Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1879-04-22
THE STORM
Which Recently swept Over Many
states. Making a Track OF Ruin
ana DevastatfOn-In Many
spots Manning or Kill
ing Men, Women
and Children

and Children.
WATERFORD Is. CO. special to the Charles
ton Nef0S and Courier, 18th: Between three
and four o'clock yesterday afternoon terrific
| tornado passed over our village, levelling
more than one hundred buildings and killing
sixteen persons. Not church is left stand
ing. The storm blew from sluth to north
until within a mile of WATERFORD, when it
went up the swamp on the west side Of the
| courthouse square. 1t then turned and passed
above the square, striking the earth about
one hundred yards east of the courthouse.
| NO damage was done on the square, but the
| upper portion of the town is d total wreck,
not more than three or four houses being left
standing"
| ANOTHER ACCOUNT.
| ga tornado from the southwest struck our
| town about four o'clock, and has left the in
habitants of three-fourths of the town home
less. Several deaths have been reported and
many wounded by the storm. All the churches
have been swept1away."
THE KILLED AND WOUNDED.
ga private letter to Alderman Bissell. from
| his brother, Mr. II E. Bissell, at Green Pond,
| says that his brother, Mr.. Swinton Bissell,
| had come from Walterboro yesterday morn
| ing, and that he had to swim his horse in
many places, the whole country being flooded,
structed with fallen trees. Mr.. Swinton Bis
sell gives most narrowing account of the
| disaster. He says that DIR. Rivers s wife. and
| Philemon Sanders, a young man who had
| only been married week, were among the
killed, and that Miss Rivers, Miss Kline, Mr..
Charles b. Farmer and family. and Mr. Bur-
bridge and family were among the injured
Pianos, stoves, bedding and ali sorts of
heavy as well as light household articles were
blown In every direction. The clothing of
ladies was blown entirely off their persons in
the streets, and their cries mingliDg with
those OF the injured and OF mothers who had
lost their. children were. most pitiable
Another private letter says that Miss Emma
Rivers, daughter of DIR. Rivers, is fatally in
jured, and that Mr.. Wilson was killed out
right by falling timber. A number of private
letters received in the city, as well as the two
above mentioned, confirm the statement of
our dispatches that more than one hundred
houses were blown down and many Injured
The number of killed is variously estimated
in the different letters at from eight to
twenty"
AT OAKLEY, S. c.
Oakley Is. CO. special, seventeenth, 10 the
Charleston NeiCS and Courier: Il have seen
the tracks of tornados through our pine for
ests, but have never been IN the center of |
one until yesterday afternoon, and hope |
may never be IN like situation again. The |
people In this vicinity had been praying for |
rain for some time, but now they are praying |
for boats. We had slight shower on yes
terday morning, when the clouds began to |
break, and signs of clear day were visible.
About two o'clock tAe clouds began to gather
again, and by four the whole heavens were
obscured by dark. omin ous. looking clouds.
with occasional flashes of lightning and low,
distinct thuader. At five o'clock the gale
burst upon us with all its fury It seems to
have originated and terminated in the open
held adjoining the depot. The rain fell in
torrents, accompanied by bright AIshes of
lightning and loud peals of thunder Almost
immediately with the rain came the wind, |
winch IN few seconds increased to such vIo-
lence that | was fearful the deuot and the
adjacent buildings would be blown down.
They were shaken to their foundations, aud
threw my combined weight and strength
against the door to assist the locks In
holding it shut. There was an incessant
roaring .sound, similar to that made by a
long trains OF cars running at full speed, with
an occasional report like that OF a pistol
When the wind abated | opened the door on
the opposite side of the house, when d ter
rible scene was presented. There were four
colored families living near the depot. Every
house was gone, and the people were Iun-
ming for the depot, the only house left to
give them shelter. All the dwelling-houses
and barns were bio sn into a thousand
pieces aud scattered for a mile around. |
Strange to relate only one person was killed;
W !
