The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1863-05-06
Terrible Tornado I'm Illinois.

ternoon, by most fearful tornado, which
burst in all its fury over the town of Macon,
carrying destruction and loss of life in its
wake. The storm when il first came up was
thought not to be of a serious character,
and its dreadful force was anticipated but
few moments before il burst in all it's fear
fulness upon its victims. The storm was
not accompanied by severe thunder and
lightning but hail fen in large quantities
and with great force some of the stones be-
ing large as hens eggs. Before the storm.
the atmosphere appeared to be warm and
sultry, and all unusual stiffness prevailed.
As ii approached its true character became
still more apparent. Such was its sud
denness that no time was left to prepare
for safety. The storn-cloud came up with
the roar ot thunder, and presented n funnel
shaped appearance. II suddenly swooped
down to the earth, and seemed to revolve
like wheel crushing and tearing to atoms
everything, III its progress. Nothing could
withstand its devastating force-the largest
and strongest houses yielding as readily to
its force, as the merest skeleton. In its
course, houses were torn from their founda-
tons, taken into the air, and then dashed to
tho earth and scattered into fragments-the
largest forest trees were loOsed from their
moorings and thrown into the air--horses,
cattle and poultry were thrown from their
feet, and scattered promscuously over the
iields-beds, chairs stoves and other house.
hold fixtures were carried about the dis
tance of half a mile-and other evidences of
the fearful strength of the storm given.
The first we hear of tho storm was in the
town of Norman, where fences were prostra-
tod. From thence its course can be plainly
traced until it reached the residence of Mr..
IN, tba too, ,,fA - Ao,
riblo force was first felt
MIR. Nmors house was raised from its
foundation and carried o few feet. As
the storm burst upon the house, Father
Viner and his wife attempted to escape to the
cellar. His wife succeeded in getting there,
but the old gentleman was caught between
tho moving building aud the foundation and
crushed to death. His lifeless body was
taken out after the storm.
We next hear of its destruction at tho
home of Sam. Sincler 1t crushed in the
west end of the building, and then tore out
the east end, and completely cleaned the
house of its contents. None Of the family,
singular as it may seem, were injured.
The next i'll its course was the residence
of VIM. Fuller. The house was moved
about seven feet from its foundation, and
the windows and doors blown out, but no
injury to any of the inmates. The roof was
also taken from the barn.
The house of Owen Murray was unroofed,
rs was also his barn. Other damage was
done, but not of Il serious nature. A tenant
house on this farm, occupied by Stephen
Keith, had all the windows, doors and parti-
tons torn out of it; still'it remained upon
its foundation. What was singular was,
that the family, three or four in number,
| nd 1nl -, al LII
amidst all this destruction, remained unin-
jured A large bridge near this place,
was completely torn to pieces, and the lum-
Der carried for hundreds of yards. Alvin
Frary, with his horses and wagon, was
near the bridge. The wagon was broken
into atoms and the horses carried into the
slough, but miraculously escaped death. 1t
is said it is impossible to find piece of the
wagon half foot in longth; the axeltrees
were broken into small pieces, and the
wheels made into kindling wood,
Tho storm showed its most fearful force
at the house owned by James Mckeene.
This building was about 45 feet square, and
built of the strongest material. The tor
nado struck the northwest corner, and, car
rying it from its Foundation, it took it into
the air, and then dashed it to atoms on the
ground, where what is left of it lies per-
feet wreck Mrs. Wood her three children
and two ladies', were in the house at the
time. Two of the children were in bed,
and the other somewhere about the house.
Mrs. Wood seized the two children in the
bed, and escaped from the house with
them. The two ladies were up stairs, and
when the house was torn to pieces, they
fell through the floors, and escaped with
but slight injuries The missing child,
after the storm had passed, crawed out
from under the rubbish, apparently unin-
jured although it is miracle that it should
have escaped lady by the name of
Catharine Murray was injured slightly. The
barn, one of the largest in the country,
aboutl G0x70 feet, was completely demol-
ished with everything in it, with the ex-
ception of horse, which came out un-
scratched. A new carriage, just brought
home and placed in the barn, was broken
to atoms, and the parts scattered to the
-four winds of heaven" A stove and
some bedding were taken up and carried
to the timber over half mile distant
The house of Campfeld Meyer was un-
rooted, the south side and end torn out,
and the building left a perfect wreck. There
were several persons in the family, but
none injured except Mrs. Meyer, and she
not severely. Her life was saved by being
protected by straw bed. At this point
large apple orchard was torn up, and the
trees-very large ones-carried a great
distance.
In the village of Mazon no particular
damage was done, save the tearing out of
windows and doors, and breaking down of
fences. .
The tornado next passed into the Mazon
timber, where over forty acres were blown
down, among which were many trees of
giant proportions. The storm seems to
have here spent its force, as the last traces
of its fury were seen just outside of the
timber, where it unroefed the barn of Oil
yer Booth.
SOME time since, superannuated old