The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1878-08-15

| lived Michael Mooney, his wife Mary
and their sons Daniel and Michael
Michael was in the village. With the
first puff of wind the woman attempted
to shut the windows; the boys assisted
her. Before they knew what had hap
pened the house was
LEvELED TO THE EARTH.
A power irresistible carried the build
inc, twisted into fragments. flying
through the air. Mrs. Mooney was
caught up and hurled along through
branches of trees, and over telegraph
wire, beyond the railroad, across two
lanes. a distance of nearly quarter OF
a mile. when she was flung down, bat
tered, gashed, and bloody. The boys
were 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 8
mass of livid blue spots and deep
scratches.
The wind swept on, taking every
thing in its way. High Street and Wal
lace Row intersect Colony Street, and
lead up over the hill toward Main
Street. On these streets were cabins
and few neat new dwellings, and
about them gardens thriving and well
kept. In the twinkling of an eye
EVERY THING WAS CRUSHED
and the fragments of what were but a
moment before houses were carried
aloft in the consuming gale. Houses
in Colony Street we're lifted from their
foundations 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 as it looked to-day, plowed into
the foundations, pressing them away
from the framework. Then the walls,
front and back, were crushed in, and
the roof fell so rs to cover all complete
". A more complete wreck than this
church could not have been made, ex-
cept by fire. Opposite the church were
several little tenements, all occupied by
large families. When the gale had
passed, nothing remained to indicate
that there had been houses there, ex-
cept the gaping cellars and a 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.
In this spot, an eighth of mile on
each side of and opposite to the Catho-
lie Church,
THE GREAT LOSS OF LIFE OCCURRED
1t is a remarkable fact that every per-
son killed was a member OF the Catho-
lie Church. In one of the houses lived
Mrs. Downs, a middle-aged woman:
She was whirled away 600 feet, and
picked up dead and almost naked.
A hay-stack on John Lynch's farm
was carried an eighth of mile, and then
dropped upon the side of the hill.
Ali this destruction was done in much
less time than it takes to write 1t. With
appalling violence the wind swept up
the hill towards Main Street, whlrling
and eddying about, and dropping a
shower of rubbish on.the tobacco-tields
below. Where it touched the brow OF
the hill, the district school-house stood
in its path. The edifice cost $4,000 in
1870, and was fine brick building OF
three stories and a Mansard roof. The
wind struck upon its west front, pushed
in the walls of the two upper stories,
wRENCHED HUGE PIECES FROM THE
WALL
and flung them into the ward and then
passed on. In an instant the building
was ruined Two stories stand, but
they are pushed out of perpendicular so
completely that they will never be
Strengthened.
Looking back from the school-house
toward the westward, about 50 feet be-
low, at the end of q steep slope, Is the
plain, covered with its carpeting OF de-
bris. The entire work of devastation IN
that direction could be seen, plain
windrOw, half mile in width in its wild,
est part, and in that dreadful lane there
were only two or three houses that still
clung together at all, and these so badly
twisted, tilted, and defaced that-lt viii
be difficult ever to rebuild them. The
loss is estimated at S250,00
THE SCENES IN WALLINGFORD
to-day were heartrending, and unman-
ned the strongest spectators. A brick
school-house was used as dead-hoHse,
and around this the thousands gather
ed, many searching for relatives and
friends, and many curious to see the
dead. Not less than 10000 people flock
ed into the ruined village from all the
surrounding country. Twenty-Five
families are homeless, and a relief sub.
scription fund has been started, headed
by Gov. Hubbard with 800. Every
thing possible is being done for the sui
ferers. Such a tornado is almost I'M
precedented in this section.