The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1883-05-25
THE CYCLONE.
It's Terrible WOrke Of Devastation
In Illinois and WISCONSIN.
Immense Destruction of Life and Prop.
erty.


is visible from Mcntgo m Try county, in Mis-
souri,, to Racine, in Wisconsin, n distance OF
over 90 miles The storm seems to Lave
consisted of al ser es of funnel-shape1 clouds,
that burst out here and there, dart
houses sweeping away trees fences and
every object that interposed, and then sail
ing up into the heavens, only To pounce
down again at some other point and resume
their horrible work of destruction. Thus
this frightful phalanx of tunnels pursued
their course, bobbing up and then down
again, for q course OF 800 miles until the
waters of Lake Michigan arrested them in
their wi career. The loss of life inflicted
by the awful visitation numbers at least
seventy, while hundreds of unfortungtes
have been more or less severely injured,
many OF them, IL is feared, beyond the hope
OF recovery
The Nagaries and occent iciti"s f the
cyCl re defy enuine att n Preser iii e OF O
gene cou.s, I'm no invest 10 southeaSt
1t wobb @ 1 and twisted in every C ;eivable
way. 1t was no re"peeter of ersons or
property. Everyth pg in its path was hurled
violently to the earth CT CARED away.
Massive oak and stalwart hickory
trees were as pipe-s5e ms before the
te rible b a't; AID as f'r Ueiegral h poles
and fence-rails the windv monster played
with them az II they had been lucf6r
matches. Not 81 t. fed with r inning homes
it scattered their contents upon every hand
In one nstanCe u tea-po5 was landed n the
toughs of a tree, where it was caught and
held At another place piece Of n lady's
necklace were found in a hedge fence, UNI
der careened stoves, and in various out-Cf-
the way places. All OF the wearing apparel
OF one family was torn TO shreds, so that it
could not e worn. One mans vest was
blown several miles away, and
roll of money was blown out
of one of the pockets and
torn into small bits In one case farm was
swept clean of cornsta ks, which were i'm
beded in hedge on the opposite side of the
field The cyclone took off the porch and
chimney of a mans house, nothing else be-
ing inju' ed. A piano was lifted up carried
half mile. and dumped into tie cellar Of
house that had been blown away. Many
miraculous escapes are reporl ed In San
CANON county, H., farm labor er
was Frustrated on the ground By
tie wind i'll as house passCd over
him, sailing in the air Ike a balloon Had
he been standing up he would have been
killed Ia the same vicinity whole family
was buried beneath the ruins OF their
dwelling and all escaped Injury. man
was blown out of his house ard landed in
his orchard, several r d. away The houee
sailed away in the air; and
heard of IL, although he had searched far
and wide for mis- property. Peter Shaver,
OF Brown county, Ill, opened his door TO see
the makeup of the storm, when the house
was taken and shaken 10 atCms He found
himself in the top of a cottonwood tree, and
his wife and babies We're al seattle red ABOUT
and insensible. Luckily they all came TO,
scratched and lruised, but with no bones
lrDken.
Those who describe this terrible storm
king, tell of sudden hush, of the descent
of a black cloud with heat fiery and viii C;
of glare of light ming and q roar of I'M
chained elements. The rumble of the ap-
preaching storm was like the thunder of in
numbe rable wheels. The next Instant it
was over leaving in its track ruined home
steads and green fields, blasted as if by file
One man describes it as consisting OF three
clouds of smoke and fire, rushing along
through the air with the smaller
end of the funnel near the
earth. AS the clouds drew nearer they
seemed to unite. Then there was u deafen-
ing roa', resembling the passage of hun
dred railr ad trains only shrlller, then there
was a crash, and In another moment it was
over The demon OF the air had sped on his
course to repeat the performance me-
where else. Along the man path of the
cl one the clouds assumed the appearance
of revo wing 81 eet Of fire. Tie spec a g
was gron nd and yet Horrible. At times it
seemed that imm nse balls Of Fl, were sent
up, and these would urst fill ing the heavens
with flame. At such times there was a
mense crest
The storm seems to have had its birth
west of the Mississippi and just north of the
Missouri river. IL first made itself felt In
Montgomery county, No. where it blew
down a good many houseSskilled four or
five people, and manned a dozen or so more.
1t thence crossed the Mississippi river into
Madison county, H., passing four miles south
of Alton. Houses, trees. fences and every
thing in its path were RACED TO the ground
tod int. tha d. la n
killed and upward of twenty wounded in
Madison county. In Je.sey county num-
Der of dwel !ings were demolished three
people killed and several severely injured
in Montgomery county great many build
ings were borne down by the fierce blast,
and several fatalities occurred At Wood
bcro a church and schooLhouse were
blown down At farmhouse near there.
saw-logs two feet in diameter were picked
up and ca ried away like feathers In
Macoupin county the cyclone tore sew
eral farm houses TO pieces George
Bakers house, near Brushy Mound was
blown to atoms and his vile and three chill
dire killed They were blown into tree
and found dead Two other chi dren were
badly injured Eleven persons were in one
house that was demolished. and, strange to
saw on one was killed Green county suf-
fered severely. lam houses, barns fences
and fruit trees were leveled to the ground
Three people were killed and about a dozen
were wholly or partially wrecked in
Christian county, and several pc sons IN
iured though no fataltes are reported. 1t
was in Morgan coun y. however that the
hurricane was more sew ley felt, both in
regard to loss of life and damage to proper
ty, than ut any other point in Illinois Two
funnel sh a ed cyclones passed almost sim
ultaneously within few miles of Jackson
VILE one north and one south of the town,
and both trave,ed from a southwesterly to a
northeasterly direction One Of the tunnels
struck the village of Literbuig, con aiming
about ;0J inhabitants, and wrecked
nearly every building in the town
Seven people were killed and about thirty
injured, some of them so badly that they
will hardly recover. A good many farm
houses in the vicinity were wrecked and
several persons wounded. The other funnel
swept over section known as Greasy
Prairie, and did nearly much damage as
the first Fourteen farm-houses were de-
molished, six people killed and large num-
Der injured In Mason county several farm
houses were blown down, two persons
killed and others injured Hail fell in
great chunks that Xxi led live stock. The
hurricane was very damaging in Brown
county. Dwellings and barns without num-
Der went down, and many people were in
jured, few OF whom will probably not re-
cover De Witt county also suffered severe
ly. About fifty farm-houses were wrecked
in the county, fv people were killed and
about twenty injured, some of them very Sc
verely. Macon county was likewise n severe