The Shasta courier., 1865-10-28

in her lap. 1t twas pitiful sight. that group
OF hve-four clinging to one, as if to their
only nope In that dreadful hour, and she as
helpless as an infant
During the next quarter of an hour, the
servants, ten In number, all negroes. made
tneir appearance, some crying. and all look
ing as II they feared their last minute had
come. All drew together for sympathy, and
all met there, in that time of tribulation, as
equals before God. With a horrible death
staring all alike in the face, how little is
thought OF the distinction of race or color
who, with dread eternity opening before
him, dare claim superiority over his fellow
worms of the dust?
Still the wind increased in fury. and the
house trembled and shook in the most fright
ful manner. Suddenly the eastern walls
came IN upon us with rush, the ceiling
came down In fragments. the light was
instantly extnguished, and the wind swept
over and around us with an awful power.
and whirled us around among the ruins as
child might have knocked about his toys.
No description can do Justice to such
scene, and Imagination itself must fall far
short of the horrible reality.
For myself, l had been hurled back into
one corner, and found human BODY resting
heavily upon me. | heard wild shrieks.
thought OF Clara, and attempted to rise. At
that moment flash of lightning showed me
1t was negro who had fallen upon me. and
putting my hand to his head | made the
awful discovery that part of it was gone
having, as l afterwards coniectured. been
carried away by falling beam. The man
was dead andf probably never knew what
hurt him. As soon as l could, | got out
from under him but the wind blew with
such violence that could not keep nv feet.
and was obliged to move about on nv hands
and knees. | had been cons derab!y bruis
ed. but was not seriously hurt, and now |
en1eavored to find Clara. and render what
assistance could to the living.
he rain was falling in torrents, and
against this we had no protection, for the
whole house was mass of ruins. Only by
the frequent flashes of lighting could we see
anything, for during the intervals the dark
ness was impenetrable. | succeeded in
reaching the group have mentioned as
ciinglng together and found Mrs. Palmer,
three of her children, and Clara. surrounded
by. | may say wedged in among, fragments
of ii aber. but all living. and only injured
by bruises no worse than my own. Their
escape from instant death. all of them seem
ed little less than miracle. Fearing there
might be no safer place for them than where
they were, advised them to remain there
for the time; but as Mrs. Palmer was
nearly distracted about her husband and son.
VINO had not been seen or heard from since
the fall of the building, / continued nv ex
plorations among the debris as we'll as ]
could; being in constant danger from the
shifting fragments, and seeing only from the
lightnings glare.
Throughout that long, terrible night the
wind increased in fury till near morning,
and it is surprising that any life was pre-.
served. | did not succeed in finding those
sought, but discovered two more dead bod
les of the blacks, and two others seriously
wounded, to whom l could render no assist
ance whatever. | also came upon TWO
others, female servants, who were crouching
down together, and did not appear to be in
jured. but were so stupefed with fear that
could get no intelligent answer from them.
In attempting to return to Mrs Palmer
and Clara, as | was clambering over a pile
of rubbish, the wind suddenly caught me up
from the ground, whirled me round and
round carried me distance of over two
hnndaed yards and then deposited me as
L
down a child. | was so completely be
widered, though, that for a long time | lay
there without making any effort to return to
the demolished dwelling; and when | did at
length attempt to get back by crawling on
my hands and knees, for it was impossible
for any human being to stand upright, | lost
my way, and remained in the fields till
When daylight came at last, it was only
to make visible the horrors of that appalling
night Look where you might, the eye rest.
ed upon nothing but the most dire destruc-
tlon-houses IN ruins, trees Frustrated,
fences swept away, and fields as completely
ruined as if fire had passed over them. In
every direction cattle lay dead or dying,
dead birds were here and there piled up in
heaps, trunks of trees, stakes and splinters
everywhere projecting from the earth, into
which they had been driven by the force of
the wind, and over all that late beautiful
island desolation reigned supreme.
By this time the fury of the tornado had
begun to abate but the wind still blew so
fercely that, in spite fmy utmost exertions,
it took me whole hour to get back to the
ruins from which l had been so swiftly re
moved. There the sight that met my eyes
DegpdTS uesCTlptlOD. IIrS. Idlllef. 01dih
and the children were still where had left
them, but the eldest daughter had been
killed by flying stick of timber striking
her on the head, and the Others were nearly
Mr.. Palmer was found under a
pile of rubbish, with a broken leg, and his
son lay within foot of him with splinter
of tree, supposed to have been riven by
lightning, driven completely through his
body.
What have so freely described as happen
ing at the house of my friend is only faint
picture of the ruin, destruction aud desola-
ton which entirely extended over the de-
voted island. By eight o'clock in the morn
ing the late furious air had become perfectly
still, and the bright hot sun was shining
calmly down upon a scene of death and woe.
And then. everywhere throughout the Is
land, 1t was friend seeking friend, parents
their children, children their parents. hus
bands their wives; for, amid the wild fdry
OF the temnest, thousands of persons had be-
come separaked-in too many cases, alas,
never to meeragain in life All were pale,
horrlhed. desparing, and neighbor could not
give his aid and sympathy for that which
had equally come upon himself. Each fami
ly, SO to speak, had alone to care for its sick
and wounded, dig out and bury its dead
and In some cases whole households Law
crushed beneath their own ruins for many
days, and corpses and carcasses everywhere