The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1866-10-25
WIDE SPREAD AND GEN
EIsAL DEVASTATION.
Destruction OF Property and
Loss OF Life.

most terrific wind storm that has eve
visited us. Ii prostrated the houses
trees and fences in its course, anf
damaged hundreds Of buildings il
various parts of the city. The storm
came on with the suddenness OF q
thunder clap, and passed away in loss
than ten minutes, Its course was
from South TO North, bearing little
Eastward. Its first traces were on
Lafayette and Park Avenues, where
its breadth was about a quarter OF a
mile, From thence rs track was mar
rover, aud ii was much more violent
In some places than others;
The wind appeared TO whirl like i
screw. twisting the roof from houses,
and in some instances throwing them
some 200 or 300 yards distant. A
heavy rain was falling at the time,
mixed for a moment with hail. The
first effects of the tornado were felt
in tho neighborhood of the city hos
pital Nearly oil its chimneys were
blown down. A house near by was
wrecked, the whole of ono wall and
hereof falling down. The unlinisA \
ed walls Of the large brick stables Of
the People . Railway Company were
proetrated,
The old stables near the Lafayette
Park were completely demolished, and
two new cars crushed. Several houses
on Carondelet Avenue had their roofs
taken off, and some of their walls
knocked down The house of Flor
entine Schuster had both end walls
blown down, and the building was
nearly Quilted. The large brewery
buildings of Chris. Staelin on Lafay-
cite Avenue, suffered severely. The
roof of one, and the smoke stack of
another were blown away. The Cath
Ollie Church Of the Holy Angels had
the roof torn off, and nearly all the
walls demolished. The new house of
its pastor, near by, was also badly
damaged.
A large, new, three story ware
house, belonging tosuMr. Koenig, on
Sixth Street. was almost totally pros
trated. Only small portions sOf the
front we're left standing. A store ON
the corner Of Eighth and Spruce
streets was turned inside out, and the
contents carried nearly block, The
Lindell and Barnum hotels had their
roofs partially taken off, aud much
glass broken. The Mercantile lii
brary Hall also had its roof badly
damaged. A church on Fifth Street,
near the Museum, had its steeple
tumbled into the street.
But the greatest fury of the storm
seems TO have been spent on the spot
and in the neighborhood OF the
O'Fallon Polytechnic Institute, on
the corner of Chestnut and Seventh
Streets. This building, so large and
towering, offered great resistance to
the Jury of the winds, and as conse
quence suffered very severely The
tin roofing was almost entirely dis
placed and carried off. Large por-
tons of it, weighing several hundred
pounds, were hurled incredible dis
tances along Seventh Street, some
alighting two squares off, in Olive
Street. Some of these immense scraps,
torn and tumbled into a variety of
shapes were precipitated upon the
roof and front of the row of houses.
ON chestnut Street just across the
street from the Institute, knocking
down chimneys, corniees, breaking off
window shutters, aud smashing the
window panes, Others, accompanied
with large pieces of soantling and
rafters from the same roof were
hurled with great violence against the
rear gable of the row on the sonth
side OF Pine Street, between Seventh
and Eighth, doing much damage to
the buildings. The alley rnenins
from Chestnut across Pine to Olive
Street, seemed TO serve as sort of
channel or sluiee, along which the
tempest, laden with rafters, bricks
boards, shingles and tin roofing, swent
with irresistible fury.
A three-story brick house standing
next to the Institute, on the west, oee
cupied by Father Kelly, pastor of the
Church of tho Immaculate Concep-
ton, had its roof taken off, and its
rear walls forced in, and Father Kelly,
who was in the third story, was Sc
yerely injured.
Beside these, the most serious Of
the casualties, there are scores of
house, roofless, aud hundreds OF
chimneys, and fire walls, and gables
Knocked down. Fences and trees are
torn up and scattered in' every direc-
ton, and shutters, rafters, boards and
bricks were carried through the air
like feathers, IL is almost incredible
that no one should have been killed
ana not moro than two or three
wounded. All the telegraph wires
leading east and northwest out of the
city We're Frustrated and the fire
alarm telegraph was very badly dam
aged.
Two or three steamboats, were
forced from their moorings NJ the
levee, and swept across the.river, but
no serious damage was done. Ii is
feared, however, that some of the
steamers between here and Cairo NAV
have encountered the hurricane and