The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1875-04-09
THE GEORGIA CYCLONE.
incidents Of the Late Terrific uurri-
cane-t sound az Terror Like Cam
nonade OF "a Hundred Pieces OF Artii-
lery.

The following incidents OF the recent
tornado by which eight counties i'm Geor-
gia and three In South Carolina were ter
riby devastated are cleaned from the At
lanta Constitution:
As far as we can learn one hundred and
five persons Were killed, one hundred and
twenty-three wounded and an immense
amount OF property destroyed.
The details of the calamity on :. ID. Mas
SOS place, near Sparta, In Hancock Coun-
~, Ga. are most pitiful. There were
of them all there Is not one piece of timber
LEFT upon another. His residence was
built OF hewn logs, wcather-bOarled out
side and ceiled on che inside. Some OF
these logs were blown 20 distance of a
mile and half, and shingles from the roof
We're blown 10 the distance OF several
miles.
When he saw the storm coming Mr.. Mas
sey made frantic effort TO save his wife
and child. He ran into the house and
selling them attempted TO get them out of
doors but before he reached the door the
walls We're crushed in. He thrust them
toward the door and was himself caught
in the timbers. When the storm had
passed he discovered his wife lying near
him with her brains crushed out. His
child, an only one. about two years old,
he found in the garden with fearful hole
torn in its side. IL was dead. Miss Sallie
Berry hal been blown into the top of "A
pine tree, which had fallen near by: Her
legs were broken In seven places, and she
was otherwise awfully mangled She lived
four hours. A negro man on the place
ran To the nearest house for help, and
when the neighbors arrived they found
MIR. Massey. who was badly hurt, sitting
beside his dead wife, with his dead child in
his arms and the dying girl lying near
him. No words can describe the horror
of the spectacle. 4 negro woman on this
place had her knee broken. and her right
arm Is so badly hurt that amputation will
be necessary.
A field in which the wheat Was six inch
es high, and broom sedge field, were
cleaned AS bare as ii they had been burned
and the ashes swept off. A covey OF part
ridges were found dead near the house.
two dead rabbits were found in the yard,
and all the chickens, rats and cats on the
place were also killed. The skirts of Mr..
Massey's coat were blown of, and his
shoes and socks were blown from his feet
and have not yet been found. The inju-
ries TO his person are very severe. A con-
siderable amount of money which he had
i'm the house was blown away, so was all
his silver, in fact every thing, even down TO
his clothing. He had to borrow clothing
from his neighbors.
DESCRIPTION OF THE TORNADO.
Those who viewed it from the south de
scribe il as being densely black, while all
who viewed ii from the opposite direction
agree in describing liz rs being luminous
a. flame. IL was funnel shaped, with
the point resting upon the ground. and it,
broad top melting in the distance, where
the eye could not reach. Ii moved with a
numbering sound. as ii thousands OF pieces
of artillery were pouring an incessant
cannonade upon the earth. One gentle
man says II every cannon I'm the world had
been fired simultaneously and necessarily.
the roar could not have equaled that of
the wind.
Never was such tornado felt i'm Geor-
gia. The front cloud was pitch black.
half a mile high, and half mile wide.
Ii was barrel shaped at times. and at times
IL took the form OF a half moon, revolv
ing from north 10 south. The rear was
illuminated with lurid. phosphorescent,
but wholly unnatural light. Ii Travelled
at the rate of seventy miles per hour. 1t
was fianked on the north and south sides
with dense clouds, but stood out In bold
relief alone. Ii demolished each planta-
ton in twenty seconds. 1t was accom-
panied by sound as of five hundred can
non in the decisive moment of pitched
battle. Not drop of water fell from il,
but great rain storm came up three
hours afterwards. and Geluged the earth.
accompanied by hail, wind, thunder and
lightning.
GRAPHIC PICTURE OF THE STORM.
The cloud first appeared in northwest
erly direction and gradually moved south
10 point where il must have met some
opposing force. My attention was attrac-
ted by a dull heavy roaring at apparently
some two or three miles In westerly di-
rection, which induced the expectation of
a severe storm. | had but expressed this
when the tornado was upon us. Ii spent
its greatest fury in about three minutes,
my dwelling being about the center, and
the breadth Of the main column not ex-
ceeding one hundred yards. The senses
were utterly deadcned. There was crash.
a roar. the mingling of hundred terrific
and unknown sounds (; the glass, shattered
by the mere force of the wind, was thrown
across the rooms with force enough to
penetrate the flesh; the shutters were
wrenched from their hinges.
OF five hundred noble oaks that had
wthstood the storms of century not
half dozen were left standing, and Of that
host of oaks that surrounded my dwelling
but solitary one stands sentinel over the
graves of it, brethren. A negro man who
saw the tornado cross at Furry's Ferry
says II was a terrible sight. The air was
flied with shingles and limbs OF trees,
whirling along at tremendous speed.
INCIDENTS or THE TORNADO.
In Baldwin County a single was driv-
on eharp end foremost several inches in- /
to the body of a small oak tree it happened
to strike directly. The llicless negro wo-
man was found lodged In the branches Of
a Inffr frnn NOT cxncflr in the hurricannfa |