Hardly any warning was given as the black squall came up from the West, carrying a cloud of dust and debris before it. Cyclists compelled to lie along the road to prevent being blown away. Accidents in all parts of the city. Stampede at Sheepshead Bay Race Track.

A sudden storm swept over Brooklyn about 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon. It was of the tropical Simoon variety. Blasts of furnace-like air came as a forerunner. The skies darkened and in a moment a furious gale was sweeping down. Almost as quickly as it appeared, this blow, which old seafaring men would term "a black squall," got out of the way and again the skies cleared up. The western horizon was flecked with a lot of scudding clouds, but the sun went down just as if nothing had happened. There were, however, many traces of the storm in material damage inflicted.

The morning had been unusually warm. At 8 o'clock the thermometer scored what should have been a mid-day point, and each hour the mercury was merging on the nineties. There was something exasperating in the humidity. Crowds sought adjacent resorts. The weather wilted not only the dollars, but the spirits of the people, and the trains going to Coney island, Manhattan and other resorts were filled with a panting host. All who could get away sought relief from the sea breezes and those who remained improvised methods for manufacture of air. As late as 3 o'clock no signs of immediate change was in sight. Weather wiseacres and old sea sharks kept their eyes opened, however, for there was a certain stillness about everything that made them suspicious.

This suspicion was not ill founded, but only the experts had any forewarning and the boulevards and beaches were seething with a steaming crowd of cyclists. All were seeking relief from the heat and humidity. This relief came in a way unexpected. It was shortly after 5 when a black cloud showed up in the southwest. There were intermittent growls of thunder. The people did not have time to determine whether a summer thunder storm of the common variety was coming or whether the weather was preparing a surprise before the sky became almost black.

From the direction of the wind puffs of ochre dust began to roll up above the house tops. In the street there was a quick scattering for shelter. This vanguard of dust passed by quickly. It was reinforced by such substantial gusts of wind that for a moment it led those who were caught out in it to think that a disastrous storm was at hand. In the parks trees were blown down and much damage was done by the limbs being twisted off. In East New York the storm was especially severe. Before merchants could get in their wares the wind had overturned them. Broadway was filled with flying litter. Signs were blown down and in some places fences demolished. In the meantime the rain had begun to fall. Its energy was proportionate to the wind and for a few moments solid sheets of water began to shoot down.

Along the cycle path men and women were seen to dismount from their wheels and lay prone by the roadside to escape the effects of the wind. All the while the rain was beating down. At the various resorts thousands received a thorough soaking. The sight from the Atlantic Yacht Clubhouse was picturesque. The wind seemed to catch the water up in sea spout style and whirl it about with a circular motion. The blow lasted here for some time.

On the race track, at Sheepshead Bay, the storm caused a stampede. Those on the bleachers rushed for the grand stand. They were refused admittance and a general fight nearly ensued. The papers of the bookmakers were scattered, their stands upset and general confusion followed.

At Manhattan Beach and Coney Island the gale was equally severe. It came with tropical violence everywhere. For this climate the storm was rather of the freak variety.

Police Busy Reporting Uprooted Trees That Blocked Travel

The police were kept busy last night reporting fallen trees and dangerous telephone poles. The high wind had played havoc with the shade trees throughout the city and at a rough estimate it is safe to say that 150 big trees were destroyed by the wind. In some of the more exposed portions of the city the trees were uprooted. Telephone poles were thrown down by the wind in all portions of the city and in a number of cases the electric lights were broken.

A strange thing happened at the corner of Cleveland street and Arlington avenue. There is an electric light on the corner in front of the residence of Charles M. Fairbanks. When the storm broke there seemed to be a round ball of dust and cloud which swept up Arlington avenue. It seemed like the nub of a cyclone. The cloud seemed to break at the electric light on the corner and the heavily trussed iron arm which projected out into the street sustaining the electric lamp was twisted and broken. A policeman reported the condition of the lamp at police headquarters and the electric light people made it safe by cutting off the current. Less than a block away a tree was uprooted.

Two electric light linemen were seriously shocked at about 6 o'clock while attempting to repair broken wires on West Fifth street, near Sheepshead Bay road. While on the pole they were both shocked and for it while were rendered helpless. The workmen were Matthew Garrigan, aged 43 years, of 59 Willoughby street, and Timothy Leary, aged 36 years, of 263 Gold street. Leary was taken to the Long Island College Hospital and Garrigan was taken home. Both will recover.

The bicyclists on the cycle paths were caught and many of them were soaked to the skin. Those who escaped a drenching were covered with mud when they resumed their journey and presented a sorry spectacle.

In Flatbush the wind blew down scores of beautiful shade trees and tore off many large limbs of others. A large tree at 119 Winthrop street fell in such manner as to block the street and the police were obliged to use an ax to clear the way. Another large tree fell across Avenue F, near Flatbush avenue. A large plate glass window in the front of a restaurant at 999 Flatbush avenue was blown in and a greenhouse on Clarkson street was badly damaged.

At Parkville and Windsor Terrace a similar state of affairs existed, while the streets were flooded with water, few of the streets having sufficient sewers to carry off the miniature rivers which formed.

Big Glass Dome in Abraham & Straus' Store Smashed by Flying Man-hole Cover.

