The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1878-08-15
TINE WALLlNGFORD CALAMITY.


vastated a Connecticut Town and Killed
Nearly Thirty People.
With horrible suddenness, writes
correspondent, a change took place in
the heavens. Under the threatening
clouds other and blacker clouds were
driven. They came up from the west
almost with the swiftness of thought,
before dense black mass that rolled
over the Wallingford community. A
feecy, white curtain advanced, hiding
the orchards and vineyards as it moved
forward. The lightning flashed in blind
ing forks from the cloud, that was more
like smoke than vapor in it's lightness.
necessarily the flashes lighted up the
surrounding country with lurid purple
light, while the thunder ratified and
doomed with interminable and deafening
loudness.
It was about 6:15 that second mass
of clouds was noticed approaching on
different current of wind from the north
ward, and some say there was also
counter current setting in from the
southwark, bringing heavy black clouds
that seemed to touch the tops of the
trees. A few drops of rain fell gently.
Men and women hurried to the windows
to close them, and home-going laborers
began to run. Little reckoned any one
the peril OF that moment. Before cry
could be raised, or preparation made to
escape, a death-dealing blast fell upon
the homes of the poor. The heavy
clouds over Windermore lake seemed
suddenly to drop upon the lake, and
the waters were churned into foam
with a great whirling and whis-
Ting. The winds from opposite
quarters seemed to meet. A great vol
ume Of water was lifted from the lake
and went swirling up and up into the
air. lightning is not quicker than was
the advance from west to east of the col
umn of water and the clouds that seemed
to mingle with it. In a second it started
on forward course. Before it lay the
sand plains, on which about fifty poor
families, mostly Irish, have bought lots
and established their dwellings,. The
plains are nearly fiat for distance west
to east of about third of mile. Then
the land rises rapidly TO the ridge on
which the main street is laid out.
The Wallingford Community had a
water-wheel on the shore OF Winder-
more lake. The whirlwind caught
it, and it was crumbled as if it
had been built of straws. A few hun
dred yards from the lake was poor
cottage, in which lived Michael Mooney,
his wife Mary, and their sons Daniel
~ I'll
lage. With the first puff of wind the
woman attempted to shut the windows;
the boys assisted her. Before they
knew what had happened the house was
leveled to the earth. A power irresisti
BILE carried the building, twisted into
fragments, flying through the air. Mrs
Mooney was caught up and hurled along
through the branches of trees and over
telegraph wire, beyond the railroad,
across two lanes, when she was flung
down, battered, gashed and bloody. The
boys we're blown through windows along
with bricks, pots and pans. Michael
was carried into the branches of pros
trated apple tree. Daniel was whirled
away on the gale $50 yards, where he
was flung down so violently as to have
his arm broken, while his face was
mass of Evid blue spots and deep
scratches.
The wind swept out taking everything
in it's way. High street and Wallace
row intersect Colony street, and lead up
over the hill toward Main street. On
these streets were cabins and few neat
dwellings,, and about them gardens,
thriving and well-kept. In the twink
ling Of an eye everything was crushed,
and the fragments of what were but a
moment before houses we're carried aloft
in the consuming gale. Houses in Col
ony street were lifted from their founda-
tons and crushed, while the roofs went
sailing over the plain toward the hill,
crumbling into fragments as they went.
In the path of the gale stood the Ro.
man Catholic Church, hemmed in on
three sides by a cemetery. The storm,
to Judge from the appearance of the
ruin, flowed into the foundations,
pressing them away from the
frame work. Then the walls, front
and back, were crushed in, and
the roof fell so as to cover all COM
pletely. A more complete wreck than
this church could not have been made,
except by fire. Opposite the church
were several little tenements, all occu-
pied by large families. When the gale
had passed, nothing remained to indi-
cate that there had been houses there,
except the gaping cellars, and line OF
splinters leading into other lines, that at
last met in an unbroken covering to the
ground Of broken joists, fences. kitchen
utensils, and clothing. .g.v l>
In this spot, an eighth of mile on
each side of and opposite to the Catho-
lie Church, the great loss of life oc-
Cured. It is a remarkable fact that
every person killed was a member of the
Catholic Church. In one of the houses
lived Mrs. Downs, middle-aged wom-
an. She was whirled away 900 feet,
and picked up dead and almost naked.
A hay stack on John Lynch's farm was
carried an eighth of a mile, and then
dropped upon the side of the hill.
All this destruction was done in much
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