Knoxville Whig and chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1875-1882, 1875-08-04
THE FURY OF THE ELEMENTS.

The year 1875 will long be remem-
bered rs period Of extraordinary
commotion among the elements. Our
Northern neighbors will not soon for
get the severely cold weather of last
winter, almost without a parallel in
the history of the country. The win
ter extended far into the spring, and |
the absence of luscious fruits from
our tables serves TO remind us of the
havoc of late frosts. The summer
has been prolific of destructive storms,
which have swept over the land,
scarcely a spot having been exempted
from their devastating march. Ac-
companying these we have had an
unusual quantity of rain. Many of
the rivers have been higher than was
ever before known in the month of
July. The damage sustained by
crops is rcckoned by multiplied mil
lions
This is not confined to our own
country by any means. England and
all Europe has suffered. The fertile
valleys of France have been inunda-
ted, and famine stares the people in
the face. With all the aid they will
receive from benevolent people Of the
civilized world, suffering and even loss
of life will prevail.
The fair city of Geneva was visited,
on the 7th of July, by tempest al
most without a parallel in the history
of the world. A correspondent of
the New York Tribune describes it as
zone of the most remarkable mani
festations Of the fury OF the elements
on record" 1t burst upon the slum-
bering inhabitants Of the thriving
city at the solemn hour of midnight,
and in fifteen minutes had destroyed
millions of valuable property. The
correspondent, above alluded, to
says:
At the end of it the city Of Geneva was
wrecked as no army Of besiegers could have
wrecked it in the same space Of time. 1t
came with the suddenness of a thunderclap.
Only for a few minutes previously there
had been a warning voice, which those who
heard it describe it to have been a very ter
rible one-which was not the sound Of the
wind even when it blows its hardest
which was not the sound Of thunder, but a
kind of strange, hollow, angry growl, with
an ever creScendO force. Then just on the
stroke Of II came the bodily presence Of
the storm itself, II came in the shape
hardly of a hail storm, in the ordinary &C
ceptation of the word but ina that Of an
almost compact mass or sheet Of ice, driven
horizontally before the tempest blast. In
the first instant, every gas-lamp in the
streets of Geneva, save here and there one
capriciously spared by reason Of some pro.
tecting roof was smashed to atoms and ex
tinguished. But the city was not in dark
ness. For the masses Of coagulated hail
which already were lying on the payemcn
of the streets, reflected the blue light O
the lightning in a CHASTITY and ominou
manner.
The frightened inhabitants spran9
from their beds to find many object
of their pride in hopeless ruin. Veg
etable gardens and vineyards wer'
destroyed, and famine must follow
among the industrious peasants o
that ordinarily gay looking city anC
suburbs.
Various localities in the world hav,
witnessed extraordinary phenomeni
in the elements this year, suflicien
to make it a marked one in futur
history, on account Of these peculia
manifestations.