Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1880-08-18
A Cyclone Described.

| An "Old Subscriber OF tho New
York Tribune send. TO that paper,
from Iowa, q graphic account OF q
cyclone which hc witnessed
My house, no says, stands one mile
south Of Lewis, Cass county, Iowa,
right In the center OF tho course oi
the late storm TO which you refer, !
watched the storm cloud for an hour
before II reached us, and listened TO
It's steady roar for long time, I re-
ccived no damage simply because the
cyclone took one Of its jumps in this
vicinity and went high in the air over
our heads, saw 1t while Going Its
fearful work just over the line in Pot
tawatomie county. | stood on high
divide where | could see quite plainly.
Tho cyclone was an awful looking
thing, 1t reached across tho sky from
west TO east, or nearly so, The west.
ern end was the part which did the
damage. In color, it was Of pur-
plish black. Sometimes could see
the clear sky below IT.; and again ii
would touch the ground so that !
could not. II looked like a revolving
column, revolving slowly at the top,
but faster toward the lower or west.
ern end. Great arms or claws OF
cloud would reach down and around,
corkscrew like, while the lightning
played necessarily down the sides.
The rest of the sky was somewhat
cloudy, but the clouds seemed to start
simultaneously from all quarters to-
ward the coming column. The wind
was then in The south where / was,
but soon turned to the east, blowing
terribly. Then there was sudden
calm. Then the wind blew more ter.
ribly from the southwest; and slowly
afterward squarely from the north.
There was some rain and few hail
stones, about the size Of door-knobs.
OF course did not stay on the d.
vide. Like any sensible Iowa man
I took my family into an underground
retreat built originally for a milk.
house,
Now I know that there is just as
much difference between windstorm
and cyclone as between rapids in a
river and whirlpool in the ocean. l
know that no building, whether Of
wood, brick or stone, be it three or
two stories high, or only one, with or
without projections, would stand any
chance with acyclone il it were struck
fairly and squarely. The only safety
tor a man is underground, and the
most of US in Iowa have snch retreats.
"Cave cellars" they are called. ] can
give you some idea of the power of o
cyclone by describing how lumber and
farm wagons were treated by it. The
wagons are the same as those used in
New York State. They were taken
up and carried off and picked to
pieces. The axles were broken short
off close to the hubs. The felloes
were carried away entirely, and the
spokes were broken off close to the
hub; the tires were twisted into fan.
tastastic shapes. If possible, we
ought to have cyclone-proof wagon
wagon wheels.
Horses and boys are picked up out
of the pasture by these storms and
carried to the next township and halt
buried in some corn6eld. These things
ara no exaggerations; they are terri
BILE facts. The stable of William
Hopley, containing twelve horses, was
lifted bodily into the air and thrown
down upon the spot of ground from
which his corn-cribs had just been
blown away and dashed into kindllng
wood, and that by merely the fag end
of the cyclone. None of the horses
were killed either. The hogs in the
basement were, many of them, being
killed by the rock wall being piled in
on to them.
You could not get me to stay in a
stone house in a cyclone. There is
really less risk in a good frame house
because they burst outward after be-
ing raised in the air. A stone house
seems to be whirled into promiscous
pile all at once.
DR.. Tanners fast demonstrates
very strongly the value of water as a
life sustalner. He would ha' died weeks
g, ob,t a.; ., - n. {ro,,,