The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1877-06-21
Terrific Tornado in Massac husetts.

! NORTHAMPTON, Mass, June IA. llamp-
shire county seems doomed to disasters.
| OF wind and flood. 1t is three Years since
Mill River swept through Il part of that
town, causing large loss of life and prop
erty. The disaster to-day, while infinite
~ less terrific III its results. is none the
less appalling. Tonight the highways in
every direction are filled with teams.
bearing loads OF people to the river, both
banks of which are crowded with an eX-
cited tlrong. The bridge that was swept
| away, the fourth that met the same fate
at this spot, was 1914 feet in length and
II feet in width. 1t was built upon eight
| piers and was considered one of the
strongest on the river. 1t was built in
1859, and was Il toll bridge until 1876,
when it was made free. An witness
describes the scene as follows: The
Hampshire superior Court had Just ad-
j0umcd, and there were many teams on
the road leading to lladleY and Amherst.
Suddenly, and scarcely at Il moments
warning, it began to blow the most VIC
lent gale ever known in the county, the
heavens al the same time sending Il CO.
piouS shower Of hail, which caused much
damage to the tobacco crop in the vicin-
ity. The people near the bridge ran and
drove upon the bridge for shelter from the
storm until Il company of fifteen persons
were beneath the roof. At Just 1 minutes
of O'Clock the heavy timber began to
creak and in Il second the heavy struc-
ture was lifted bodily in the air and
hurled, with Il deatening crash, into the
river. 1t was completely demolished by
the fall. John Hubbard of this place,
with gang of men, Immediately went to
the rescue. The first body removed was
that of Mrs. Sullivan of Hadley, which
was bruised and smashed beyond rccog-
milton. Sheriff Cook of IIadley was very
severely bruised, and died at 10 o'clock
this evening. George b. Smith of Had
| ley and W. W. Smith of Amherst received
| bruises, but will recover. The others were
taken out alive and uniniured The path
OF the wind seemed to be about ten miles
| IN length and one i'll width, and was in Il
northWesterly direction. Had the river
been higher the loss of life would I'M
doubtedly have been greater The bridge
was owned Jointly by the towns of Had
ley, Northampton and Amherst. 1t was
valued at 800, 600 and is total loss
a touching incident is related concern
ing the death of Mrs. Sullivan. Her son
John had left her upon the bridge, and
was about driving home when the bridge
began to give way. He rushed after his
mother, but was too late. The mother
persisted and the son barely escaped with
his life. The whirlWind also carried away
| two or three spans of the Massachusetts
Central Railroad bridge, few rods north
of the highway bridge. At Hatfield sew
eral huge elms were uprooted, but no
serious damage was done At Hadlev the
storm passed over only the lower part of
the village. Fifteen or twenty of its great
elms, for which it is justly noted were
uprooted, while smaller trees two feet in
diameter were broken off like reeds The
| damage consisted chiefly in overturned
| barns, and will probably not amount to
| over $500. Among those destroyed was
one belonging to Thomas REYNOLDS. in
which several men, with four horses,
sought shelter from the storm The whole
| party narrowly escaped death. One of
! the party says: "Ihe wind seemed to
| lift both ends of the barn and dump them
| into the middle" The entire loss cannot
| be estimated until the loss to the crop in
| the vicinity is computed. There is now
no bridge across the river from Holvoke
| to Turner's Falls, and the stream must
be crossed for the present at Hockanum
| Ferry, about two miles below the scene
of ruin.