Red Wing sentinel., 1860-06-20

cite not our anger, but our laughter, as long
as VIC, and everybody else, recognize h i'm only
as JOE BRowN's MoSKsY.
TERRIBLE TORNADO.
HOUSES SWEPT AWAY AND FORESTS UPRoorED
We continue to receive the most painful
accounts of the terrible tornado in western
Illinois and eastern Iowa. When tho facts
arc all gathered up, and a full statement Of
them made, it will appear that no similar
calamity ever has begun to equal this one
in actual destruction Of life and property,
and in all the attendant frightful circum-
stances. From thrilling account Of the
tornado, published in the Mt. Veron Iowa)
Ners. we glear the following particulars
We have to record, this morning, one Of
the most terrible visitations that ever DESC
iated country inhabited by men. About
six o'clock last night, terrific whirlwind.
or tornado, passed mile south Of our town,
from west to east.
When first seen, probably six or seven
miles away, it had the appearance Of large
black shaft or column, shaped like an up
right hour glass, extending from tremen-
dous ,hrcatning cloud, which for some time
had been hanging over the vest, to the
ground. Hundreds watched it as it swept
on its course, seemingly bearing directly
toward Mt. Vernon. 1t was attended with
a heavy roar, Us of hundred trains of cars.
Branches Of trees could DO seen in the air,
while its changing form, and the fakes oi
clouds thrown from its sides, showed its
whirling motion.
When within two miles Of US, while peo.
pie were seeking safety in cellars, or, as in
some cases, running wildly about the streets,
it veercd on its course, and swept by in full
sight-sublime, but fearful.
The power and force of this demon oi
the elements" must have been immense
We reached the path of its fury in less than
an hour after it went bowling on. We
found hundred men standing around mute
and aghast. The sufferers had been borne
away, but there were other evidences of its
fearful mission. Houses gone, utterly gone,
ard nothing but blackened and smeared
foundations told where they had been; trees,
one and two feet in diameter, and even lar
ger, uprooted and hurled many rods, robbed
Of branches and foliage carcasses of horses,
cattle and swine, strcwcd the former barn
yard.
And yet the track of the whirling demon
was not more than twenty rods in width
we speak of the central force which worked
the destruction outside of that there was
\ mighty wind, but no such traces of power
were left.
One man found the blade Of a shovel
plow so firmly driven into tree that he
could not pull it out.
The city Of Ca,nanche suffered fearfully
from the visitation. More than one hundred
hundred houses were blown down. The
Lyons Ai'ror sums up a list Of eighty three
persons who were killed in Iowa alone but
it is believed that when the full particulars
shall have have been obtained the number
will reach hundred. The Mirror says:
Immediately preceding the advent Of the
storm, raft was seen in the river opposite
Camanche, il the track Of the tornado with
some fifteen or twenty men upon 1t. Since
the storm nothing has been seen or definite
ly heard Of the raft or men. Apprehension
is felt that all may have been lost. Vague
rumors arc atioat, to the effect that three ot
the men were picked up alive on the Illinois
shore.
Those who were at distance from, and
in position to witness the appearance and
course of the destroying element, describe
it as a dark, cone shaped mass, now raising
up, and again descending, whirling round
with lightning-like rapidity, ard swaying to
and fro, as it dashed on in its work Of desc.
lation, taking up, to again dash to the earth,
whatever lay in its course.
OF tho many incidents Of the storm which
We have heard from those who were in it,
We cannot speak at length. With those
details and the hair-breadth escapes related
We might fill volume. One man told US
he was taken up above the house tops, and
conveyed amid tbs hail of missiles which
were flying all around him, to distance Of
twenty rods, and tten let down entirely
unharmed. A great many were taken up
and carried, some greater, and others q
less distance, and again let down without
serious injury.
The Lyons City Adro,ate has the follow
ing ..r ......
Judge Policy. who saw it approaching, and
watched it until it passed De Witt, informs
us that west Of that place, it seemed to set
tic lower, and assumed the shape Of q
cylinder, with an apparent diameter Of
about eighty rods. At times it moved in
straight lines, and at other times its course
was zigzag. Its speed varies-at times
moving along 70, miles with the velocity o1
train Of cars then stopping and revolv-
ing for several moments in one place then
shooting forward for mile or two in sin
gle moment. At one place before it reached
Camanche, it is described by agentleman
who saw it as two ropes, one fifty times
larger than the other, hanging down and
moving slong sometimes coming tegether and
then separating, and one at time winding
or revolving around each other. From ali
information we can gain, We are inclined to
the belief that the two tornadoes, which ap.
parently united near Cedar Rapids, preser-
we'd their distinct forces or currents, and
did not unite as one tornado, although their
appearance was in many places that Of a single
cloud.
Near the farm Of Mr.. Ames, in De Witt
township it said that the bark is abso lutely
taken off oak trees which are from IL to le
nches through. ."
At Camanchc the church bell lays nearly
six rods from where it hung, and 4 barrel ol
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