Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1858-06-10
The Terrible Tornado at ElH-

The Terrible Tornado AT Eli.
son.
The Chicago Tribune contains further
particulars of the whirlwind which destroy
ed the village Of Ellison, which we con-
dense. The grove west Of Ellison is about
three miles wide, and west of this is South
Prairie, fourteen miles across. about 5
O'Clock, May 30th, the residents of South
Praire noticed funnel shaped cloud, the
fan or tail some five hundred feet wide,
moving with almost increditable velocity
from west to east and so near the surface of
the ground that at times it seemed to strike
the earth and rise again. The cloud was
black, accompanied with terrific thunder,
hail and rain. Its extreme length appear
ed to he not over six or seven hundred feet
and its thickness only some fifty. feet, and
at times the ar was apparently entirely un-
disturbed above and below it. In crossing
South Prairie fourteen houses were de-
stroyed, and number of persons were kill
ed or wounded. Four houses in one group
were torn to shrads and scattered over the
prairie, but the occupants saw the storm
fiend approach and took refuge in root
cellar, detached from the houses, and es-
capped injury.
The family of Mr.. VIM. Johnston living
near the east edge of the prairie, suffered
severely. Mr.. johnson had an arm and
leg broken, and cannot recover. Mr.. Hurd's
family, near by, were blown in all direc
tions. Mr.. Hurd was hurled into the air
and struck by flying timbers. He died the
next day. Mrs. Hurd had her infant in
her arms, but it was torn from her grasp
and killed. Both mother and child were
thrown into slough, where they remain
ed all night. 1t is hoped Mrs. H. will re-
cover. A son of Mr.. H. was so injured
that his recovery is doubtful. Mr.. Rankin,
who lived farther out on the prairie was
fatally injured, but his family escaped with
slight bruises.
The path of the whirlwind through the
grove evinced its terrific power. The larg-
est trees were twisted off, and in some in
stances when left standing, every particle of
bark was stripped of, even to the smallest
brances and fibres. Some places in its
track the grass was crushed into the earth
as by the wheels of heavily laden wagon,
and cedar posts set for fence were broken
off or blown down. From the grove The
cloud leaped upon Ellison, destroying eve
ry building but four. on the outskirts ofits
course. The village contained two stores,
a warehouse, and thirty dwellings houses,
besides barns, sheds, DC. Seven persons
were killed outright, and every inhabitant,
numbering some two hundred, was more or
less injured. Nineteen in all are dead
The storm-cloud then rose and striking the
earth again three miles farther east de
stroyed few fences, after which it rose
again high in the air and passed out of
sight.
The first building strucd in the village
was two story frame store of Mr.. Knowles.
1t was taken up, whirled around few
times in the cloud, and burst to fragments.
Not even yard of the goods can be found.
The next was the large frame house of DR..
Yoho. 1t was lifted high into the air and
shattered into thousand pieces. So CON-
plete was the destruction Of the buildings
of the village that not vestige of them or
their contents remain, save scattered tim
bers and boards and here and there frag-
ment of garment or broken piece of fur
niture. The terror-stricken inhabitants
had no time to escape from their homes
One family, Mr.. Godfrey's, succeeded in
getting to the bottom of the cellar stairs
Just as the house was lifted into the air
and torn to fragments. They were only
slightly injured. Mr.. w. E. Thompson
was instantly killed, and his wife so badly
injured that she soon died. She held her
infant in one arm and when found, the top of
its skull was torn off and its bowels torn out.
Jacob Brazellon, wife and son, were killed
outright Mrs. B. was found hundred
yards from where the dwelling stood, heI
bowels torn out and breast bone broken
Miss Levina Lacy was killed instantly, and
her clothes enterely stripped from her body
by the wind. The body of Martin Went
worth was terribly mangled. During the
passage of the cloud the water fell in
sheets, and terrific thunder and lightning
added to the horrors of the work of de
struction and death.