Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1858-06-19

TIE Gay. As the afternoon WaheQ, giving
the appearances as noted at Monmouth Ii
our intelligent informant, the sky to The
southwest had most threatening appear
ance. A heavy bank Of clouds Of ink,
blaekness seemed TO rest upon the very sur
face Of the prairie. In the language O
John McWil!ians who is elsewhere refer
red TO as relative of several Of the
victims, and as active in his exertions
for the relief Of The survivors, ''thqy seem
ed to sweep the very prairie Mr. Nc
Williams noted the approach Of the storm
from his farm house, about mile north of
the street.
He saw two Overwhelmingly black clouds
meet apparently about mile west of the
village, with the widest commotion, and
move on towards the village. The Ut
most alarm filed the minds Of his own
family, and Of those in adjacent farm -hous-
es, but how much less than the abiect ter
ror Of the villagers, who saw, but not in
season to avoid, the destroyer bearing
down upon them. Than to those dead,
the dread Angel never came in a more
fearful form, than to the spared victims Of
the casualty, not the hour Of their own
decease can scarcely be more awful.
The track OF the tempest must tell the
rest. The tornado struck the village a.
bout half past five o'clock aud during It's
continuance no rain fell. The houses were
frame structures. There was large tav-
ern stand and three stores, those Of Sam
uel Johnston, Joseph Knowles and anoth-
er. The appearance Of the dwellings and
structures after the passage Of the whifl
wind Is described by one eyewitness Gas
if one should tear to pieces and scatter a
lumber yard" Of roofs and walls, and
the various structures there was seen in
many instances scarcely a trace, as if a
giants hand had reduced and torn them
to shreds and splinters. They lay scatter
ed over the fields. Here piece of broken
furniture and there shattered door. and
beyond an undistinquisha5le mass Of tim
bers and boards, floor beams, ceiling and
rafters. Even the bodies Of some Of the
Sufferers were torn to pieces.
AS an evidence of the fearful force Of
the tornado it is mentioned in the tele
graph from our special reporter last even
ing that Of the victims fragments Of the
bodies were scattered in all directions.
An iron safe weighing nine hundred los.
was taken from Johnson's store and car
ried thirty feet.
Horses, cattle and hogs were taken up
by the wind. carried in the air and dashed
to the earth, killed BY the fall.
One COW was taken up, carried several
rods, and killed by the fall. Her body
lay at distances from anything that
could have inflicted wound or injury upon
her.
A heavy cut stone doorstep, the di
mensions of which are given to us as being
some seven feet long by three IN width,
aid several inches 10 thickness, was torn
from It's site and carried about twelve feet
The & st trace of this violence is notice
able in the Ellison timber, about a mile
west Of the village, the place described BY
John McN'ilians rs ''the meeting Of the
Clouds thence on through the timber the
evidences Of It's force were astounding.
The trees do not seem to have been
Frustrated. They were only so in fact
when released from the grasp Of The An
CRY Storm King. They were pulled up
by the roots, twisted, turned about, simply
and in places noticed by our informant, il
seemed as if they had been torn tip By
groups, as child would wantonly twist
the tops of adjacents weeds and tear them
from the ground. Trees a foot in diane
ter were thus made the sport Of the lorna
do, aud ere dashed, crushed and broken
Ito the ground.
The track Of the whrlwind seems not To
have been very wide, nor was It's course q
long ono. Scattered farm houses about
tbs village in various directions still stand
and though the wind was high, we're unin-
iured, but Of the village proper only three
small cabins or shanties which were to the
southwark of the line Of desolatpg des-
truction, were spared, and they alone re-
main of the i'll fated village Of Ellison.
Knowing that the people Of Ellison had
lost everything that they possessed, even
to their wearing apparel except what they
had on, the citizens Of Monmouth, with
praiseworthy bepevolence, on Tuesday
morning started several teams ladens with
provisions, bedd.ng, clothing and other ne
cessaries, to their relies The movement
was a spontaneous one. suggested by the
pressing exigency of the case, no formal
consultation having been held or commit
tee appointed.
The fortitude exhibited by she sufferers
lis described as most remarkable. Nc
groans or complaints were beard, even
from those whom death was staring 10 the
face, and although forty or fifty broken
limbs were required to be set in the course
Of Monday, all bore the trial with singular
patience, and without giving expression te
the pain which they must have felt.
Along the line Of the Illinois Cen
tral Railroad are mile-stones, painted
white, denoting the distance from Detroit
or Chicago. In the cars, one day, a young
lady, seeing the white stones, wanted tc
know "why there were so many grave
stones along the line ~ She sbuideree