Shortly after 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon, while the storm was at its height, a number of shoppers were huddled in the new portion of Abraham & Straus' building waiting for the rain to subside when an extraordinary thing happened. The new building of the big store is an annex which extends from Livingston street to Gallatin place, and there is a big cupola to the roof, which is protected by a glass dome. Down on the lower floor and under the dome the firm has on exhibition a very fine line of cut glass. On the roof are several water tanks for use in case of fire. These are protected by large covers and then smaller covers which are called manholes. The high wind took one of the manhole covers off and after the storm had played with it a second it was sent smash against the glass dome. The latter is protected by a heavy wire covering and this proved the salvation of the people who were grouped under it. The jar of the flying cover against the wirework broke some of the glass partitions of the dome and the flying splinters of glass went crashing down into the cut glass salesroom. Several pieces of the glassware were broken and a rough estimate of the damage made by the people of the store at the time ranged from $200 to $1,000.

The feature of the accident was the panic that the fall of the glass caused among the shoppers and the women who were at work in the glass department. Several of the saleswomen fainted and for a minute or two there was great excitement in the big shop. It was thought at first that lightning had struck the cupola and there was a rush for safety. But the employees of Abraham & Straus are well drilled and the cooler heads in the store managed, with some difficulty it is true, in quelling the excitement. The women who had fainted were promptly dragged off to safety and were soon restored to consciousness. The shoppers were calmed and when the cause of the mishap was discovered it was easy to explain to the nervous ones that there was no danger.

The employees were at work until a late hour last night making things shipshape in the department. One of the men who was at work there at 9 o'clock last night said that the damage would not amount to as much as was at first supposed. "It is a mercy," he "that the dome was protected by the wire work, for if there had been no screen there the heavy manhole cover would have fallen into the store and many lives would have been lost. This simply proves that there is no precaution too great in such a place as this."

Lightning Strikes the Western Spire of St. Casimir's Church

Lightning struck the western spire of the tower on the Polish St. Casimir Church, on Greene avenue, near Adelphi street, and knocked off about four feet, carrying down with it a large gilded cross. The spire rested on a stone base and the base is believed to be uninjured. There was no one in the church at the time and no one but curious neighbors were in front of the building. Another effect of the bolt was to uproot a large shade tree in front of the church and hurl it across the iron railing at the spot where worshipers are wont to enter the building.

The Storm in the Eastern District

In the Eastern District the cyclone created a temporary panic in the streets. It burst upon the section with great violence and with scarcely more than a minute's warning. A few minutes before the sky was clear and the heat very oppressive. Thousands of people, who habitually take the car routes through this section from Manhattan to Coney Island, Manhattan Beach, Bergen Beach on Saturday afternoon, had fortunately passed through and were already at the seaside. But the early homecomers felt the effects of the storm in all its fury. All the warning the passengers had of the approaching cyclone was a gradual darkening of the sky over Manhattan and Jersey. In five minutes more the cloud had assumed an almost inky blackness in color and there was an occasional puff of wind that raised clouds of dust along the streets. Some wary conductors, anticipating a thunder shower, closed the fore windows of their cars and loosened the awnings. But in many cases there was not time for this. An Eagle reporter who was aboard a Nostrand avenue car at Flushing avenue, going toward the Broadway ferries at 5:15, saw a dense cloud of dust come sweeping up toward the car. It grew thicker and thicker as it approached. Pedestrians, half blinded and choked with the dust, rushed into the nearest doorways and stores for shelter. Some women barely escaped being thrown to the street.

When the cloud struck the car several women jumped off and ran into stores for shelter. Following the dust cloud, in a few seconds, came two violent gusts of wind which shook the car. Some of the motormen slowed up. Branches dropped from the heavily foliaged trees at almost every block, loosely strung shop signs fell to the street and small wares placed on the pavement were blown in all directions. Before the car reached Wilson street a poplar tree at the corner had fallen to the street, breaking at the roots. It fell alongside the residence at 43 Lee avenue, partly destroying the railing. The inmates of this and the adjoining houses were badly frightened, but no one was injured. By the time the car reached the ferries the wind had lain and given place to the terrific downpour of rain which was experienced in all parts of the city.

The result of the storm on Nostrand avenue were similar to those in all parts of the district. Trees fell at North Second street and Bedford avenue, at South Third and Berry streets, at Meserole and Humboldt street and at Ainslie and Humboldt streets. At the last mentioned spot the tree delayed the Meeker avenue cars for a short time.

During the hot spell prior to the storm Louis Noster, 55 years of age, of 765 Grand street, was overcome at the corner of Morgan and Maspeth avenues. He was attended by Ambulance Surgeon Caffrey of the Eastern District Hospital, but not removed. Shortly afterward Samuel Smith, 53 years of age, of 89 Herbert street, was overcome at Richardson and Herbert street. He was removed to St. Catherine's Hospital in the patrol wagon of the Sixty-first Precinct.

The Storm at Bergen Beach

Bergen Beach was in partial darkness last night and calcium lights were resorted to in many sections of the Jamaica Bay resort. The big Ferris wheel was only half lighted, connections having been broken by the wind. When the storm struck an unknown woman became hysterical and either jumped or fell from a platform in front of the bath houses. She was rescued by Captain James Cooney. The large farm work being erected in representation of the battleship Maine at the Casino was blown down.

A letter carrier and a delivery wagon enroute to Flatlands was overturned at Flatbush avenue and Magar's lane. The postman was seriously injured. He is attached to the Flatbush station.