Progressive Batavian Batavia, Genesee County, New York State January 17-1890 The Cyclone. The Canning Factory Badly Damaged Other Factories and Buildings Damaged Trees Blown Over, Wagons Overturned, etc., etc. A veritable cyclone swept over Batavia village and vicinity on Monday commencing about 10 a.m. The first blast of the tempest drove in the brick walls on the west end and south side of the Batavia Preserving Co.'s new building and the roof of the old part formerly used for a planing mill. The damage to the company will amount to about $2,000. Fortunately nobody was at work in the factory at the time. A force of hands was immediately put to work to save the roof of the new building from further damage. The irons of the awning in front of T.F. WOODWARD's shoe store were blown through the large plate glass window, wrecking it completely. We hear that the window was insured with O. CLARK. A large glass in the second story of the new Doty building was blown in. A large tree in front of W.C. WATSON's house on Ellicott street and another in front of H. SCHAFER's house on State street were broken off by the blast. The trees were about a foot in diameter. An apple tree in Mrs. HURLBURT's yard was uprooted. Half of a big shade tree in front of Judge NORTH's, on Summit street, was split off and fell across the street to the opposite sidewalk, blocking all passage until cut away. BAKER & WALKINSHAW's delivery wagon and a milk wagon were picked up by the fingers of the wind and over-turned like band boxes. Large dry goods boxes went rolling up Main street as rapidly as straw hats when caught by a summer breeze. The great chimney at the Wheel Works, 75 feet high, swayed about before the cyclone like a reed and the bricks at the base could be seen to move away from the boiler nearly half an inch. Mrs. John DUFFY ventured to cross the central's iron bridge, at Walnut street, during the storm and was blown down upon the ties. She clung desperately to the timbers until two men from the blacksmith shop near by came and took her safe across. At the Harvester Works the wind got under the tin roofing on the wood shop and carried away a strip about twenty feet wide, extending from the ridge to the eaves. Workmen tied ropes around themselves and went out upon the roof, at the risk of their lives, and nailed down boards to keep the remainder of tin from taking wings and fleeing away. The slate roofs of the factory were also damaged and chimneys blown down. At Gus EIPPER's[sic] hotel on Harvester avenue a shed 22 feet square was lifted in the air like a balloon and now Gus has a lot of kindling wood on hand scattered all over his garden. The roof of a freight car standing near Liberty street was blown off, and Michael SULLIVAN gathered it into his flag shanty for firewood. The tight board fences around the ball grounds and Harvester lots are leveled to the ground. Bricklayers will have work for some time to come building chimneys for dwelling houses all over the village. Many dooryards are strewn with bricks that have rattled down from the housetops. At the Wood Works the men working in the upper story were fearful to remain at their benches, so furious was the gale, and went down below. The scuttle cover on top of the PARKER house was blown off and went crashing down on top of HOLDEN's skylight, breaking a number of lights of glass. A pretty little midget of a girl was thrown down violently by the wind in front of the Water Works, and remained in town by clutching hold of the long grass with her tiny hands. The north half of the roof of Mr. TRIETLEY's house on Trumbull place left its moorings and landed in the field beyond. A large barn on the farm of Anson WILLIAMS, near Daw's Corners, was ruined. The south gable of John SCHAFER's new brick house, on Dellinger avenue, was bent in several inches. A portion of the iron roof of the new grist mill on Ellicott street peeled up and went flying away over the tops of the dwelling houses. A portion of the iron roof of the new electric light works and Dodgson & Wilder's store-house was blown away. Dr. John F. BAKER, our oldest village physician, was caught in the arms of the cyclone and his buggy over-turned, on Bank street. The doctor was thrown out but not injured. The buggy was broken considerably. At the Institution for the Blind the wind carried away the large storm house at the front door, overturned the hay scales, took the slating from a portion of the roof and broke out a number of lights of glass. At the Wheel Works the brick wall of the blacksmith shop was blown in near the roof. On the farm of S.B. LUSK, a little east of the village, fourteen apple trees were uprooted and his windmill was blown into the next lot. Mr. LUSK cared more for the destruction of his mill than of his trees, for that bore all the year round. The sheds on the farm of Walter CHADDOCK, in Bushville, were lifted from their foundation and carried about ten feet. Milkman HARLE[sic] laments the loss of his horse barn. When last seen it was headed towards Rochester. Nearby. In Attica: The fine grand stand on the Fair Grounds and a large portion of the fence was demolished. A part of the roof of the Attica malt house was blown off and the chimney of the gas house was blown onto the building, doing considerable damage. Shade trees, chimneys and small buildings were blown over and destroyed. In Le Roy: The brick stack at N.B. KEENEY & Son's bean house was blown down. It was about sixty feet high. A large part of the bricks fell upon the roof of the engine house, crushing it. The warehouse proper was somewhat