Newbern weekly progress., 1860-06-05
A GRAPHIC AND THRILLING sKETCH

VI
The following terrifying incident of the tenn
pest by the unroofng of the I4th district school
house, and the frenzed children, is given by the
Cincinnati Commercial
The teachers the storm catherine. and clos
dthe windows. The tornado sweDt madlv nm
from the west gable of the devoted house which
quivered like leaf. At the instant no apprehen-
slons were entertained. But the tempest. as if
maddened by oppoition, came back with fear.
fui rebound and the bricks began to rattle the
shingles flew like haistones. and in an instant
the whole was lifted and swept from the walls
and dashed on the opposite side of street Miss
RACHEL Medkirk who taught the infant class in
the west room of the upper story meantime COM
pretended the danger, and with rare presence of
mind and heroic corage, fed to the school-room
door, closed it, and placed her back against
it to keep the frightened children from punginp
in headlong confusion down stairs. But while
the brave girl sprang to her duty she was struck
upon the head and face by falling bricks but she
stood at her post while the blood streamed from
her wounds, until the roof had taken its aipht
and her room was terrible scene of confusion
and devastation.
1t being impossible to calm the frenzied chill
dren, Miss Medkiri1 f1ed down stairs presen-
ting herself piteous spectacle to Mr. Sands, the
princ pal, w no till now was ignorant of the des-
truction above, and demanding his assistance,
sped back to her charge. Mr.. Sands was keeping
the children in order down stairs, but fastened
up; and upon presenting himselfin the room, the
little ones clasped him by the legs and body, and
clung to him with the energy of despairing ter
ror, shrieking to them. Such a scene could
not be portrayed by human language. cloud
of thick dust whrling in the room; the tor
nado howled dismay overhead bricks and the
debris of the devastated building were flying
about like tennis balls and the poor children
kept up agonizing chorus of shrieks, SO that 1t
was Impossible to determine the extent of their
misery. BY persuasion and earnest eXerton of
authority, Mr. Sands and Miss Medrick restored
their charge to some degree of composure, when
he repaired to the adjoining to render like
a ere of will 1ISnr-
der and dismay, but the teachers-Miss jose
phne Medkirk, Miss jackson and Mr.. Goss-dis-
charged their trust faithfully, anl were
abled to restore degree of confidence to the tel
ror-stricken pupils.
Before the storm had settled, the facts, nagni-
fed by thousand fold, reached the of hun
dreds of parents, who sped franticaily to the
school-house, expecting to find their offspring
buried in heap of ruins The wild frenzy Of
mothers was described to us by MIR. Sands
something fearful. Some would snatch up any
body's children scan their features as if they
would devour the little ones. drop them if they
did not recognize their own, and rush through
the mass of yearning hearts, crying " My child
my child callingit tondly by name. Throngs
Of them thrust themselves up the school house
stairs, and would not hear remonstrances
surances. One poor woman, a Mrs. Brown,
dashed through the crowd shouting craZlly for
- Mkey. MIR. Sands assured her he safe. A
little urchin hard by interposed, " No he ain I, he's
killed; saw him dead" The poor woman
gasped and seemed turned to stone. When sho
found her boy alive, but wounded she almost fell
in swoon. Other and similar incidents
narrated by eye-witnesses, but the reader can
easily imagine the terrible agony OF parents
heart in such trial.
Mary Sclfert, aged nine years, was found lying
under tile wreck of Miss Melkirks table. Her
body hal been protected by the table, under
which she had crawled for safety, but the cap
stone of the building fell upon her legs and broke
them both below her knees, and mangled her
limbs badly. She carried home suffering
much agony. Five others more less in
iured. The reader will agree with that it is
wonderful that scores of children not killed.
There we're 700 children in the building and IS
teachers.