Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1860-06-14
DestructiOn of q TOyVn-ApDalIing Scenes.

The Western papers bring the particulars OF the de-
structiOnof the late town OF Camanche in illinois, by
the terrie tornado the 4h inst. correspondent of
the Chiago Press, who visited the spot, says:
The Dfnado struck the town little past o'clock,
and in is than ten minutes the whole in ruins
After had passed, the town all afoat with water
all thatcoud began running from place to place scream
ing at ne top OF their voices, calling for friends and for
childre. In every pile OF rubbish and from every de-
molishd house. the groans of the dying and wounded
lard, and as the sound came from every pant of
the town, no one knew where to go first The darkness
occas)ned by the black Clouds the air being filed with
rubbish OF every conceivable character and the ap
proah of night rendered the scene still more appalling
and ach wall of lamentaOn, sorrow, and woe, never
wenup from any place in the history of tornadoes
did rom this ruined and destroyed CITY, Nothing could
be fund to bind up the wounds of the suffering, med
icins were to be got and the walls Of the mother
remains of husband the father over his slaughtered
Children, hunting in vain for his we-all these were
sceles that cannot possibly be described.
one family all that lett three little girls
the father and mother and two children having been
instantly killed. We where fence board had
ben forced clear through the side of house, end
ways, and hundreds of shingles had forced themselves
clar through the clapboards of a house.
We visited the graveyard and saw twentyeight
caves side and side, all dug, waiting to receive the
ugh boxes containing the remains of the slaughtered
eope The whole atmosphere around the town is sick
storm that is almost impossible to endure The loss of
property is immense, and be known to its full
extent. Three of the the raft have made their
appearance They state that they blown from the
raft clear on to the Illinois shore beyond Albany,
and for long time were unable to move or STIR but
after recovering from the shock succeeded In crawling
to house where they were kindly cared for. They
know nothing of the rest of their comrades not hav
ing seen them since they were on the raft together
In this vicinity, Sterling, the wounded are diving
almost every day, and every farmhouse is HOSPITAL
for the dying and wounded.
Horses and cattle are lying in every direction killed
from the elects OF the storm The buildings look as
though they had all been torn in small fragments scat
tered over the whole country and feathers from the bed
clothes line the ground and then all had been
with rushing waters We went into one building where
were hfteen bodies, some manged in the most ghtful
manner, and only wrapped up in sheet and put into
rough box, ready for burial.
From Sunday evening to Monday noon one pbysi
clan had visited niney-one wounded and set twenty
tnree broken limbs. We twenty-eight dead bodies
ana tnere were eghtywo that require strict medical at
tendance and as many that are more or less hnrt
yet are able to be around In addition to this number
t"entyelght were swept from raft in the river that
was passing at the time and ten are vet missing from
the town, that supposed to be buried in the rims
were blown into the river and drowned With the ex-
cepton OF half dozen houses on the north side of the
town, every single building is either torn down unrooE
ed, or otherwise damaged
worse sight no human eve ever bebeld. and the
neart grows sick IN seeing such destruction of life and
properly 1he town is entirely ruined and we do not
see now IL Can ever be rebuilt There whole blocks
io tnat are vacant entirely with nothing but the Gel
af 70 nocate tnata house ever stood there. We saw