The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-11-20
The Hurricane at Chester, Illinois,
Great Destruction Of Life and Property.

IRON the chester PICKET Guard.i
An awful calamity has fallen upon
our city, spreading desoiation and death
among our friends and fellOw-citizens,
and extending adjacent portions of the
county, sr
About two o'clock this morning, a
terrific tornado burst upon the lower
part Of Chester along the river 'front.'
which for destruetiveness exceeded
anything ever known in this region
We are not exaggersting when we say
that the lower esd Of our city and
Menard are almost an entire mass Of
ruins. The pathway of the fatal tor
nado Is marked by devastation, ruin
and death. Some Of our most esteemed
citizens have per'sed in the awful catas-
trophe Three persons in Chester are
already dead, Colonel Gabriel Jones,
Chauncey l. Haskins, and little girl
living with Capt. Moneys family. Two
or three others are said to be fatally
injured, and fifteen or twenty more Of
our citizens are more or less seriously
wounded More than twenty build
ings are destroyed, the most of them an
utter mass of ruins; while many others
are partially damaged. About thirty
families are left destitute, without
roof to shelter their heads, or q gar
ment to cover them, save what they
had on their persons, and except what
has been furnished them by friends
Capt Williams steam ferry boat is
wreck. The Baptist church, a fine brick
edifiee, costing several Thousand dollars
is mass of brick and mortar. Several
persons have been badly injured. Some
nave had legs broken, Others have had
arms broken, while many are badly
bruised and cut by the falling of flying
timbers. The scenes Of devastation
along the path of the storm king beg
CARS description. Wherever the furi~
Gus tornado touched building, it ab-
solutely Quilted it. Persons, furniture,
beds, cooking stoves, and every com
seivable thing, large or small, were lift.
ed ike feathers and borne to great dis
tances or hurled to atoma Many of
our friends have lost their all by thi4
sudden and terrible visitation
Capt G. G. Williams loses heavily.
Besides the destruction of his fine ferry
boat, hisr residence was entirely destroy
ed, with ell his furniture, beds, cloth
ing, and personal effects lie also lost
81 100 in greenbacks, whick were swept
away like fash of lightning His
losses amount to many thousand doll
lars.
Our old friend; John Miller had two
houses entirely destroyed, depriVing
him, in his old age, of the means ofsqp-
port, which, by economy and frugality,
he had saved up. SO
But it is impossible, as yet to give
list of the sufferers, either in person or
property. Suffice il to say that scores
of eur fellow citizens, many Of whom
but yesterday were in affluent circum-
stances, to>day are, through no fault of
their own, and from q calamity which
no foresight or prudence could guard
against, reduced to poverty; and un-
less the generous hand of charity and
brotherlg kindness be promptly and
Literally extended to the sufferers,
these, our fellow citizens viii be COM
PEELED to endure painful privstions and
want
After accomplishing its work Of de-
vastston and death at Chester the
tornado swept on, prostrating trees and
everything animate or inanimate, in its
course, il a northeasterly direction,
past the residence of Mr.. Isaac Rust,
mile OF two from here, levehng the
barn, outhou5es, fences and orchard
of Mr. Rust, and partially destroying
his dwelling, and destroying the fences
and otherwise injuring the farms of
MIR. Pinkerton, Proctor, and others in
that vicinity.
Mr. Cohen, living in the neighbor-
hood of Mr. Rust, was killed
the village Of Randolph, we under
stand, is nearly destroyed Mira Jensen
was killed and her house demolished
How much further the storm ex-
tended, or what further damage and
ruin has been inflicted upon our conn-
try, we have not yet ascertained We
have given ell the particulars Of this
calamity, that we have been able TO
obtain up to the time Of going 70 press,
so far as we considered them reliable.
Many other rumors of devastation
and death by the tornado have reached
me, but we only present what IS pretty
we'll authenticated
We hope our fellow citizens through
out the State, and especially in this
region, will aid IN the work Of proVid /
ing for the wants of those who are left
homeless and penniless. All should act I
prompl Fly, as the emergency IS pressing
and admits OF no delay