St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-08-16
Disaster by Flood and Tornado.
TERRIBLE TORNADO AT wALL1NGFoR1

TERRIBLE TORNADO AT WALLINGFORD.
At Wallingford, Conn.,, Friday after
noon, terrible tornado struck the town.
1t demolished the old Catholic church, a
500, 1000 school house, forty dwellings
and at least fifty barns. 1t is estimated
that the killed will number twenty,
while the wounded will reach twice that
number. The dispatch says:-It began
to rain gently, and in a very few min
utes the rain had increased to a perfect
deluge, while the lightning illuminated
the darkness and sky as bright as day,
and the thunder rolled with continuous
and deafening roar. Suddenly, without
IA seconds warning, tornado of wind
mingled with hail and rain swept across
the northern part of the town from westto
east and everything movable in its track
was carried away. 1t seemed to last but
moment, but its results were frightful.
The telegraph was blown down, so it was
impossible to communicate directly with
other places. Word was finally sent by
train, and physicians and help arrived
from Meriden. The tornado was con-
fined to a belt half IA mile wide and the
whole damage and loss of life occurred
on the sand plains, about a quarter of
mile north of the railroad, near the line
of the New York, New Haven and Hart
ford railroad. Wooden houses were car
ried clear off the foundation all the way
from few feet to an eighth of Il mile.
In the line of the tornado nothing was
left standing. Beside the track, less
damage was done, the chimneys espe-
cially suffering.
A later dispatch says AT most the
deaths will not exceed 30. The damage
to property is estimated at 100000.
There were many affecting incidents. A
youth named Mathew Mooney was stand
ing on the railroad track when struck by
the full force of the tornado. He was
picked up fifty feet away almost behead-
ed. Mrs. Hubby had her child in her
arms when picked up, both dead. Fred
Littlewood was picked up dead by the
side of the road, where he was killed by
Il flying timber as he was coming home
from work. Four female relatives of
John MuDson were buried in the cellar
of the house when blown down, and it
took long time to get them out. Two
were injured slightly, the others escap-
ing.
VIOLENT STORMS ELSEWHERE.
A succession of showers, accompanied
by heavy thunder and sharp lightning,
visited the vicinity of Boston, Friday,
and considerable damage is reported ut
various points. At Rye Beach, n. H.,
the shower at noon was reported as ter
rife, accompanied by hail and violent
wind. 1t was quite wide in its sweep,
and ut some places in its pathway whole
sections of Woodland were blown down.
A small boarding house on the beach,
occupied by nearly twenty people, was
split in two, but fortunately the inmates
escaped without injury. Whole acres
of woodland are blown over, and nearly
all the chimneys in the track of the
storm are blown down. A coach load of
bathers from the Ferragut House were
caught out in the tempest and all badly
frightened, and some of the ladies were
cut by fragments of broken glass. The
roads are impossible from fallen trees.
No lives are reported lost us yet. Fences
and crops everywhere were Frustrated.
There WAS Il terrible rain storm ut
WATERFOWL, N. Y, Thursday night and
Friday morning. Culverts were washed
out and bridges swept away, interrupt
ing trains. Property, in a number of
places, was set on fire by lightning and
consumed in all parts of the country.
Whole fields of grain, corn and other
products are wholly ruined. Grain har-
vested and stacked was swept away by
the flood. One man was awakened by
his bed feeling wet he found the front
door open, and water two feet deep on
the floor, and the cradle containing the
baby floating around.
HAIL STORM IN sHELBURN, VT.
The Free Press says the hail storm in
Shelburn, the 9TH, was very remarka-
bic meteorological phenomenon. The
area OF the storm was about half n mile
by mile, outside of these limits it TAX
ing the form of rain only. In the dis
trict indicated the hail was perhaps the
severest ever known. In orchards the
trees were stripped of every leaf, and
after the storm were as bare as in win
ter, save that the apples remained. The
softer varieties of apples were riddled
with hailstOnes, and the harder ones
were so pounded that one could squeeze
them like sponge. The leaves were
stripped from corn, and the small crops
generally were entirely destroyed. A
large number of windows were broken
and altogether the damage will foot mn
somewhere between $4,000 and S.5OO0. |
AS an indication of the severity of the
storm il may be stated that under the
caves of the Methodist church the hail
was fifteen inches deep by actual meas
urement; and many of the stones were
as large as walnuts.