New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-04-22
forbidden to earn their bread in the manner
which seems best to them.
THE HORRORS OF THE HURRICANE,

Additional particulars of the great Missouri tor
nado only add to the horror Of the story. The
enormous and uncomfortable forces ofNature spread
destruction far and wide The distress in the utterly
ruined town of Marshfed, Mo-, naturally.arouses
the greatest sympathy as 1t should. There was re-
peated, upon smaller scale, the awful tragedy OF
the great historic earthquake at Lisbon in 1865, In
which over DO, 900 persons persisted. The flourish
ing little town ia almost literally swept away.
Where 200 happy dwelling-hOuses stood only
twenty are left. OF 800 inhabitants, nearly one
hundred were killed, Of families $50 are home
less and in need Of everything. Then the destruc-
ton extended in every direction. The tornado
travelled far and travelled ferCely, and the NOR
tality, when it shall be definitely reported will be
found still larger 1t is seldom that any catastrophe
occurs of such proportions. There is a sad consola-
ton in the reflection that this literal fatality can
not be attributed to human carelessness and negll-
gence, Even if it could have been fOreseen, how
could it have been guarded against Smitten by the
enormous forces Of Nature, how pOwerless is mani
And STILL our friends on Western praires might
earlier push the work of tree planting. Consider
able groves check the sweep of high winds and
effect important climatic changes. As these West
ern communities prosper, they ought also to put up
stronger buildings. The lath and single structures
are swept away by the whirlwnd like chaf. Pos
slDly no ednce could De constructed SIrOnB ehouBn
to resist the fury of such storm the last but it
would be better to try the experiment. 1t IS ptful
to build town which in moment may be demOl-
ished with considerable portion of the population
buried under the ruins.
Meanwhile the story of this disaster reads like a
fable, or leaf out of the adventures of Baron
Munchausen. 1t is almost impossible, even by the
aid of the liveliest imagination, to conceive of a
wind strong enough to strip the bark from the
trees 1t is hard to believe that carts animals and
other ponderOus objects were carried like bits
of paper or like straws through the air. We
are not accustomed to such O suspension of the
laws of gravitation. If a returned traveller
should tell us of q storm in Central Africa
which swept o child for two or three
miles through the sky. and then lodged it
safely in q tree, we should not believe him.
Though this Western insanity of Nature. If we
may say so, must have been fearful to those who
experienced its direful effects, the imagination
takes a strange pleasure in dwelling upon the
hurly. bury which spread far and was so fearful
upon the gathering cloud no bigger than mans
hand which spread to snch q universal pail; upon
the howl the crash, the shrek, the wOndrons CON-
motion which threatened terrestrial destruction.
Alas to the poor people bereaved of those they
loved, and driven from their homes, there was
probably nothing sublime in the spectaClej and
oven the professed lover of the strange, the super
natural, tho unprecedented, may we'll ask to be
spared the experiences of such sight.