Erratic Lake Erie

A remarkable tidal wave swept the lake front at Cleveland, on the morning of the 23rd. The wave was two miles wide and 11 feet high. er than the surface of the lake. It came in the wake of dense, angry looking black and gray clouds which moved sullenly from the northward over the city. There was no wind and no rain at the lake shore, but a dash of rain feil in some parts of the city, and the wind blew fiercely south of town. Vessels parted their lines at the mouth of the river, piers and docks were submerged to the depth or four feet in some places, hundreds of flsh were cast ashore, fires were put out in the Lake Erie rolling mili on the beach west of the river and a scow loaded with sand lying at the breakwater landed high on shore, a short stretch of the railway near the union depot was ripped up, and numerous switch %hanties and small buildings were overturned and moved about. A tramp sleeping upon the top of a sewer where itempties into the lake was drowned. One man standing at the bank was thrown down and washed against the wall of the union depot. Another sitting on a switch house was buried under the stone. Timber heads were torn out of two scows. Iron rails 28 feet long, piled near the depot, were lif ted up and scattered in confusión. Huge logs were washed ashore. The lif e-saving station was badly wrecked and variou3 other sorts of damage were done. The wave lasted about one minute. Several parties were flshiug in skiffs. They report a sudden rise of the water and a violent commotion like a Whirlpool. The skiffs weathered the singular storm without accident. The damage to property on shore is roughly eslirnated at $30,000. Steamboat men who came in this morning report a short squall and a sudden movement oí the water olï this port, of which no particular notice was taken at the time. Sergeant Nowlin says the cloud was an electric cloud and in a general way like those of ordinary thuuder stoima. Many of the phenomena are similar to what would be expected to accompany a waterspout, but none formed, nor did the hard storm precede or follow, as is usual in cases of tidal waves. After the grand rushing of the water the lake relapsed into repose, thiï surface becoming calm and unruffled as if nothing had happened. Tho wave was wider reaching than first supposed. Word comes from Glenville that it played havoc with boats and boathouses there. Near the railway bridge over the river a log 75 feet long and three feet and a half in diameter was carried nearly 200 feet inland. Before the phenomena occurred the wind had been blowing gontly from southerly and soon after the cloud passed resumed the same direction. The water in the lake is about twc feet higher than at the ordinary stage and the tidal wave at the life saving station reached eight feet and ten inches above the present water mark.