damaged by flying bricks. The engine was not greatly damaged and no person was injured. Later in the day the upper part of the west wall of the new electric light works near the Erie station was blown in. About noon the force of the wind was sufficient to wreck the valuable green-house of Mrs. C.F. BISSELL on West Main street. The iron roof upon N.B. KEENEY & Son's pea warehouse, near the salt works, was taken off. William SHERMAN's house on Lincoln avenue, in process of erection, was badly damaged. A window in the tower of St. Peter's Catholic church was blown in. A tree was blown across the Rochester & Pittsburg track between Le Roy and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Junction, and delayed the train somewhat. In South Byron, during the gale, the tenant house of Dr. WHITON took fire and was destroyed. It was insured $1,000. The tenant, whose name we did not learn, lost his household goods. The windmills of Corey WALKER, Newton GREEN, James GOODING, and Daniel BARBER were blown down. James PUTNAM's large blacksmith shop sank under the heavy blow. At West Bethany Prof. HYDE's horse-barn, a structure some 40 feet long, was unroofed. The wind "pitched" too high and the roof "flatted," producing a discord--in the Professor's feelings. At West Batavia the roof was blown from Wm. UPHILL's barn. Twenty-two apple trees were blown down in Wm. POST's orchard on the Alexander road. In Pembroke a number of orchards suffered badly by the tempest. Abram MOOK's barn lost half its roof and the school house at East Pembroke was lifted from its foundation. In North Bergen the wind made sad havoc Monday. Trees and fences were blown in every direction, Burdell CHASE's wind mill and parts of the derick was destroyed. A portion of the roof of P.H. CARVER's barn was blown off and his wind mill down. A chimney on Martin MUNGER's house was blown down. Nine apple trees in Mr. ALLEN's orchard were overturned and much other damage done. Nearly everyone in Bethany had more or less damage done by the wind on Monday last. West Bethany was visited Monday morning by a heavy wind and rain storm. A heavy wind prevailed all day, uprooting trees, blowing down and unroofing buildings, and damaging property in various ways. Darien Centre: Monday last will be a day long remembered at this place as "the day of the great wind." It commenced in the morning and blew all day--warm and rainy in the morning--cold and freezing at night. The winds unroofed buildings, blew down chimneys, leveled fences, tore out doors, &c., &c. It ook the large door out of Ellis & Kinney's warehouse, the roof and part of its sides off Mr. HUME's house (he is a cripple and the neighbors carried him to Mr. KERSH's house, near by), took the roof off Mr. HEMELIN's house, two chimneys off D. VANOCKER's house, one respectively off the houses of J.NICHOL's, Charles FISHER, N.C. TIMBY, Charles DIMOCK and F.J. BAUERS, and a part of one off the houses of H.L. HUMPHREY and Widow NYE. The cheese factory also lost a chimney. Masons are in good demand just now. In Bergen a bridge over Black creek was blown into the stream, a barn belonging to Michael St. GEORGE was leveled to the ground and several chimneys on dwelling houses and churches were blown down. In Pavilion freight cars were partly unroofed and the Universalist church steeple slightly damaged. In Corfu the roofs of barns belonging to Romain LONG and Henry HALL were wrecked and a portion of the cornice of Mrs. REED's fine barn was torn off. Two young ladies on the way to the depot were blown into Mr. DOYLE's yard and prostrated upon the ground but not injured. Many chimneys were blown away and trees uprooted. In Oakfield the tin roof on Dr. JACKSON's block was stripped off and some of the bricks in the front wall were carried away. The rafters and boards of the roof were displaced. Peter McPARTLIN was injured some by the falling tin. A large portion of the roof of Mrs. STEVEN's barn was carried away, and William DUTCHER's was also damaged. Churchville: The heavy winds of last Monday did considerable damage in these parts. It blew in the plate glass windows in SPITZMESSER's meat market, broke off two of the gates at the Central crossing, unroofed one of the freight cars at the West Shore depot, blew off the tops of George SAVAGE's and N. FOWLER's wind mills, blew down a large number of chimneys and did much other damage. Elba: The weather record on Monday was of an unusual character. The morning was calm and mild as summer. At 6 o'clock a.m. the thermometer registered 65 degrees at the north side of our office. At sun-rise, every thing betokened a fine day. But clouds soon appeared and a brisk wind sprang up that soon grew to a fierce gale. At about 10 a.m. it was at its highth. Fruit and forest trees were torn down in great numbers, fences prostrated and buildings badly damaged. Mrs. John WILDER had two fine evergreen trees standing between her house and barn and both were prostrated. In the old cemetery two trees were blown over breaking down a headstone. About 10 o'clock a.m. a most magnificent rainbow spanned the sky in the northwest. Frank BIGNAL had his wind mill blown to pieces and Rodney EDGERTON had a large locust tree in his yard blown over just missing the corner of his new house. East Elba: The high wind did considerable damage in this section. Freeman EDGERTON's windmill was razed to the ground and entirely ruined. Roofs in the vicinity were stripped of their shingles, chimneys were blown down, trees uprooted and fences laid flat. * submitted by Linda Schmidt *********************************************