Litchfield enquirer., 1878-08-15
New Preston.
DESTRUCTIVE TORNADO; HOUSES UNRooFED BARNS WRECKED; TREES UPRooTED PROPERTY DESTROYED TO THE AMOUNT
 OF $5,OOO!

The southern portion of our village was wis tied, Friday, Aug. 9th, at about five o'clock in the afternoon, by a tornado of the severest kind. The wind had been sonth of southwest all day, and people remarked that it would have been very hot day but for the steady breeze. In the afternoon shower seemed to be gathering in the west, and there was a great deal of lightningand incessant thunder in that direction. At the same time there was a heavy shower northeast of us which. every body thought had ''gone round, :" but it seen- ed to work around to the north and come upon us, while shower loomed up Tn the south, east The two appeared to and really did 1 meet, for, in the upper part of the village the wind was very strong directly from the north through not strong enough to do any damage particularly, while the track of the tornado was from the southwest to the northeast Almost before people had time toclose door against the dark and portentous clouds, the storm was upon them with the strength of a thousand Samsons. It entirely destroyed barn belonging to Charles Oegswell near Brown Mountain; then it swooped over the brow of the hill, uprocting trees and scattering the rails of fences in all directions like straws Next it destroyed James Barney's barn level- ed small house belonging to Mrs. Lyon and occupied by Frank Keeler. even with the ground, scattering and destroying his furni- ture. This building was literally torn in pieces. MT. Keeler was away at the time, ,and Mrs. Kseler, being timid woman and notic- ing the ominous clouds had taken her child and gone to neighbours whose house was not damaged. Had she remained at home it is hardly possible that she and her child could have escaped death. Mrs. Lyon's house ne xt in the path of this destroyer had the east roof blown off. It must have been tremendous power that did this. The house was construct ed In the good old times when timber was used in building. The rafter timbers are all of them six inches square, and of the best oak. Besides the ridge timber there are two plates, as they are called, running lengthwise of each roof, and these are braced and pinned. We don't wonder at the wind tearing down an old rickety barn, but we do wonder at the power which could wrench such timbers 80 fastened from their place and carry them rods away. Mrs. Lyon received other damage. Her barn was totally unroofed, leaving hay and grain an easy prey to the rain which immediately fell in torrents. It uprooted and wholly de- stroyed all her fruit trees, cherry and apple. Not O froo nf anu ciza remains
 H. S. Gillett's stone saw-mill was damaged, all his apple trees leveled to the earth, barn torn into splinters and the windows of his house blown in and broken. A man and his wife by the name of Leavenworth drove their horse and wagon into this barn to escape the storm. MT. Leavenworth was hit on the head by falling timber, but luckily they both es- capped without serious hurts.
 Noble BolleS' barn was partly unroofed, his wagon house totally destroyed, and nice car- riage metemorphosed into old leather and iron; the cupola was blown from the house and shutters and windows crushed in. His apple orchard is wreck, and his fine yard devastated completely; fairly skinned off all the beauti- full trees in it All the fine maple trees on the street were uprooted. Two naples on Mir. Gilletts side of the street as large as barrels were twisted off and flung like jack -straws in- to a promiscuous heap with the other shade trees. Flying timbers crushed in the side and roof of F. P. Bolles' residence.
 E. J. Cables woodshed was demolished and the trees in his orchard were ripped up by the roots, all but. four of them. One apple tree as large as a barrel, standing about twelve feet from the barn, was torn up and carried twenty feet, and yet, only door was blown from the barn, which was not even stirred on it's foun- dations.
 J. S. Gunn's young orchard was badly dam aged, tree was blown upon his house and panes of glass were broken in. His barn was unroofed and nearly destroyed. The roof was carried a quarter of a mile away.
 Cherry and shade trees were blown down in H. M. Bolles' yard. His dog was caught by the breeze and waited high and dry over the house, and nothing more was seen of him till the next day.
 A large oak tree was blown across the high way at N. Bolles' stone sawmill, which tore up in it's roots rock estimated to weigh tive tons. Fred Cogswell's tobacco house collaps- ed like an shell, and is good for nothing but kindlings and many large trees on w. D. Sperry's land were torn up.
 One fact showing the irresistible power and tremendous force of the storm is that of Q brick which crashed like a cannon ball through the side of J. Barden's house, through two rooms and hall and yet had sufficient mo- nentum left to make large dent in the mop board in the parlor. It went with such speed that the aperture it left was the exact size of the brick, and the edges were nearly as smooth as if cut with knife. This was all the inju- " done to his house.
 Mir. Gillette, Mrs. Lyon, and N. Bolles, are probably damaged thousand dollars. All the damage done in this village has been esti- mated at five thousand dollars, but the loss is hard to get at, for there is not only the loss of buildings, but of fruit and shade trees which it will take years to replace; fences demolish- ed and crops destroyed. Mir. Gillette remark ed that he wouldn't care about other damage if he only had his trees back.
 On New Preston Hill both chimneys were blown from the church Virgil Hatch's barn, destroyed; E. N. Newton's unroofed, cow shed demolished, and orchard blown flat and upreoted, and about all the rail fence on the farm s.lieth low" James Ferriss' new barn, which he had just finished, was also blown in pieces.
 Altogether the storm has done a vast amount of evil and we hope never again to receive such another .sVisitation of Providence"
 It is almost miraculous that no one was killed. MT. F. Keeler, who lost his furniture in the general destruction, has been helped by subscription to one hundred dollars
 Last Thursday evening, the New Milford Negro Minstrels, or glee club, gave a balcony concert from the veranda of the Carter House. !