 42 G street; James O'Connor, 40 G street; Elizabeth Collins, 105 D street, furniture ___ making her total loss $1,000; Mrs. John Wise, 725 First, roof off and house flooded; damage $800; Mr. Samuel Norment's residence, No. 1013 M street, was unroofed and damaged considerably, as was Moran's shoe store, No. 1022 Seventh street, and Paymaster Fedder's, U. S. N., No. 1111 Massachusetts avenue.
The train on the Baltimore and Ohio Road due here at 9:45 ran off the track at Seneca Falls, on the Metropolitan Branch, owing to a wash-out. One woman was injured by the breaking of the glass in one of the car windows. The train was delayed about three-quarters of an hour.
IN SOUTH WASHINTON
the damage was trifling, as the storm had spent its fury when this locality was reached. Numerous trees were blown down, however, and cellars flooded, which will prove troublesome of house-keepers. Considerable anxiety was manifested in regard to the steamers plying on the river, and as
THE CORCORAN
was known to have an excursion of members of Pentalpha Lodge on board, fears were entertained that she might have been caught in the storm. She reached her wharf safely at midnight, and the passengers were amazed to learn that such a storm had raged, as they had not seen a drop of rain going or coming, and the wind was not at all violent.
The steamers Arrowsmith and Excelsior were safely moored at their wharves when the storm began, and were not injured in the least. As far as heard from, no craft
ALONG THE RIVER-FRONT,
from Georgetown to the Eastern Branch, experienced any of the violence of the storm. While the storm was at its height the Dispatch, lying at the navy-yard, broke her fastenings and drifted out into the stream, but was soon secured.
The Jane Mosely, with 250 passengers, laid in her own dock until the storm was over.
INCIDENTS OF THE STORM.
A colored woman named Mrs. Thomas, living at 2023 L street, was driven out of the basement by the water. She took three children with her, but in the hurry left another one fast asleep in the bed. It was more than two hours before any one could enter the room again, as it was expected that the child would be found dead. The water had not reached the bed, and the child was found peacefully sleeping.
A fellow with breeches rolled over his knees did a good business carrying people on his back at fifteen cents a head to the Opera House and back.
During the storm the transfer agent of the Washington and Georgetown Railroad, who is stationed at Seventh street and Pennsylvania avenue, became alarmed at the lightning and left the tree under which he had taken shelter to stand in the middle of the street. As the down pour reached him a lady perfectly beside herself with fright jumped from the car, begged him for a transfer and then waded through two feet of water to reach another car.
As a REPUBLICAN representative was viewing the wrecks he heard a dainty little girl, who was learning close to the manly form of the stalwart youth who was pointing at the ravages, say, "Do you think that awful comet had anything to do with this terrible storm?" The young man, who had evidently thumbed the books of astronomy in some first-class college, then went on to explain that the old theories as to comets having any influence upon the weather were exploded and just as he got that far in his explanation his manly head dropped and for a moment was lost to view under the broad brim of her sundown[?]. The man with the Faber No. 2 imagined that he heard a slight explosion, and he went his way whistling softly, "Do you really think you did?"
John W. Semmes, house, 92_ M street [same block as Samuel], was unroofed; also T. J. Turner's, _27 M street; Mrs. Prince's, 1335 L street; Mr. Andrews', 1337 L street; Mr. Sioussa's, 1225 L street; - Thomas', 1107 Massachusetts avenue; G. H. and J. E. Turton's houses, 1007 and 1009 K street, Colonel Pennebaker's, 1415 N street; J. Holbert, 1407 N street; C. Thatcher, 1413 __ street; Joseph Prather's house on M, near Fourth street, was completely dismantled, the roof being torn off and the upper story blown down. In the vicinity of M and Eighth and Ninth streets the damage was considerable, among the sufferers being Mr. Coombs, 1304 Ninth street, Mr. Simms, 1232 Ninth street, Mr. J. H. Johnson, 903 M street, and occupants of three houses on the west side of Eighth street, between M and N. the bridge of the Belt Line road, at the corner of Fourth and K streets, was washed away, necessitating stoppage of the cars. The window of Neal's __ store, corner of Seventh and N streets, was smashed
 in, the damage being upward of $100.
In the First Ward not much damage was done beyond the blowing down of numerous trees and the unroofing of several houses. Two houses belong to Mr. Samuel Stott, on G street, between Eighteenth and Nineteenth, were unroofed and otherwise damaged. A large tree was thrown against the residence of Mr. Douglass, No. 1702 Pennsylvania avenue, and crushed one side of the house as thought it were only paper. An unfinished house on New Hampshire avenue, near M street, had the walls blown down and the foundations washed out in several places. Along L street from Nineteenth to Twenty-third cellars and first floors were flooded, and the inhabitants driven out into the storm.
In Georgetown the storm was severe, but did little damage except felling trees. A portion of the tower over the station-house, on High street, was torn off and blown into the canal.

National Republican 28 Jun 1881
NOTES OF THE STORM.
FURTHER PARTICULARS GIVEN.
Additional Information Discovered by "The Republican" Reporters Yesterday, Particularly in the Northwestern Section--Some Humorous Incidents.
