The Delaware farmer., 1883-12-07
A STUDY OF A TORNADO.
An Observer who Thinks thar Springfield
was Demolished by Electricity.


New York Sun says A tornado, or
whatever else it may be called, that will
take hickory tree, sound and young,
twenty inches in diameter, and, without
uprooting it, twist it to splinters in the
twinkling of ones eye-that sort of
thing deserves examination from scien-
tifc men. OF this description was the
late tornado here. Before locking into
the matter I was prepared to assert with
great confidence that the late disaster
was owing entirely to imperfect, slip
shod building. After thorough, criti-
cal, and entirely disinterested examina-
tion, lasting week, am persuaded
that all current theories and explana-
tions in reference to this and all torna-
does elsewhere are at fault.
My reasons I will attempt to explain.
With the exception of perhaps two
buildings, the structures blown down at
Springfield are of sort little qualified
to Withstand ordinary Atlantic coast
gales. Undoubtedly far worse gales
than this Springfield tornado, in point
of violence, have been familiar to east
ern people for generations past
maintain that wind did not do the
damage.
Suppose that you take a group of
seven houses, for example, closely
punched together.
A storm comes up three of the seven,
fully as substantial in every particular,
are pulverized to atoms by the storm,
while the remaining four are entirely
uniniured-untouched. in fact How
can we account for such caprice on the
part of the elements? Are such caprices
characteristic of wind storms
The wooden mill at Springfield was
built, as am told by its builder, Ger
man Of solid, practical experience east
and west, of better material and with
more lime in the mortar than most brick
walls are composed of. The walls were
massive; the work was done under criti-
cal supervision. This mill building was
demolished, while the. frailest of frame
dwellings, buildings with no larger tim
Der in frame than 3x6, were left unin-
iured, standing in the track of the tenn
pest.
How can we account for this?
The frame dwellings that were de-
stroyed by the tornado do not resemble
anything recognizable in the form of
timber, lumber, or any building ma
terial whatever, in the state Of chaotic
confusion and demolishment in which
the storm has left them. They look,
rather, as though Vulcan's hammer had
struck them into a mass of formless rub
bish. This is fact, not exaggeration.
[ have examined carefully several
times the remains of Father T. J.
O'NielI's Catholic church at North
Springfield, entirely demolished by the
storm. The building was Of firm and
thick brick walls; in size, 36x7O feet. It
was securely prepared, as to every es-
sential to safety. when the tornado scat
tered it to the winds. There is scarcely
a brick left Standing upon another above
the ground. The wreck looks as though
a great mill had passed it through the
hopper, through the runs of stones, and
out into formless void.
Father O'Niell's dwelling, a frail cot
tage Of the lightest of light pine lum-
Der, put up in the ramshackle manner
usual with the Southern carpenters of
twenty years ago, escaped without so
much as a shingle being disturbed on
the roof. It stood some forty feet per-
haps. to the north of the demolished
church.
There were some remarkable, if not
miraculous, exemptions from the wreck
of this Catholic church. Father O'Niell
showed me several things which puz-
zled the coolest BRAIN Everything per-
tanning to the mass was taken from the
chaos Of rubbish by Father O'NieI un-
injured. The altar stone was set in a
heavy frame of wood, this frame being
ground to splinters by the storm, but not
a scratch on the stone, of italian mar
bic. could be detected. The missal OF
mass book, a richly bound volume, was
perfect. The chalice, a solid silver cup,
elaborately engraved, was taken from
the wreck uninjured. The blessed sacra-
ment and the tabernacle both were saved
intact. The organ was thrown across the
street. A little glue will right that.
A man told me of a group Of fowl
which the storm caught. Every feather
was singed from them. They stood