The unfortunate people have lost nearly
everything they had-all their furniture.
croekery and cooking being broken,
and portion OF their clothing and bedding
entirely lost. One man found one mattress
on fence about one hundred yards off, and
another mattress has not yet been found.
Some OF the things have been seen in | ,
swamp nearly mile from the place. A cart |
that was standing at one of the houses was
earned distance of a hundred yards and
broken to pieces against tree, a tire from
one of the wheels being taken three hundred Z
yards and deposited III a reighbor's yard. A
ploW-mold was taken from the same cart and
carried about one hundred yards Boxes. tin
pans, TIN buckets, ETC., are to be seen in every
direction. Trees, gardens and fences are all l
blown down, and roads completely blockaded. /
A gentleman this morning had to leave his f
buggy near quarter Of a mile off and wade t
the balance of tho way. One man was +
taken up and carried about seventy-6ye a
yards, when he came in contact with Y
stump that brought him to a stand-still.
Inc half has not been told, but enough" s
DEVASTATING BLAST. L
Lexington (Mo.) AdcertiSey: "We regret F
o learn that storm struck the premises of
'ur friend Willis Weeks, near Bowling 9
ireen, one day last week. and completely de- Q
astated the place, leaving his family entirely 7
Without shelter. Mr.. Weeks is a man of very
limited means, and his misfortune falls upon j.
nm and his family with calamitous effect. y
'nly four years previously, similar calamity
e1ell the same family at the same place"
MORE HAIL. I
Natchez (Miss.) Democrat: ''The hail !,
torn which occurred between five and six a
clock last Tuesday afternoon, in this region. a
7aS remarkable for the size of the hail stones
nd force of the storm. The hail-stopes' are ;,
escribed by Mr.. H. L Metcalfe as fully r
Veraging the slze of hen-eggs, many Of E
h hsLlt oeing much larger. At Laurel Hill, r.
bout sixteen miles below Natchez, the hail 81
tones are SAID to have been rs large as a =
IAN S Inst. Mules and men were knocked ~
own by them. In the Kingston ueigbbor 10 L,
GOD the vino was very heavy and the wind e.
strong as to uproot trees. Considerable a
amage 10 the growing corn Is reported" n
a YOUNG TORNADO. cC
Henderson (Tenn.) Gazette, 18th: ''From Of
lr. h. b. NJ Collum, mail. carrier between "
ais place and Coffee Landing, on the Ten "
essee river, we learn that the storm Of last tr
tuesday, night played sad havoc with the | IN
noes and orchards IN It's course. The loss G
l fenclngs and fruit IN the vic nifty of N
weetps postotfice was great. MIR. J. E. to
lller gin, press and barn were completely CT
emohshed. In the neighborhood Of the ia
'm. Ozier farm, four miles southeast of ht
'Wn, corncrlbs, outhouSes, and fences by the
1ndred panels, were blown to the ground. r.
here was IN that section heavy fall Of rain ii
-SOAPItHISu Win nall, some OF the stones as BY
rye as hen-eggs. The ram washed up a al
reat deal of cotton, and the hail has dam err
yed the young corn considerably. So far as su
e are able to learn, nobody was killed or in Ia
red In the storm"
WE'RE HAIL STORM AT FORREST CITY. su
ARKANSAS IN
Forrest City Courier, 18Th: "The seyerest sa
within the memory of the oldest mi
habltant' visited orr section last MONDAY pr
enlng. Some of the stones weighed five Gu
achms, and there were others sill larger, en-
think, which were not weighed. The by
rger stones generally bursted into pieces ar
zen they struck the ground. Window arr
ass suffered severely, great number. we go
arm, being broken. What fruit that was
T by the recent frosts was nearly ali pu
locked off the trees, and gardens present me
very demoralzed appearance. The hail ha
i for quarter of an hour, and the ground era
Is covered until it resembled a snow We {
glad the storm came so early in the OF
ason, as, if 1t had come after the croos the
re up, 1t would have entailed great loss he
on our farmers" cor
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ETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE. I
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