The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1860-05-26
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count pahlished BY the CincinnaH Ga.Sxa.
tie esd, Of - terrible hurricane which x,.;,.
that ely and vicinity On ne day pre,,ou. n
minute particulars eccapy some four column.
that paPsn sWhat velare sDle - place in on
columaa Vim flfnisll our res.iers w;tlr . nre.,
accurate dsa Of the violence of he storm ~
the extent Of the damage, 20 far as ascertaine
astne time the Gaxette's description was mad
up: al4y S.fsg4H
oae Of the most terrific tornadoes ever known
.. .suea oee city yesterday afternoon, betweeu
thrse and four O'Clock. which resul,e., II ~
/! comPaets demolition Of large number az huild
saens ssha partial destruction Of cLurchea ~
! hundreds Of dwelling houses, the death OF fou
men IN the city and Of two by drowning in In,
| river, injury Of several women and children
smashing mp of an engine and baggage caror
| the Covington / Lexington Railroad. and IL,
m,scelisneoos tearing 70 pieces and turning %
SIDE down and inside out Of things generally
| Inc eie1ents Of the heavens seemed 70 be tnrn
81 loose Tor tne express purpose Of demolishinl
The storm came from the northwest: and WIZ,
viewed from point high enough to give one
clear view Of the horizon, appeared to be cloud
dcnsely black, extending about two rr;l,,e Il
breadth, and rushing forward with fearful ranid
ity FE VII TT r~7 ID 9~ IN HUI 60. "f'1
L vas accompanied by lightning and ttunde,
and torrents of rain, which were swept into ~.
cry crevice. The wind struck with fearful force
friend OF ours, who was witness to the dam.
age done by the great tornado which swept over
l'inois and part OF Iowa about two years ago.
stAfes that the storm Of YESTERDAY was far inore
terrific. The great force OF the storm was s,,ers
IN about twenty minutes, though the rain contin.
aed Tor over an hour. In the evening at sunset
inc western horizon presented one Of the most
oriihant scenes we have ever witnt ssed. The
sky, as lar NJ the eve could reach westwnrdIv
was brilliant RED, deepening into blood red a.
the distance increased from the sun.
A!isor,s Of rumors were current about the e;tv
at dark, and those whose interests rested in some
trnant hoy or absent friend were nervous and
excited. II was stated by some that the Ellen
street, Clinton street and BANK street (Csthl;sA
schoolhonses had bee.. bio an down, and a N ~
number Of children killed. Another rumor was
That i've men had been buried bene ath one honsp.
another still, that the steamboat Chamni,,n
which had gone oltin the morning with nc-n;c
party, had been capszed and nearly all lost Wc
are happy TO say these rumors for the most mart
proved false, although the storm carried death
and destruction in its path. We give the mar.
ticnars below, as obtained from our reporters.
LOSS OF LIFE
As far as We have learned the nart;eulars
there were four persons killed in the cty. and
two steamboat hands drowned in the Ohio river
The names Of those killed in the city were: Mr.
Brenkmeycr, Heinrich kissken Thomas Cole and
Mr. Grey. The particulars attending their death
arc given below. The names of the two men
that were drowned we are unable to give.
Two men were killed by the falling Of a new
building on Fifth street, near Hoadly, in which
.ney were engaged in erecting stairs at the time
the storm struck the house The names of them.
the master stair builder, was Mr.. Brenkmeyer.
herman, whose residence was on Belts street.
he leaves wife and two or three children. The
other was young man about nineteen wears Of
age named Heinrich kissken. lie boarded with
a family on Belts street, between Carr and Free
man.
Two Others, working in the same building.
narroely escaped death hy Jumping into the
street the building fell, one Of them only being
in any way injured The otherxorkmen hadleft
the building only about five minutes previoust to
the catastrophe. Brenkmeyer and Kisskcn were
buried beneath the ruins, and their bodies were
removed after the storm and carried to their
homes. The house was three story brick re-
Gently rooted, and was owned by Nj. Forsmey-
er. Loss about 81 200
Thomas Cole and Mr.. Grey were standing in
a brickyard on Clark street, on the bank of Mill
Creek, MS the storm approached. The wind blew
a timber from the shed on to them, bearing them
to the ground and covering them with brick
They were killed instantly. They were both
married men,
The particulars ofthe drowning of the two
men will be found below The accidents to wo-
tails which follow:
= y \ = y
DAMAGE AT THE RIVER.
We have obtained the full particulars Of the
capsizing Of the Virginia Home, yesterday. The
Home left here about IL o'clock with four barges
in tow, and had only got up TO jamestown, about
two miles above here, when the storm came on
She was run into shore and tied up, but the force
of the wind parted her lines and caused her to
drift out into the river. Capt. Curly, seeing the
imminent danger of their situation, had the two
ladies who were on board placed ON one Of the
barges. The boat Immediately after separated
from the barges and drifted out into the middle
of the river, where il received the full force OF
the storm, causing it to capsize and turn hull
upwards. All on board weAt over with the boat,
and two young men are supposed to be drowned.
The wreck driftcd down PAST the wharf, and as it
fortunately happened, the Dunleith had steam
up at the time, and Capt. Morris, with his usual
daring, and at the risk Of losing his own boat,
put ont after the wreck and succeeded in saving
considerable property and took on board all
who remained on the wreck.
Y Il
The terrific tornado which swept with dcstruc-
tive power over the city yesterday, overlook the
afternoon up passenger train the Kentucky
Central Railroad, about tMcnty-two miles dis
tant from this city. The train was running at
the rate of ten miles an hour, and it was so dark
that hardly an object was discernabIe twenty
PAGES ahead. The engineer about 10 check
the speed Of the locomotive, when it struck
1ArUc nunIar trnc hlouu Al IL
jumping over it and plunging into the track
tearing it up for distance of fifty sixty yards
and then dashed into the side &c the road. The
locomotive and baggage car were completely de
mOlished and several Of the passenger cars slight
ly damaged, but fortunately none of the passen-
gers were injured, although the greatest panic
was created, particularly among the female por-
tion. The engineer was badly bruised. and the
fireman was so terribly scalded that little hope
remains Of his recovery.
A short time after the accident locomotive
reached the scene, and succeeded with great diff
fculty in bringing the passengers back to this
city, and it required three hours to make the
twenty two miles, on account Of detentions by
removing trees from the track. The damage sus-
tanned will reach $4,000
~
THE INCIDENTS.
In the Eleventh District School House the
chlluren became possessed with the ldca mat the
building was unsafe, and during the height of the
storm, like herd of untamed buffaloes, they
rushed to the windows, and franticaly essayed to
precipitate themselves to the ground The teach
ers, together with several workmen employed
about the premises, planted themselves before
the windows, and prevented the little ones from
rushing to instant death.
Mr.. T. S. Royse informs us that two trees in
his yard were blown down, one to the East and
the other to the West.
Miss Mccormick, teacher in the First Inter-
mediate Scnool, when the storm was raging in its
greatest fury, gathered her scholars together ard
made them sing hymn. No doubt the young
lady thought, with many Others in the city, that
the inality of all earthly things had come. Mr.
Hancock Of the same house, assisted by his 9th
er teachers, were calm and firm,
In the Eighth District School, We understand
that one of the teachers, after the storm, moral
lied to the scholars upon their safe passage thro'
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