October 2, 1903

On Wednesday morning of last week about 3 o’clock, a most furious storm visited this locality and raged about five hours, uprooting trees, blowing down chimneys and unroofing houses. It was the most terrible storm of wind and rain ever known in this latitude.[i] When it first began to rage the houses tottered and heaved, like […] a vessel in the throes of a heavy sea. When morning broke and when we started down to the post office to mail our letters, the sight along Federal Street was one of destruction. The street was strewn with leaves and the branches of trees, so as to make it almost impassible. We were obliged to pick our way, first upon the sidewalks, and then in the street. The rain was yet descending in torrents, and the work of disaster was not complete. Between six and seven o’clock a tall chimney that ran through the roof of a shed in the property belonging to Captain Frank Lacey, blew down, and subsequently several large trees followed. The damage to trees and other property was immense all through the town. On Lavina’s camp ground several trees are blown down in close proximity to the tents and would have been dangerous to the people had the meetings been in operation, The tents are all standing, The storm must have been of a cyclonic character, as the trees fell in all directions. About 9 a. m. the wind veered to the west and ceased its fury. The damage to unsaved fodder is great; and of such a character that it cannot now be saved. The tomato and corn crops are badly damaged, as is everything else that was in the fields at the time. The work of clearing away the debris began as soon as the storm had ceased and now everything is in a fair and commendable position. The people of the town do now want to witness any more such storms if they can help it, for aside from their terrifying appearances het are damaging withal.

Rev. D. P. Corkran preached at Fairview, Md. on Sunday. In his absence Captain George Megee conducted the services at the M. E. Church, in this town, in the morning.

Mr. Frank Davidson is visiting friends in town, and on Sunday addressed the Sabbath School on its quarterly temperance lecture.

R. Davis Carey and sisters, Miss Sallie and Miss Susie, who have been visiting their Milton homestead, have returned to their city home.

The tomato crop has been badly damaged by the late storm. And are coming in slow, yet they are only bringing eight cents a basket.

The authorities are putting in gutters on the lower extremity of Federal Street. These will be covered in the form of culverts.

Mrs. John A. Hazzard and Mrs. Hefleigh of Pennsylvania—two aged ladies—are the guests of Mr. and Mrs. B. F. Chandler.

Greensbury T. Johnson, a veteran of the Civil War, aged about 82 years, died on Sunday of dropsy. Funeral services were held at Reynolds M. P. Church on Monday afternoon, by the Rev. H. S. Johnson, and the body inhumed in the adjacent cemetery.

Rev. H. S. Johnson has purchased the property on Union Street, now occupied by the barber, John Megee[ii]. Consideration $400.

Lloyd Burton Green died at the home of his parents, at Rehoboth, on Thursday the 17th inst., aged 1 year, 9 months and 1 day. The funeral was held at Sand Hill M. E. Church on Saturday, and interment made in the cemetery nearby. Rev. Mr. Wilson conducted the obsequies and S. J. Wilson & Son supervised the interment.

Mrs. Maggie Carey returned from a visit of two weeks to Camden, N. J. on Monday.

Capt. James Darby returned from Camden, N. J. on Monday. Captain Darby has been master of a tug boat cruising around Philadelphia and other parts for many years. A few years ago his wife died, when he resigned his commission and settled down in his old Milton home. He has many friends and attachments here, and will doubtless remain a Milton citizen the remainder of his life.

Wesley Coverdale has, the past week, repainted the lockup.

Captain Henry Johnson, sometime ago badly hurt while loading piling, is able to be out again, and to resume his duties in as sprightly manner as through no accident had occurred to him.

E. N. Lofland has his new boat framed, and today received lumber for her completion. He will commence work soon.

Dr. W. J. Hearn, with a coterie of friends and the omnipresent “Jack” as attendant, arrived at Milton dick in his steam launch on Tuesday.

The Wagamon Brothers have lumber on the ground for the repairs to the waste gates at their mill and will begin work soon.

Wesley Coverdale is repainting S. J. Wilson & Son’s Sales Bazaar.

Thomas R. Wilson assistant officer of the S. T. T. & S. D. Co., is, at the present writing, attending court at Cape May as plaintiff in a suite against a Negro who struck him while on a recent excursion to that city.

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[i] This storm is probably the 1903 New Jersey hurricane, also known as the Vagabond Hurricane, which made landfall in New Jersey on September 16 and caused widespread damage in Delaware and the other middle Atlantic states. Wind speed peaked at 100 mph. There is some question about the date; we know for a fact that the storm hit on September 16, but the article appeared on October 2, making reference to “Wednesday morning of last week.” That would be September 23, given that October 2 was a Friday. It may be that the article did not make it into the newspaper in time for the September 25 edition, and was incorporated in the following week’s column without careful editing.

[ii] John Megee’s daughter Viola was one of the girls who funded the window on the East side of the Milton M. P. as part of Fannie Leonard’s Sunday school class.