j. 8 September I869 . From "The Great September Gale of 

 1869 in Providence and Vicinity" by Tillinghast and Mason of 

 Providence . 



"Our city has again been visited by a flood 

 and galej outrivaling in fury and destructiveness 

 the terrible storm of September l8l5. On Wednesday 

 morning, September 8th, the sky was overcast, and 

 occasionally a slight shower fell over the city; 

 in the forenoon the clouds were dispelled somewhat 

 and the sun came out for a short time. About noon 

 the wind sprung up quite fresh from the southaast, 

 blowing up large masses of dark clouds. Between 

 two and three o'clock, p.m., it commenced to rain 

 quite freely, the wind, in the meantime, blowing 

 still heavier. At four p.m., the wind was blowing 

 a perfect hurricane and the rain coming down in 

 torrents. The combined power and fury of the elements 

 were beyond all description. It seemed as if nothing 

 could withstand them. The water in the harbor rose 

 to a great height, and poiired over the wharves and 

 into the streets, in the lower portion of the city, 

 .with appalling swiftness - at one time rising two 

 feet in twenty minutes. Mighty trees bent and bowed 

 before the tempest, some of them being torn up by 

 the roots, while others were snapped off like rotten 

 twigs. Boards, bricks, shingles, broken boughs, 

 portions of gates and fences, shutters, signs, and 

 fragments of all kinds filled the air. Massive 

 biiildings rocked like toys, roofs of tons in weight 

 were lifted and carried rods away, or torn into 

 minute pieces. Huge strips of tin and metal were 

 torn from places where they had been securely naiilsd, 

 and blown like sheets of paper, for long distances. 

 Steeples rocked and fell; huge buildings vrere crushed 

 in like egg shells; vessels were swept like chips 

 upon the shore; dwellings were overt Tirned and 

 carriages blown along the street like feathers. 

 For the first time since the advent of telegraphy 

 in this city we were without a single' 'tap' from 

 outside 'barbarians', not a wire of either the 

 Western Union or Franklin Lines being in working 

 order. If the violence of the wind had continued 

 for half an hour longer, it is probable that the 

 waters of the harbor would have united vjith those 

 of the Cove, in the very busiest portions of the 

 city. The rise was at the rate of a foot every 



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