Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-03-19
THE RECENT STORM.
A Graphic Description Of It's RaVages
I'm Moore County.

/ we are indebted 20 Mr.. W. W. GORDON,
editor Of the LJnSh5Tg Sentinel for ad-
vance prOof-slips Of his account Of the re-
! cent storm in Moore county, as given below:
LAST Sunday, March Il, 1875, will long
| be remembered by the people Of this see
/ ton. The sun rose in all It's splendOr, and
| everything gave promise Of beautiful,
| sp-ing-like day. But by S o'clock the SKY
was overcast, and large banks Of clouds Of
! inky blackuess, accompanied by vivid light
ming, began 10 arise in almost every direc-
| ton, and soon the sun seemed stripped Of
I its power Of giving light, and it became al
most dark. Every person felt more or less
anxiety as to what was to be the result Of
this strange phenomenon, many fearing We
were destined to be visited by one of those
terrible tornadOes which have in the past
proven so destructive to our neighbors,
ShelJyville and Fayetteville.
"BeiOre reaching Lynchburg, however,
the clouds seemed TO have divided, and az
ter a good shower Of IA Il and little hail,
passed over. All quieted down. But in
twenty or thirty minutes after the rain
ceased here, the crack began to rise rapidly,
and in a few minutes was out Of its banks,
and made il evident that the up-creek
country had been Visited by one Of those
terrible ClOud-bursts which proved so de-
StrUctiTe to lives and properly in the city
Of PittsbuTg about a year ago, and almost
instantly the lOwlauds back Of town along
the creek seemed q moving bridge Of fence
rails, hailStOnes, barrels Of whisky, horses,
COWS, poultry, farming utensils, and every
thing that constitute the wealth of the
farm. The whole face Of the waller was
covered with hailstOnes to a thickness Of
from two to three feet, which, matted to-
getber as il was with thousands of fence
rails and driftWOCd, formed a fiOtilla against
which nothing could stand, and made a
scene that battles description. This soon
became covered with a dense fog, which
fact made the scene only the more appall-
ING, for the floating mass could not be seen,
and we could only imagine the destruction
being done by th8 noise made by passing
tree tops, fOOt-briGces and roofs Of houses,
as they would break to pieces against the
trees. The hail had fallen in such guam
titles that it swept fences, soil and every
movable object from off the hillsides into
the valleys below, and thence to the creek,
which came down a surging mass, only
Tivalled by the bursting Of the dam last
spring at Mill Creek, Mass. This contin-
usd to pass for about an hour, and to see
the wealth Of the country thus being
washed away, coupled with the sickening
thought that, perhaps many lives had been
lost, rendered it {. sad spectacle indeed.
$50 much for what we beheld, and were
this the whole Of t, we would have cause
20 be thankful. But what was witnessed
at Bynchburg was only a counterpart Of
like scenes in nearly every hollow and on
every stream from Tullahoma on the one
side to beyond Oak Hill on the other,
distance Of over twenty-five miles.
''Ihe loss to the corporation and citizens
in town who lived near the banks Of the
creek, is great, but is a mere trife when
compared to that sustained by the farmers,
hardly a one OF whom in the whole section
visited by the storm, and through whose
farms the swollen streams passed, who did
not lose more or less fencing, and this, too,
al a time when IL is almost impossible to
replace it. Many acres, therefore,
which would otherwise have been
titled, will now have tG remain Idle for
want Of enclosure. But fencing is not the
most serious loss, for man can replace Il;
but when we ride into the country and be-
hold many Of what was few days ago the
most productive bodies of land in this great
coTn-gr owing section, shOrn Of its soil and
as destitute Of prOductiveneSs as the street |
in front Of our office, while many others are
cut to pieces, with innumerable washes and |
gullies, (and we have but to look at the |
farms of Mr.. Henderson OVERLY, b. NJ. !
Edens and DR.. Setlifl, for instances de- |
scribed above,) and we can easily imagine |
where the most serious loss will be. But |
our farmers seem determined to not let |
even this discourage them, and have gone |
to work with a viii to replace all that they |
can.
at is impossible to try to itemize the |
losses, as those sustained by the farmers |
are Of the same character, and only differ |
in extent The bonded warehouse of /
Messrs. Hughes * COlshier, about a mile |
above town, and containing one hundred |
and twenty two barrels Of whisky, was /
washed away. About ninety barrels have |
been recovered since. The large ware
house Of TOlley {. Eaton, in the edge of
town, containing several hundred barrels,
was torn from its foundation and washed
down the stream q short distance, but did
not 90 to pieces. A considerable number
Of horses and COWS were lost. At Oak Hill |
4 humber Of houses were washed aWav,
among which we will mention Mr.. Arm
strOngs dwelling house and contents, the
large barn of Mr.. VIM. Cole, with its con-
tents and two WAGONS, and the steam mill
belonging TO Mrs. Robinson. Many mar
row escapes were made, but we have not
heard of a single life heinz lost -