The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1876-03-24
THE WISCONSIN TORNADO.
Its Terrible Visitation Upon the village
OF Hazel GreeM-A Graphic Description
OF It's Appearance aud Of the Ruin IL
Wrought

GALENA, ILL.,, March ll.-COmlng
up from the Southwest on the afternoon
of Friday, there was Il dense black
cloud, apparently about 500 feet above
the grosnd. The barometer was fall
ing. The weatherwise men of Hazel
Green p~rophesied one to another that n
storm was brewing. The cloud moved
slowly, dropping lower and lower, a
dirty l~ead-colored aspect above it, a
close, oppressive atmosphere under
meath. 1t looked like n spring cloud at
first, and seemed q sort of tattered
prophet coming to town to rognosticate
bad weather. Close under its south
western limit it wa piled up in mass
i've, rugged mountains. Its center
bellied down and spread out in q sort
of inflamed gray color, while the upper
and northwestern edges were sloughed
off and ragged, as though the affair
were
COMING FEET FIRST
with its trousers worn out around the
bottom. Southwest of Hazel Green is
q small grove situated about a quarter
of Il mile from the town. The trees
were barren of all except the dreary as
pect of winter, and as the cloud came
up the branches were revealed against
the dull and sombre front of the APP
preaching horror. As it came nearer,
the great mass of cloud seemed to spread
and contract. 1t bulged out at the
belly, and then rolled up again, shoot
ing great masses of smoke-colored riffs
from center to circumference, and then
contracting to center again, rolling in
circles, as if some atmospheric monster
were in dire agony, and struggling and
writhing to rid itself of its intense, un-
bearable pain. Never before had such
4 phenomenon been presented to the
eyes Of the astounded Hazel Greenys,
and they watched the tossing and con
tortions of the attacking mass, without
Il thought of the issue, without a fear
that ;.ley might be the objects of its
search. Wrenching and twisting in its
pain,
THE GREAT CLOUD CAME ON,
swelling and fading, now a deep dusky'
; hue, again turning a grayish pale, deep
cning and fading, contracting and
I swelling like ONE huge beast in the
throes of an antagonist, yet utterly de-
prived of any power Of self-assistancc,
until at q point about a half-mile south
west of the grove it was rent in twain,
rs if it had been in labor-pain, and had
finally yielded the child. AS the mother
and infant parted, the latter spread off
northward, and the former t the south
and east. As they widened the distance
. between them it seemed as if tie sides
, nearest each other were perfectly
straight, and exactly parallel, while the
further sides bellied out and drew the
denser elements into great boiling,
seething masses, black as ink, relieved
in the middle by an ashen hue as if they
-. were the offspring of some volcano.
Between them was a long, clear streak
: of naturally blue sky; around them the
heavens smiled unconscious. AS the
> two clouds approached the town there
. came a lew, hollow swell,
LONG, DEEP-DRAwN SIGH,
like that of a ground swell. Deepening
, as they approached the grove, the sound
grew into a wild discordant roar, and
!, when, at a point about a quarter of a
mile southwest of the grove, the two
masses came together, there was deaf
, ening crash and yell, and in another in
slant Hazel Green was strewn with the
|, debris of fallen houses and spattered
with the blood of its inhabitants. The
point of attack was a corn-shed, almost
> in the center of the grove, a little to the
northeast. Two cylinders of compress
= ed air, operating opposite in their cir
, Giles, and maintaining a central vacuum,
:. descended upon that c%orn-shed, which
D., shot up through the middle of the cylin-
der and fell fiat without a single splin-
ter left joined to its fellow.
|, Straight from the grove the cylinder
8 moved in a northeastern direction, a
massive cylinder 500 feet wide and 80
rods in diameter, whirling in opposite
: concentric circles. The path of the cyl
b, inder lay in n northeasterly direction.
r Tearing through the grove and overthe
splinters of the corn-shed it
sTRUCK II HoUsE OF JOHN FUNK,
a one-story wooden structure, demolish-
ing the roof and scattering it broadcast.
o The next house in line was that of Mrs.
Farley, also of wood, and which was to.
o tally demolished. Mrs. Farley, hall