Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-11-25
TUSCUMBIA. +
A Union and American Report
er Visits the Scene of
saN Disaster.
Sundays Cyclone and Its Work
of Destruction and Death.
Eleven Persons Killed Outright
and a Large Number
Injured.
More Than Fifty Houses Wholly
or Partly Destroyed. 80
Loss at Two Hundred and Fifty
Thousand Dollars.
Destitute Condition Of the Suf.
ferers.
Scenes and Incl
dents in the Stricken
Town.
More Than Fifty Houses Wholly
or Partly Destroyed. ~
Loss at Two Hundred and Fifty
Thousand Dollars.
Destitute Condition of the Suf
fcrers.
Heart.rending Scenes and Incl
dents in the Stricken
Town.

On receipt of the Associated Press dis
patch published yesterday, referring to tn
disastrous tornado in Northwestern Ala
bama, member Of our local corps was in
structed to proceed 70 the scene Of the ter
rible visitation in order to ascertain the ex
tent of the loss of life and property and th'
condition in which the people were left
Leaving by the $40 P. N. train on the De
catur road, he reached Tuscumbia aboui
2:45 yesterday morning, from which plac'
we get the following dispatch:
TUseUMBIA, ALA, Nov. "A, 1874, / p
M.-On board the train from Decatur tC
this place last night, in company with Gen
O'Neal, of Florence, and Col. Sykes, the
Democratic opponent of Spencer in the con,
test for the seat in the United States Sen
ate last winter, was State Senator j. b
Moore, who lost his wife and two children
by the storm of Sunday evening. These
gentlemen were on their way home from
Montgomery, where Senator Moore was
apprised by telegraph Of his be
reavement soon after the hurricane
did its fatal work. BE was IN
attendance upon the Legislature, and was
expecting to be present at Gov. Houston's
Inauguration to-day, not dreaming that, in
stead, he would thus be returning home to
witness as heartrending spectacle as ever
the ewes of husband and father rested
upon. Prior tothe disaster Sunday evening, a
large party flom here contemplated going
to Montgomery to attend the Inauguration
to-day, and to such, instead Of day of ex-
ultation, day of profound grief has come,
and 1 imagine the rejOicings at the Capital
are much sobered by the thought of the
woe that has come upon this much-loyed
town.
The Place.
Tuscumbis has a population of about
1,50O, and is known as the residence of
several of the first families IN the State.
Once the home of wealth and luxury, it is
still noted for culture and hospitality,
though utterly shorn of its afiuence by
the war. 1t is scattered over an elevated
and rolling area, and is divided about in
the middle, from east to west, by the Men,
phis and Charleston Railroad "a fact
which will aid in understanding the effects
of
The storm.
The first mark of its hayock l noticed,
after getting up this morning, was that a
part OF the roof Of the hotel in which 1 had
slept, was gone and the interior badly
damaged by water. This was at the south
ern limit of the storms wake, which COM
prehends all that part of the town lying
north Of the railroad. Here the real de-
struction appears, over fifty residences be-
ing either partially or totally destroyed, in
Guiding some of the finest and most sub
stantial bricks in the place. All the en-
closures are blown down and away. The
trees planted in yards and along
the streets are blown down or
twisted of, one after another. Some of
the houses are just unroofed, some without
chimneys, others partly blown down, or
without wall, but many are utterly de-
molished. The ground throughout the
area of the tornado is literally covered with
the fragments of buildings and furniture,
and to the northeast of the town, almost as
far as the eye can see, the fields are strewn
with tin roofing and the lighter contents of
the houses. Yet even In the route of the
hardest wind number of houses are left
standing, showing that the storm was not
incessant in its contact with the earth.
The trees are felled in every direction, and
it seems to have been more
Bounding Cyclone
than a hurricane. II was confined to q
small section of country, too, when it is
considered that strong gale was prevailing
about the same time at Nashville, Mem
phis, and even as low down as Callira.
From all the information gathered here, it
is supposed it first touched the earth about
five miles southwest of here, and finally
left it in the vicinity of Brickyille, which
is about eighteen miles northeast. 1t rose
and came down at numerous points be
tween, but descended with greatest fury
here and in the timber along Pond Creek.
The Casualties.
So far as heard from, eleven persons we've
killed outright, one Git is thought) mortally
wounded and many slightly bruised. A
hundred would probably be low estimate
of the number of miraculous escapes.
About four miles southwest of town the
dwelling of Jno. Sherrod, farmer, was
blown down and his daughter Bette, about
seventeen years old, killed. A number OF
other houses on that side were destroyed,
but no other life lost.
The first property struck in the corporate
limits was the fair ground buildings, which
were blown down. Hindman's grist and
nourlnS mills, OIL Spring street, were the
next, and these, with a.large quantity of
grain were blown away.
The Memphis and Charleston Railroad
bridge across Spring creek was next in the
sweep. This was strong structure of a
single span, and about fifty feet above the
water. The timbes were blown loose
themselves were blown some distance, and
bent as if they had been wax. The tele-
graph wires were torn from the posts, and
now lie on the ground, one hundred feet
from the road, for about quarter of mile,
the width of the ruined district.
Workmen are now engaged in removing
the wrecked passenger train which plunged