Sharp County record., 1880-07-01
Devastating Storms.

In q recenttf fitOrlal on lhe heColu
of 7, 1D,eTvastatint y Storms" the New York
Erentng Post Us;
CaIamity VIE it does not Immediately
touch ourselyea apt to slip easily from the
mind. and hend events often appear UNDUE
Drecpdents for htich have in faCt Oaten Deeu
established, Tht recent destruction ol W es,-
ern towns by yiCent gales OF wlhu mas tnuo
probably been rearded by many ptrsOle ao "
novel display of ne maehc Iorccs VI ,e no
but there are intruth great nuinoer oI az.
counts of smilr experiences OF authehtlc
character preserved in the records. Nor are
these instances Ontned to tropical reglols vi
to settlements G new or fragile slluclIo., a
they have occurred in attitudes as telhPeIdto
aS our own, md the most SOLD structures
erected by the land of man nave sOlnelllloss
hpen prostrateG by the overwhelming fury OF
the elements. ., 10, boo,
The gigantic bower of the wind has Deeh
illustrated By tie repeated dem0htlOh ol ilsht
houses built on he famous Euuy stUIIe1 l'GGT' 80
and the same ping, it VIII De recall u' HuP
nened ON orr CAp coast TO the lighthouse Oh
MinOts Ledgoolear Boston, on the l5tn ol
April. 1851. TllSe events, however, ike tho5e
ofthe terribIefast Indian storm of OCTOBER
q, l737-whichelestrOyed hundreds OF ShlPs
and thirty thoaAnd human lVeS-and pernapss
the earlier, or I great storm on the coast OF
England in Nolhmber 1908, may be imputed
i'm a considerafe degree to the accumulated
stress of the kind gathered in crossing vast
bodies of water But the gale that ravageu
England in February, 1861, when the splre Oh
Chichester Cathedral and part OF the Crystaii
Palace at SydeIham were blown down, "ao VI
a manifeStly different character H.
London itsel1 has many times Deen ulsa9-
trOusly visited N the same manner. IN 9tf II
is recorded tha a storm burst upon tDat caPi1
tai which oveKhrew l,5OJ houses. In Iodl o1v
houses were llOwn down there; ana. I,ioo uos ~
mention INTERVENING and lesser CataSuopnleS
of This natrrd tremendous hurricanes telled
whole streets of buildings in London in the
vaarS 1Sm and 1898, In 1914, 1922 and ISIS
there were Ike outbreaks throughout the
limited Kingdom In lS39-January b-', lNo3-
the west cO8stOf England and many parts OF
! Ireland suffered terribly from the same cause.
! Twenty persois were killed in Liverpool Dy
| the falling of buildings, and great num0eTS
were drOWnedin and ABOUT the MerSey. DuD-
lin. Limerick, iGalway and other towns were
similarly affixed, and with them tne prQ9Iii@ ~
ton of hOuseshnd the concurrent IoSo VI I' LIIo
were followed, as i'll examples lateIg t cuiUn "a.
| icled, by conhdgration, the wlnd spfeauluS 'no
The people 81 northern climes no longer, as
q rule connect these frlghtful puenollleha
with supernatural causes or regard lIeLll us
forerlnners OF tokens Of terrible events. gu
oerStifion is not so rife as in the time depicted
by Shakespeare when a savage storm lhahes
hideOus the night Of Duncan asSaSSlnatlOn
and when "the obscure bird cIamOrs the llVe-
long night" aS the sign ana warning OIL
deed of dreadful note" But 1t Is easy 10 ln-
derstand how the hearts of many stout SOL
Giers of the Commonwealth should have
thrilled with superStitiOuS awe on the ou OF
September, 1865, when they heard thut on Inlt
day while fierce tempest raYageq tne BTU
ish islands, the Lord Protector had dieu VINO
redeemed their country from the tyranny OF
kings. In such way, TOO, must vast bOdleS
l. ~ oil hny hppn moved
memorable cyclone which swept through the
East in October 1854, and the hurricane AT
Lisbon, in December of the same year, evoked,
as we know, throughout Portugal the same
credulOus terror. ,,.
As regards the details of mischief wrought
by past great storms, and the comparison OF
those details with the damage done by late
tempests in our Western states 1t VIII De
found that parallels have been recorded 10 lne
worst of what has lately been sunered' ana
perhaps to exceed it. In one OF he examples
we have cited, that Of the English hurricane
of November 26-27, 1903, eight thousand per-
sons are said to have perisnedlnthe floods OF tne
Severn and Thames alone. Ships were DlOWn
from their anchorage and never even heaiu
of more. Twelve men-Ot-war went down III
full sight of the English coast seventeen
fhoEsana tn Kent ~fig Tho i1 adystone ' lighthouse
was eashSlber Ehc sea- iis ,e eng5neer, & e Win
in .pnS OF IEDLISandS Inc BlS0Op VI DdJu
and Wells and his wife were killed in bed at
their palace in SOmersetShire. Such an accu-
mutation of horrors is not 0utStrlpped' II
must be owned, by any evils with which un-
happily the last few days have made us Ia
millar. Such dire catastrOpheS are uncOm'
mon, it is true, in Immediately modern days,
but they have been sadly plentiful for all that;
and what is more, and Mr.. Buckle and MI
VennOr to the contrary Notwithstanding
there is neither measurable Periodclty nOl
other trustworthy data about these dismal in
tictionS whereby mankind can prepare for or
evade them. .
That which gives most plausibility to the
theory of direct PIOVidential intervention Dy
means of these phenomena is probably the
fact that violent tempests have often changed
the course of history. A prOdigiOus fail OF
hail near Chartres, in France, inflicted such
loss on the my of the invading English hln2,
Edward ILL.,, that he was forced by 1t 10 con-
clude a peace with the French in 1889. Seven
thousand SwedeS died in a snOwstOrm when
they were on the march to attack Dronheim
in 17lg To the wreck Of the Spanish
Armada in l5jS, following the, repul5e5
inflicted by Howard and Drake, the fact is
doubtless to be ascribed that England instead
of Spain became the dominant naval power OF
the world for the centuries that have sue
ceeded. When we consider how the history
of Nations has thus been detected by mighty
tempests, the injury Of special localities from
such a cause becomes relatively Iiling. 1t is
not the fashion of the time to impute these
stupendOuS agents to the Overruling hand of
Providence. but to whatever cause tney may
be imputed their potent influence at intervals
on the course of human affairs cannot reason
ably be disputed