THE HAIIy^TORM OF JULY 14, 1894* 
Bv RICHARD BLISS. 
The tornado, with its devastating accompaniment of hail, 
which visited Newport the 14th of last July, was the most 
violent and destructive tempest of the kind ever seen here. 
The western, and occasionally the middle, portions of our 
country are, unfortunately, but too familiar with these vio¬ 
lent disturbances of air pressure, and all parts of the country 
are visited, now and then, with destructive hail storms, in 
which the hailstones sometimes attain a remarkable size. 
But in the storm of last July, the size and hardness of the 
hailstones, and the extreme violence with which they were 
thrown, was unprecedented—in this part of the country at 
least. 
The first indication of a storm on the day referred to 
was seen in the heavy clouds banked up in the northwest 
early in the afternoon. Shortly after three o’clock these 
clouds assumed an unusually threatening appearance, and 
showed the heavy coppery color indicative of a violent tem¬ 
pest. Very soon a long black mass of cloud, shot with gleams 
of dull red and yellow, advanced rapidly toward the city from 
Jamestown, shutting out, as it advanced, the distant and 
then the nearer objects. As the cloud reached the water¬ 
front the squall struck the city; then the rain, mingled 
with a few small hailstones, fell in torrents. Suddenly, in 
the midst of the tearing wind and rain, with its accom¬ 
paniment of vivid lightning and heavy peals of thunder, 
the air was filled with driving masses of solid ice which 
tore with irresistable fury through awnings, windows, win- 
•Read before the Society November 5. lfftH. 
