, 1872-11-22

TIE sICHIAN HURRICANE.
The narrative from the London Times, de.
scribing the ravages OF the hurricane at Palaz.
zolo, Sicily, and which was printed in our last
issue is one Of peculiar interest, as it reca1ls
very similar calamity in this country, which hap
pened some twelve or fifteen years since. Ac-
cording to the accounts, but very few buildings
were left standing. Houses we're rent to pieces
OF were dilapidated in the most mysterious
styles. Lamp-posts we're forced from their
sockets, and trees we're uprooted. The contents
Of stores disappeared entirely. Libraries, after
the hurricane had passed over, had nothing left
OF them but loose leaves which were flying
moved forward q foot without break
ing In some places, house vas
stripped Of all OF it's rafters; in
others, tiles weretorn off and shattered to pieces
Several persons we're killed. The hurricane
came suddenly in the night, and many OF the
dead were found where they had been sleeping,
and were fearfuly disfgured, the whirling sand
having been driven into their ears and nostr1ls,
and even piercing through the flesh.
These details wildly recall the destruction OF
comanche and New Albany, in Iowa. A closer
parallel in disaster could hardly be drawn, e1-
cept that, as the Iowa villages were almost en-
tirely constructed of wood, the destruction WAS
more complete. The hurricane at Palazzolo oc-
CURED in the night time; that in Iowa in the day
time, and yet, by a curious coincidence. the loss
Of life was, if We remember rightly, precisely
the same,-thirty-two in each case, and about
half that number injured, ,-Bhowing that the
Buddenness Of the blow left no better opportu-
nifty for escape in broad daylight than in the
night time. The phenomena Of the two we're
also nearly identical. In the Iowa towns, those
houses which were in the direct line Of the tor
nado we're torn literally into splinters, but those
which stood On the edges OF it we're rent and
twisted in the same mysterious manner as the
Siciiian houses. The streets we're choked up in
the same manner with rubbish. The pillars OF
palaces which we're moved forward witl-
out breaking find their parallel in small
tenements which were moved forward
two or three feet without breakage. In this re-
spect, however, the Iowa calamity surpasses
that In Sicily, as one house in Comanche. brick
one, was turned round with but slight damage,
so that it faced different point OF the compass
after the tornado had passed. The flying leaves
from vanished book-covers recall the fate Of the
law library OF the Circuit Judge, who lived in
Comanche, and after the tornado looked about
for his library, only to find the warped and
twisted covers in his recent garden, and the
leaves scattered to the four winds of heaven.
The bodies which were recovered from the ruins
Of Pa1azzolo, if placed side by side with those in
Comanche, could hardly have been told apart, as
the peculiarities Of Disagreement we're precisely
similar. The distinctive force of each seems
to have been about the same, Although mora
property was damaged in Iowa than in Sicily,-a
fact which may be explained by the circumstance
that the Iowa towns were built almost entirely
Of wood and situated upon level prairie, where
the tornado met with no distractions in its
course. The only material difference lies in the
fact that the Iowa tornado was phenomenon in
itself and disconnected from any general conrul-
sion Of nature, while that in Sicily WAS but one
phase Of 8 widespread storm which inundated
towns and cities in France and Germany, de-
5troyed villages in Sweden and Denmark and
swept the English coast Of its shipping.