The Red Cloud chief., 1880-06-21
ELECTRICITY AND T~ORNAD0ES.
Prof. Trce's Observations on the Recent
Missouri Tornado - His Theory Of the
Electrical Cau.e of Cyclones.

Missouri Tornado - His Theory Of the
Electrical Cau.e Of Cyclones.
From the 81. Louis Republican,
THE word cyclone is of comparatively
recent invention, and is only to be
found i'm the more recent editions Of
dictionaries. Ii is the generic name
for all storms that have a rotary motion
around an axis, such as whirlwInds,
tornadOes, waterspouts and hurricanes.
These are species OF cyclones. Hence
every tornado is a cyclone, but every
cyclone is not a tornado. IL may be a
dry whirlwind, a sandspout, a water
spout. etc.
From all facts SO far ascertained the
stOrm-center, whose cloud-canOpy car
ried the tornado, had a forward motion
or translation across the continent from
southwest 10 northeast at the rate of
forty-three miles an hour. Evidently
the tornado was not continuous, nor
was it formed at any fixed point on the
cloud, but ut various points on the
cloud, and at different times numerous
intumescences formed which developed
into cloud-spouts and dropped as tor
nadoes. In proof of this, fifteen min
utes after the tornado had passed
through and devastated Marshfield, n
other cloud-spout was seen dangling
from the sky and sweeping with equal
if not greater fury through Panther
Valley, fourteen miles south of Marsh
field. Nor did the tornado sweep with
uniform velocity along the face of the
earth, but it was seen at times for a few
moments to stand still, and then with
uncomfortable velocity to dart forward
again; however. only to halt again for
breath. 1t was on such a dart that it
swept through Marshfield in less than
half a minute. One of the citizens OF
u~ndOubted veracity, who was i'm it, but
whose house was fortunately O
wrecked, who was looking at it while
coming and passing, to give an idea of
the shortness of its duration said he
could think of nothing that would give
an idea of it except THAT two of us
being together, /, facing south, saying
Here she comes;' he, facing north, say
ing There she goes" Twenty per
the tornado and they c~orroborated this
statement. They said-and their state
ments were confirmed by Mr.. L. X.
Paul and others who had war expert
ence-that an unearthly bowling, as
though the air were filled with thou
sands of flying shells, heralded the APP
proach of the tornado, a nIomentary
tremor of the house and then a w-h-i-sh
and the house was gone, and all was
over. .
The shortness of the duration is an
important fact that must not be over
looked in explaining facts that will be
mentioned hereafter. At n point be-
side the railroad. some four miles be-
fore il reached town, it excavated the
earth to a depth Of five feet. according
to some. and of much greater depth ac-
cOrding to others, and several rods
square. This is a repetition of what
was done in Reno County, Kan, on
the 18th day of May, 1873, when at
least One-half an acre of the soil was
shot into the clOud-spout, as though a
mine had been exploded underneath.
According TO the monthly weather re-
view for May. 1873, printed by the sig
nal office, a similar explosion occurred
twice at Darlington, ILL.,, on the sd of
May, 1873, when in all respects a SINH
lar tornado to that of last Sunday swept
the States of Iowa, Wisconsin and
Northern Illinois. The Signal Office.
however. gives the area of soil hurled
up in II case about one acre, i'm the
other one and a quarter acres. For a
distance OF about seven miles along the
railroad which the tornado followed
trees are not only Frustrated and de-
nuded Of bark, but large trees nearly
three feet in diameter were plucked
up by the roots and carried forward.
In town forest trees a foot i'm diameter,
standing in lawns. were plucked up
by the roots and carried away. Stones
from five to six feet in their shortest
diameters were lifted out of the ground
and carried to the top of a hill. A
stone estimated TO weigh 1000 pounds
fell in a field belonging to j. c. Rose.
killed with several of his family by the
destruction of his house. The distance
1t was carried and whence it came had
not been ascertained. In the great
Georgia and South Carolina tornado of
March 20, 1875, a stone over two feet
thick and weighing from $1,000 to
20. 900 pounds, although only expos
ing on side five inches to the
tornado, was lifted out of its
bed and carried seven feet. As in
all tOrnadOes, houses, both frame and
brick, were lifted from their founda-
tions, the former generally carried
some distance, the latter hurled back
and crushed on their foundations. Like
elsewhere, wagons, buggies, carriages,
sewipg-machines, everything with iron
about it, seemed to be the objects of its
especial fury. Not a metallic root of
any kind is left in town. The Post
Office, owned by Mr.. Smith, the most
substantial brick building in town and
covered with tin, was utterly demol-
ished, while the tornado to reach it
passed over two buildings covered with
shingles. After demOlishing several
other adjacent buildings, also covered
with tin, it leaped over a brick house
covered with shingles. doing no harm,
bouncing upon the houses north, and
sweeping them and everything clean TO
beyond the city limits. The High
School, covered with, shingles, stood
three hundred yards from the nearest
point Of the tOrnado's track. 1t was
intact, but, unfortunately, its tower was
covered with tin. The whole tower to
the square was torn down. The pow.
der-house stood southwest of the
schoolhouse, not nearer than six hun.
dred feet to the track of the tornado.
1t was newly built and covered with
tin. The roof was snatched OFF and
hurled about eight hundred feet north.
west into the center of the tornado,
passing a two-story frame dwelling un.
harmed. A house w squares east o1
the Courf-houSe and four hundred feet
beyond the eastern line of destruction,
covered with shingles nailed upon an
old tin roof, lost the greater part of the
roof. The mill north of the town was
a quarter of a mile from the track q
the tornado, yet the iron smoke stack
was snatched OFF and carried four miles
and lodged in a tree-top. The susccpti:
bility of metallic roofs being wrenched