The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1873-05-30


by the same loud roar which brought
the people of Lancaster to their doors.
They saw it in the dlstance-a dark,
cone-like, Opaque mass, moving with
appalling swiftness. 1t was coming di-
rectlv towards them. Some thought it
was the end of this dispensation, and
fell on their knees in prayer. Others,
more practical, hurried to their cellars,
their last and most secure refuge. They
had scarcely found their hiding places
when the storm was upon them. 1t
struck terror into their hearts. Women
swooned and brave men held their
breath. The sound of falling timbers
told them that their property was not
unscathed, though no lives were sacri-
feed. 1t lifted one house from over the
cellar where the family were crouching
in fear, and the roof was raised from
another building. The outskirts of the
village suffered most, probably because
the houses, being isolated, had nothing
but the foundations to hold them to the
earth.
Near Skunk river woods n flock of
800 sheep were quietly grazing when
the storm arose. With an instructive
dread they gathered in a circle, that COM
partnership might alleviate the sense of
danger. They congregated directly in
the line of the storm, and when it came
it elevated them until, as an eyewitness
expressed it, "they looked like flock
of birds" They circled round and
round, the velocity of the inner current
overcoming the attraction of gravitation,
until the centrifugal motion moved them
TO the edge of the cyclone, where the
velocity being diminished, they fell to
the earth. OF the 1,500, only 40 were
found alive up to this afternoon, and it
is believed that the remainder were
killed. They were absolutely divelli-
Gated. Their remains are found hang
ing on the trees and bushes, and strew-
ing the ground.
The DOggett graveyard, not far from
Lancaster, was swept as with Bosom.
The tombstones were thrown down, and,
according to some, several were carried
away.
The storm maintained its northeast
course, carrying everything before it for
a width of from 100 yards to quarter of
a mile Fences were laid flat. Houses
were of no account. Men, women, and
children, and all kinds of animals, were
mingled in the moving mass of air at
height of from forty to sixty feet. Trees
foot in diameter were snapped in twain,
and the forests seemed as if an immense
scythe, propelled by an invisible giant,
had cut all that dared to be in its way.
The swath marked the path of the de-
stroyer. Nothing but the eternal hills,
up which it swept and Invested of their
natural covering, could stand against it's
l.,
moved, leaving woe in its track. For
few miles from Lancaster the country is
rather thinly settled, but it left its marks
upon the face of Nature.
Soon again it met with living food for
its insatiate appetite. 1t had reached
Clear Creek township, three or four
miles from this place, where there are
many houses, and where its fury was
most sadly felt, 1t came down on the
house of Mr., Nicholas Engledingle,
whose wife was lying sick, her husband
being absent. She was alone with her
child. The house was carried away and
torn to atoms, and the unfortunate wo-
man and child went with it to destruc-
ton. Her fate is very sad. She was
literally rent asunder. The trunk from
the neck to the abdomen was found in
one place, the arms in another, and the
head and eek further away. One limb
stuck in the sand where it fell Prob
ably she was instantly killed. Her child
was killed, the top of the head being
blown off, giving the appearance of
scalping.
/ met Mr.. Stone, living seven miles
from Harper, as he and his hands wereat
work repairing the damage. He believed
the storm passed his farm at clock.
He hkened it to an immense funnel,
reaching from earth to heaven, and COM
ing from the southwest. 1t was black.
He could not see through it. Fence
posts were stuck firmly in the ground
where they stood, and the terrific strength
of the storm was visible on every hand.
In another place pump was drawn out
of the ground and deposited in the soil
half mile away, where it could be
pumped, though pumping would fetch
no water.
The horsepower of thrashing ma
chine, weighing 2,340 pounds, was raised
us if it were feather, and dropped
quarter of mile from home.
The house of Peter Marsh was blown
down, and one child killed. 1t is stated
that all the rest of the family, including
seven children, were stripped of every
vestige of clothing The dead child was
found eighty yards from the site of the
dwelling.
Mr.. Campbell lost his wife. His two
children were badly hurt.
A wide diversity of opinion exists as
to the rate at which the storm travelled.
Twenty miles an hour is the opinion of
a majority, but probably it moved much
faster, as at nearly every point o'clock
is given as the hour at which it passed.
1t traversed region of remarkable fer
tility, over rolling country. Some of
the hills, being quite steep, retarded its
speed, but it probably moved with
more rapidity than is generally sup
posed. 1t dealt death and destruction
wherever it went.
There is sorrow in nearly every house,
hold, and the entire country is in active
sympathy with those who mourn. They
know not how soon they themselves may
be visited by similar calamity. This
event will not soon be forgotten. Those
who have lost friends will remember it
while they live, and so will those who