M'arthur Democrat. (McArthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1853-1865, 1860-06-14
More About the Iowa Tornado

i DeSolate9.
From the Chicago JournkL W
gather the following additional par
ticulars OF the great Iowa tornado:
The tornadoes, for they were two il
number, commenced, as near as can b.
ascertaiued, at a little town callec
Palo, a short distance above Ceda
Rapids, about seven o'clock on Sunday
evening, and rapidly progressed t.
Cedar Rapids, gathering size and fore,
in their course.
At Cedar Rapids they veered anC
Ialmost miraculUusly passed on eitheI
side Of the town. On the west sid,
five houses were completely demoish
ed, one man killed and one severely
injured. Miss Lutte, was also killed
South OF the Rapids two houses were
blown down, but their occupants es
capped. In the woods, near this point
a man observed the tornado approach,
ing, and instantly threw himself
among some hazel bushes, with his
face to the ground, and clung to their
branches for protection. They passed
over him, hurling him distance oI
some rods, and stripping every yestige
of clothing from his body. Another
man was surprised IN a similar man.
ner, and threw his arms around a
young beech-tree, holding on with all
his streng 9Th, whicn was considerable,
as he was an unusually powerful man.
The whirlwind, however, as quick as
thought, unwrenched his grasp, as one
would snap pipe,stem, hurled him
into the air, and dashed him to the
ground, and twice and thrice repeated
it, of course leaving him a corpse
Another man, as established by aft,
davits of ?ectable citizens of Ber,
tram, the first station east Of Cedar
Rapids, was caught up from the town
plat, hurled in the air, and carried
high above the timber until he was
ont ofsight.
Cattle, horses and sheep we're also
drawn up in the airy maelstrom,
whirled terrifically about, and dashed
to the earth again with force which
reduced them to mere pulpy mass.
The prairies between Cedar Rapids
and De Witt are literally strewn with
the carcasses of cattle, and TIE loss in
stock alone must be immense. There
is scarcely a farmer between the two
stations, distance Of forty miles, but
has suffered the loss of either a part
Or the whole Of his stock.
Passing around Bertram and filing
its streets with leaves, grass, branches
and stones, which came down in terri,
BILE showers, the tornadoes passed
around the outskirts of the villages OF
Mount Vernon and Lisbon, one Just
touching the northerly portionsof the
latter, and the other passing through
the country south.wes of Mount Yer
non.
At Lisbon, the large brick and frame
grain warehouses belonging to mer-
chants OF that town, and the freight
depot OF the @. |. & N Railroad was
utterly demolished, and their contents
scattered to the four winds of heaven.
Ten freight. cars were hurled from the
rack and broken up, One of them,
heavily loaded with lumber, was lifted
into the air and turned over twice, fl.
naIly descending with such force as to
completely shiver the car and its con-
tents INTO undstinguishable fragments
and splinters. -Four persons were
killed in the vicinity OF Lisbon, and
one at Rogers Settlement, village a
few miles from Lisbon, whose names
had not been ascertained at the time
ofopr departure.
The lovely town Of Mt. Vernon was
spared, but the noighboring county
was the scene OF a terrible devastation.
The crops in the whiHwind were beat
EN- down; barns were destroyed, and
stock in large numbers, inaHting an
almost irrcparable loss upon the farm
ers Trees were twisted of, and one
immense oak, measuring nearly three
feet in diameter at the base, was torn
up by the roots, lifted into the air, and
dashed down again few feet from its
original situation, buryiug itself some
three or iour feet in the ground. In
the vicinity Of Mt. Vernon, five per
sons are known to have been killed,
but their names are unknown, or were
not handed into the Committee at the
time OF our leaving.
The next place which felt the force
ot tue tornado, was the little town of
Mechanic8ville. 1t passed through
the outskirts Of the village, sweeping
everything in its course. Nine dead
bodies were found within a short dis
tance Of the town, and nineteen per-
sons were injured, two Of them se1i-
ously. At Union Grove two persons
were killed, and one at Eden, a small
settlement between Cedar Rapids and
! De Witt.
At De Witt, especially in the town.