The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1882-04-29
DESTRUCTIVE STORM.
A Town Demoiished in an Instant-Eight
Persons Killed and Fifty Others Injured,

BROWNSVILLE, Mo-, April -.
About four o clock yesterday afternoon
sill Sht wind commenced blowing and a show.
or OF rain zen. Almost Immediately the at
mosphcre grow very heavy and a deep
murly darkness seemed to envelop every.
thing. Two large blush colored, angry
looking clouds were seen rising. one in the
south and the other in the southwest. The
clouds were apparently several miles dis
tant and seemed to De driving townrd each
other at a fearful rate OF speed. When
about two miles from iowa the two
monsters came together with a loud noise,
ami then approached with lightning velocity.
Immediately after the clouds joined each
other, a loud roaring, similar to the distant
rumble of locomotive, was heard, and when
the storm struck the town the roar was al
most deafening- accompanied nc intervals by
loud reports similar TO the discharge of q
cannon. Before the clouds united it was no.
ticed that both seemed to be Keeling in very
peculiar manner. but as soon a they came
togetherthey assumed the shape of a large in.
verified funnel, the mouth hanging close
to the ground and the stem running
high into the air. The center of the fun
mel was dark blue in color while around the
edges it was u murl1y yelowish cast, the
whole occasionally lighted up with brilliant
flashes of lightning which rendered the spec
luClt only ln6 more lIlEuIlul .luc sleIIn
clouds seemed to travel in zigzag motion.
at the rate of at least a hundred miles an
hour, as scarcely five minutes elapsed from
The time the first cloud was seen until the
place was in ruins. on account of the threat
ening appearance of the we tther during
the early part of the afternoon but few peo-
pie were the streets, and scarcely half a
dozen persons saw tho clouds had
any intimation of the approach of the
storm until 1t was upon them Those
who did see its approach were so thoroughly
frightened by its terrible appearance that
they were rooted to the spot on which they
stood, and not more than two made any effort
to seek place of safety The first place the
cyclone struck was the two story brick build
ing on the corner of Main and Spring streets,
occupied by Myers II Duensing, dry goods:
Thos. Andrews clothing; A. Helsea, grocer
les, and A. s. Reinbert, hardware, all of which
were lifted from their foundations and hurled
| into the middle of the street. Several persons
in each store were buried in the debris, and
three persons killed outright. l4..
From this point it continued northeast, de-
molishing number of dwellings on the way to
the brick block on Lexington avenue, known
as Newtown here. The work of destruction
was most terrible both to life and property.
Seven two story brick buildings were totally
destroyed. and three others badly damaged.
The Brownsville Hotel, large history frame,
was completely carried away and the timbers
scattered for hundreds of yards around Five
! persons are known to have been killed in this
| block, and at least twenty-five others more
| or less injured. The Star mill, half block
northeast was half destroyed. Persinger &
Beatty and Russell slivery stables were leveled .
| to the earth stock uninjured. The brick public
| school building was cut down to the top OF
the first windows. School had been dismissed
about fifteen minutes prior to the storm. The
Christian Church was also entirely demol-
ished. About twenty frame and several brick
dwellings were destroyed. The force of the
wind was so great that the heavy brick build
| 1ngs were lifted clear off the foundations and
| frame buildings were picked up bodily aud
crushed and twisted into splinters. Sections
of sidewalk were carried through the air over
one hundred yards. Carpets and furniture i'm
dwellings were carried entirely out of town
and lodged in the tree tops and timbers from
the lumber yards scattered all over the coun-
try; several pieces have been picked up over
one mile distant. A horse was picked up and
carried about fifty feet and hurled to death
| against brick building, and fence rail was
! driven entirely through the body of a COW.
Following is a correct list of the killed, so
! far as known; Matt. Williams, George Payne
and A. l.. Scruggs, farmers; w. f. c. White,
! City Marshal; James Miller, clerk; Claus
Meyers, dry goods merchant; Dick Ferguson,
clerk; f. j. Arthur travelling man from Pitts
burgh, Pa. Seriously wounded: Jesse Jack
sonby, spine injured. Perry Wilson, shoulder
fractured. @. N. Kelly, both legs broken;
| terribly bruised; condition critical. 5. Chap
| line, right eye terribly hurt and head and
| body bruised. John LamlSin, serious cut on the
head. four-year- old child badly bruised.
j. l.. Wilson, blown against a building and
severely cut and bruised. SIR. and NIrs j. c.
Mailer, Mrs. JEFF Eccles james Matthews. ser
ious bruises. w. II. Steers. face and head ter
riby cut w. G. Parsons injured internally
! will die. At least fifty others are slightly in
| jured The home physicians have been re-
] lieved by Others from SedaIia and other adj
lacent towns, and the wounded have now
I Deen nearly AL attended to. A large number
| OF people are rendered homeless, but the
/ brownsville people hope to be able To care
| Tor them Tor the present, at least, without as
distance. Parties who have lost most heav-
/ lily declare their intention of rebuilding right
away. The total damage TO properly can
scarcely be calculated, but will not be less
than $4,000.
A singular phenomenon of the storm was
that everything in its path was charred and
Dlackened and covered with blue, sulphuric
| smelling mud.
The brick dwelling of JEFF Eccles was lifted
! from its foundation. The family, including
the baby in cradle in the front ROOM we're
all covered by debris and more or less iniur-
ed, except the baby, which had not received
single scratch and was not even awakened
The Facihe Railroad ran Il large excursion
train from Sedalia, donating the gross pro
ceeds to the sufferers.
| After leaving here the storm cloud raised
some distance in the air and began the dc.
struction of fences.
Work of the Wind Elsewhere.
At Montrose, Henry County, the Christian
and Baptist Churches were completely de-
/ molshed, Colman'a butcher-shon was
wrecked, the roof of j. f. Vicker's new house
was swept yn away and many other structures