Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1880-07-01
DEVASTATING STORMS.
How the Mighty Power ofthe Winds Has
Been Attested by Many Terrible Dis


How the Mighty Power ofthe Winds Has
been Attested by Many Terrible Dis
asters.
Calamity, when it does not immedia-
tely touch ourselves, Is apt to slip easily
from the mind, and hence events often
appear unique, precedents for which
have in fact often been established. The
recent destruction of Western towns by
violent gales of wind has thus probably
been regarded by many persons as a
novel display of the maleic forces of
nature; but there are in truth great
number of accounts of similar expert
ences of authentic character preserved
in the records. Nor are these instances
confined to tropical regions or to settle
ments of new or fragile construction !;
they have occurred in latitudes as tenn
perate as our own, and the most solid
structures erected by the hand of ma n
have sometimes been prostrated by the
overwhe ming fury OF the elements.
The gigantic power of the wind has
been illustrated by the repeated demo-
lition of lighthouses built on the famous
will be recalled. happened on our own
coast to the lighthouse ON Minot's
Ledge, near Boston, on the 10th of April,
1851. These events, however, like
those of the terrible East Indian storm
of October 25, l737-which destroyed
hundreds OF ships and 10000 human
ives and perhaps the earlier or
great" storm on the coast of England
in November, 1903, may be imputed in
a considerable degree TO the accumu-
lated stress of the wind gathered in
crossing vast bodies of water. But the
gale that ravaged England in February,
1861, when the spire of Chichester
cathedral and part OF the Crystal palace
at Sydenham were blown down, was of
n manifestly different character.
London itself has many times been dis
astrously visited in the same manner.
In 9a4 it is recorded that storm burst
upon that capital which overthrew
1900 houses. In 1901 500 houses were
blown down there; and, not TO mention
intervening and lesser catastrophes of
this nature, tremendous hurricanes felled
whole streets of buildings in London in
the years 1900 and 1888. In 1914, 1922
and 1928, there were like outbreaks
throughout the United Kingdom. In
lS39-January 6-7. lS39-the west coast
of England and many parts of Ireland
suffered terribly from the same cause.
Twenty persons were killed in Liver
pool by the falling of buildings, and
great numbers were drowned in and
about the Mersey. Dublin, Limerick,
Galway and other towns were similarly
afflicted, and with them the prostration
of houses and the concurrent loss of life
were followed, as in examples lately
chronicled, by conflagration, the winds
spreading the fires.
AS regards the details of mischie
81, L., nN ut.A hA
comparison of those details with the
damage done by late tempests in our
Western States, it will be found that
parallels have been recorded TO the worst
of what has lately been suffered, and
perhaps to exceed it. In one of the ex-
amples we have cited, that of the Eng
lish hurricane OF November 26-27, 1903,
5000 persons are said to have perished
in the floods of the Severn and the
Thames alone. Ships were blown from
their anchorage and never heard OF
more. Twelve men-of-war went down
in full sight of the English coast. Seven
teen thousand trees were torn up by the
roots in Kent alone. The Eddystone
lighthouse was dashed into the sea, its
engineer, Winstanley, being within it.
Cattle were drowned in tens OF thou
sands. The bishop of Bath and Wellr
and his wife were killed in bed at theis
palace in Somersetshire.
Such an accumulation OF horrors is
not outstripped, 1t must be owned, by
any evils with which unhappily the last
few days has made It's familiar. Such
dire catastrophes are uncommon, it is
true, in Immediately modern days, but
they have been sadly. plentiful for all
tha;; and what is more, and Mr.. Buckle
and Mr.. Vennor TO the contrary not
withstanding, there is neither measure
able periodicity nor other trustworthy
data about these dismal infietions
whereby mankind can provide for or
evade them.
That which gives most plausibility to
the theory of direct providentiai inter-
ventio ms by means of these phenomena
is probably the fact that violent temp.
ests have often changed the course of
history. A prodigious fall of hail near
Chartres, in France, inflicted such loss
on the army of the invading English
king, Edward ILL.,, that he was forced
by it TO conclude treaty with the
French in 1889. Seven thousand Swedes
died in n snow-storm when they were
on the maj ch to attack Drontheim in
| l7l9. To the wreck of the Spanish
| aIInhuh IN lOoo, IOllOWlHk tHe Tepulhes
inflicted by Howard and Drake. the fact
is doubtless to be ascribed that Ethe
and | instead of Spain became so-
dominant naval power of the world ioi
the centuries that have succeeded
When we consider how the history OF
nations has thus been detected by
mighty tempests, the injury of special
localities from such cause becomes
relatively trifling. 1t is not the fashion
OF the time to impute these stupendous
events to the overruling hand OF Prov.
idence, but to whatever cause they may
be imputed their potent influence Mt in.
tervals on the course of human affairs
cannot reasonably be disputed --Neu
York EUeaing Post.
| BARRIERS and Shaving.