Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1860-06-21
IN MOUNTAIN FREEMAN, JUNE 81, 1850.
Incidents Of the Great Tornado,


Near Cedar Rapids, man observed the tor
nado approaching, and instantly threw himself
among some hazel bushels with his face to the
ground, and chung to their branches for protect
: ION. They passed over him hurting him dis
lance OF some rods, and stripping every vestge
: OF his clothing from his body. Another man
T was surprised in similar manner, and threw
his arms around young beech tree, holding on
with all his strength, which was considerable, as
he was an unusually powerful man. The whirl-
wind, 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 corpse Another man, as established by
athdavits of respectable citizens Bertram, 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 out
OF sight. Cattle, horses and sheep were also
drawn up in this airy Maulstrom, whirled ter
rifcally about and dashed to the earth again
with force which reduced them to mere pull
Ply mass The prarires between Cedar Rapids
and De Witt were literally strewn with the car
casses of CATTLE and the loss of stock alone must
be immense. There isscarcely u farmer between
the two stations, distance of forty miles, but
has suffered the loss of either part or the
whole Of his stock.
The Davenport, Iowa Gazette has collection
of incidents and escapes illustrating the mighty
force of the late tornado, from which we take
the following
"A little girl, three years old, was found in
a slough in the northwestern part of this coun-
ty, this side Of the Waubsey, near Mrs. Bran
don,s residence, and probably couple of miles
from the track of the tornado She was
seen to fall, and was found with her head
buried in the mud Taken out, she was
found get aLre She was taken care of, and is
now apparently well, excepting she is not alto
gether sensible. She cannot tell anything about
herself, and is utterly unknown.
From Rogers Settlement, IN Clinton Co., a
child four years old was carried distance of
two miles and killed"
The Chicago Press and Tribune publishes the
following interesting letter describing the mel
ancholy effects of the late tornado on the town
Of Camanche, which was completely destroyed:
STERLING, ILL.,, June 9th, 1860.
We returned yesterday from the late city of
Camanche. While there the sight that met the
eye was perfectly horrible to look upon, and no
pen is adequate to the task of conveying the
most faint idea of the disastrous effects of the
tornado, as it passed over that place.
Horses and cattle are lying in every direction,
killed from the effects Of the storm. Buildings
look as though they had all been torn in small
fragments, scattered over the whole country, and
feathers from the bed-clothes line the ground,
and then all had been oVer-swept with rushing
waters. We went into one building where
were fifteen bodies, some mangled in the most
frightful manner, and only wrapped up in
sheet, and put into rough box, ready for
burial. DR.. Howell Of Fulton informed us
that from Sunday evening to Monday noon
he had visited ninety-one wounded, and set
twenty-threc broken limbs
We saw hcentyeigm dead bodies, and there
was eghty-two that require strict medical at
tendance, and as many more that are more or
less hurt, yet are able to be around. In addi-
ton to this number, twenty-eight were swept
from raft in the river That was passing at the
time, and Ten are yet missing from town, that
are supposed to be buried in the ruins or are
| blown into the river and drowned.
With the exception of half dozen houses on
the north side of the town, every single building
is either torn down, unroofcd, or otherwise
damaged. Aworse sight no human eye ever be-
held. and the heart grows sick in seeing such a
destruction of life and property The town
is entirely ruined and we do not see how it can
ever be rebuilt. There are whole blocks of lots
that are vacant entirely, with nothing but the
cellar to indicate that house ever stood there
We saw part of Il wagon, consisting OF the
forward axeltree and one hub, and no more OF
it could be found Out of the contents Of
three dry goods stores not one cents worth OF
the goods have over been found.