The account of the ravages of the terrific storm on Monday night and the incidents connected therewith in yesterday's REPUBLICAN conveyed as complete information as could be obtained so soon after the occurrence. Every portion of the city was covered by the active reporters, and, as a result, the patrons of this journal had the privilege of reading at their breakfast-table a more accurate and detailed description than has appeared in any newspaper, even with the additional time in which to collect information. With a desire to glean facts that had escaped the scrutiny of the other "locals," the untiring emissaries of the fourth page were sent perambulating over the city yesterday, each armed with a note-book and an alpenstock, and the following fresh matter is the result of their pilgrimages:
As one usually learns in regard to matters at a distance than those immediately connected with his own household, the full extent of the damage to THE REPUBLICAN office was not discovered until yesterday. The large sign which surmounts the building was broken in twain, the "NATIONAL" part only remaining firm in its place, the emblematic representations of America, faithfully copied from that in the Smithsonian Institute, was decidedly shaken up, while the other half lay prone upon the roof of the building. The playful lightning struck the Census building next door, and, after bending the massive iron cornice, caromed on five chimneys, instead of two, as was at first supposed, making a regular hailstorm of bricks all around the neighborhood.
In the alley between Twelfth and Thirteenth and N and O streets the roof of a large stable was taken bodily up, carried over another stable beside it, and landed in the back yard of Mr. J.C.G. Kennedy, who lives on N street.
The damage to the three houses-1209, 1211, and 1913 O street-was very great. Not only were the roofs entirely carried away, portions being blown over the houses on the opposite side of the street, but the rafters and cornices were also torn off and landed in the street. These houses are respectively owned by Messrs. J. W. Sears, T. C. Dickinson, and ex-President Grant, and it is estimated that it will cost at least $1,000 to repair the damage in each case.
One good result of the storm was the destruction of a large number of the vicious little sparrows. The hall did the business, and their little lamps were put out, none of the agents of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals being on hand to enter a protest.
Mr. John A. Ellinger was also a heavy loser by the cyclone. Just before the gale burst on the city the entire week's wash of his household had been hung out to dry, and the rapidity with which the wind rose demoralized his servant so much that she could only stand in open-mouthed horror as shirts, socks, and unmentionables were whirled away into the darkness. Yesterday morning John was scouting around the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad depot with an odd sock, a bath-towel, and a pair of white duck trousers under his arm-all of his vanished wardrobe that had been found up to that hour. John says that his hopes of a summer campaign hang upon the recovery of those dry goods, and he specially requests the residents of Capitol Hill and the Navy-Yard to arrest any vagrant linen bearing his monogram that may be found floating around on the tail end of Vennor's zephyr.
David Murray, a blacksmith of Ohio avenue, was out driving on Capitol Hill in his buggy. When the gale struck him it turned his buggy and dumped Mr. Murray into the gutter. He got up and attempted to regain his steed, but the force of the wind rolled him over again, and he concluded to lie there. Meanwhile his horse, frightened by the blinding glare of the lightning, dashed off to the lower part of the city, and was not found until yesterday morning.
One of the tall sycamores at the entrance to the White House grounds was almost entirely divested of its branches, being stripped nearly as bare as a telegraph pole. This was about all the damage done to the premises of the administration.
In Lafayette Park the shrubbery was handled pretty roughly, and it required considerable work yesterday to clear away the debris of broken branches and the leaves, which were stripped off by the hail.
In front of the liquor establishment of Mr. August Douglass, on Pennsylvania avenue, near Seventeenth street, one of the large trees was twisted off by the gale and hurled against the front of the store, battering down the balcony railings and creating a general stampede among the inmates.
On Twenty-first street and in the reservations bordering Pennsylvania avenue many trees were blown down and others denuded of their limbs.
At Dunlap's guano shed, corner of Canal and High streets, West Washington, the wind tore off the cornice of the front of the building and splintered it against the pavement. Loss about $100.
The rapid rise of the waters of Rock Creek caused considerable damage. Mr. Blundon had two scows loaded with stone swept over the dam and out into the river. Loss, $500.
At Green's Lime Kilns the rapid rose of the creek made a premature bed of mortar of about four hundred bushels of lime. Loss, $75.
Among the small buildings in the vicinity of Rock Creek there was considerable damage done, but the owners were busily engaged in putting things to rights, and in no instance did they estimate their loss at more than $20.
Proceeding northward it was found that in the vicinity of the P Street Circle considerable damage had been done by the storm. The walls of several of the buildings in course of construction were blown down, the scaffolding torn away, and the excavations for foundations and cellars filled to overflowing with water. Damages of this character, it is estimated, will not fall far short of $10,000.
On Massachusetts avenue, near Twentieth street, the residence of Mr. Charles Ebert was unroofed and the house flooded by the rain. Mr. Ebert's loss will foot up upward of $500.
The residence of Mr. Lamont, 1802 Sherman street, had the roof carried off and he was damaged to the extent of some $200.
The cupola of the unfinished residence of Mr. Otis Bigelow, near P Street Circle, was blown down, and on Nineteenth street, between R and S, John Thomas had the windows of his house blown in and his lares and penates soaked with water; he estimates his loss at $100.
On Connecticut avenue, near the British Embassy, several tin roofs were lifted and partially torn loose, but before noon the damages had been repaired, and the premises put in condition for another wrestle with Old Boreas.
At White's pharmacy, corner of Twenty-ninth street and Connecticut avenue, the show-window was blown in and considerable damage done to stock by water.
At the corner of Fifteenth and L streets the wind tackled a $50 awning in front of B. F. Riley's market, and in a dozen seconds reduced it to paper stock.
Throughout the entire northwestern section of the city the damage to trees, shrubbery, and street lamps was considerable, although bearing no comparison to the ravages of the gale at points east of Sixteenth street.