The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1875-08-19
AN INDIANA CYCLONE.
Remarkable Incidents of the Tornado
Miraculous

remarkable Incidents OIL the 1Ornad0-
Miraculous Escapes.
The Charlottesville Journal gives the
following particulars of the tornado
that recently passed over Fountain
county, Ind:
"The storm of Tuesday evening,
which passed high above us, visited
some sections south and west of us with
great destruction, passing over the
northern part of Vermilion county and
the southern part of Fountain, in the
shape of a furious tornado. 1t seems to
have come from the Northwest, first
striking near P~errysville and expending
its greatest force on the farm of a Mr..
Marshall, about a mile and a half north
of Harveysburg, Fountain county. 1t
had travelled in about ON easterly direc-
ton and seemed to strike the ground
with such force that it rebounded like a
rubber ball, skipping a farm or two, and
then striking again with great violence.
1t cut an average swath of about a quar-
ter of a mile in width, which, however,
narrowed down at the most destructive
point, on Mr. Marshall's farm, to about
forty rods. In its destruction of life and
property, probably no tornado has ever
visited the country with such calamitous
results. In the first part of its curse it
took down the residence of a man named
Mack, and unroofed barns belonging to
Solomon Jones, William Chenoweth and
Jacob Bitter. The last named also suf-
fered the loss of the roof of his dwell
ing, as did also Abe Bensinger. OF
the families in the path of the destroyer,
S. E. Sewers, in Fountain county, is the
most unfortunate. They had just come
from the burial Of a child that day, and
of that household of five persons, but one
survives, a little boy with both his arms
broken. Mrs. Sewers, a niece who was
temporarily stopping with the family,
and another person were killed instant
ly. Mr.. Sewers, ST., died Wednesday
night, and his married son was reported
dead Thursday morning. The house is
a mass of ruins, which is the case of
about everything on the place. As far
as known, the only other case attended
with loss of life was that of Mr.. Semple.
As before stated, the tornado's fury wa
at its maximum on the farm of Mr..
Charles Marshall. Mr.. Marshall heard
it coming, and Immediately proceeded
to put his family in the cellar. All were
in but himself and little boy, when the
wind blew the door shut, and he was
unable to open it. They then started
for the smoke-house, hoping to get in
the cellar, but the building was blown
over ON them and lodged on a meat
barrel, which saved them from being
crushed. They were all unhurt. Every
thing in the shape of grain, timber, etc.
is literally swept from this farm. Mr..
Marshall said that he had $500 bushels
of wheat, of which he does not think
there are now 25 left. The wind carried
the sheaves up in the air until it was
almost black with them, whirling then
around in large circles as if they were
issuing from a large funnel. The woods
are filled and sown with the wheat. AL
his fine timber was destroyed. This il
itself is a great loss, as it was said t.
have been of a very superior and hand
some growth. In one place a grea
amount of earth vas dug up and some
beets laid out on the ground. A largt
boulder, the lowest estimate of it
weight being 1,50O pounds, was moved
several feet. One house was blown t.
pieces, and the floor found wei q mill
away. A very valuable orchard, one o
two in that section of country, was com
pletely twisted to pieces. A larg'
amount of clothing and bedding wa
blown into the woods and torn int
shreds. One man was lucky enough il
his misfortune to find an old shoe out il
his stable in which he had deposited 500
z He also had some silver pieces which
were blown around, but he succeeded il
finding them, all but one piece. Sew
eral horses were badly injured. Mr.
Marshall lost one of considerable value
One man had Just finished setting up
threshing-machine, and before anythin.
could be done it was struck by the hurri
cane and not a vestige of the machine wa
left to mark the place where it had stood
As the storm came up, David Pearson
wife with the children sought safety III
der the bed. Just as they all had &c
under the bed the chimney was blow
into the room, and would inevitabl
have killed them all had it not been fo
their timely escape. One man had jus
unhitched his horse from his buggy an
the buggy was taken up, capsized an
carried away as if it had been q mer
! straw in the wind.