Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1883-07-26

A
half that of the lower story. The house
was very strongly built, and sheathed
inside and out with grooved one-inch
siding, which is, in oil probably. all that
prevented it from being crushed like an
egg-shell when dropped by the wind
There were eleven persons in the build
ing at the time, but all escaped unhnrt.
About fifty feet further to the west was
the hardware store of Mr.. Chas. Fox,
the upper story being used for dwelling
purposes. This was badly racked, aud
had been propped up on the east side,
but the damage was only such as could
be made good.
Right adjoining this to the west was
building occupied by Davy and Thomas
as furniture store. The rooms above
being occupied by Mr.. JAS. Fox, Jr.,
and his wife. This was the first build
ing struck in the town and was GER
tainly the most thoroughly wrecked,
hardly one stick being left in its orig
inal shape. Different from the build
ings in the north of the village this
structure appeared to have been lifted
straight up by the wind and then
dropped, as the debris hardly extended
third OF the way across the street.
At the time the storm approached Mr..
Fox and his wife were asleep in the
northwest bedroom. They were ava
kened by the wind but did not have
time to escape before the blast was upon
them. They chung to each other and
went down in the ruins. Fortunately
an organ was in the next room and this
caught the roof and saved it from
crushing the couple, who lay in stiff
ing, suffocating hole, covered with
plaster and debris. 1t was with diff
Guilty that they could breathe, but by
aid of the lightning Mr.. Fox found a
small opening, and while he kept the
timbers off with one hand he dug away
at the opening with the other until he
succeeded in enlarging it enough to
drag himself and wife out into the open
air They managed to get across the
street to the residence of Mr.. Drury,
which was untouched by the storm and
was kindly cared for. Examination
showed that Mr.. Fox had three ribs
broken and was severely injured in the
groin. Mrs. Fox escaped with an in
jury to one arm and a few bruises.
THE STORM.
As far as can be gathered from the
accounts of the few who witnessed the
approach of the storm, it seemed to
have presented, with slight variation,
the same general characteristics of such
yisitations, and the diagram given
above will show that it was fully as En-
ratio in its movements The evening,
as described to the correspondent, had
been quite stormy from nine or ten
o'clock, there being first a dash Of rain
and little wind, then a lull for short
time, and then another puff of wind and
rain. This continued until the arrival
of the cyclone. which appeared to have
struck the town between half-past
twelve and quarter to one. The clock
in the depot was stopped at the last
named time; but as the general evidence
was that the storm struck the south
part of the village first, this would make
it a few minutes earlier there. The first
traces that can be discovered of the
storm were in the vicinity of Platteville,
where parties, who were in that city, on
Friday night, say there was heavy
wind. This same wind was felt at Lev
ingston, although no marked damage
was done at either place. From the APP
pearance of the wrecked buildings, it
would look as if there were two storms,
one approaching from the southwest
and striking the south part of the town,
and the other coming from the north
west and making its first descent on the
depot. In the west part of the village
but very little damage was done, one or
two small buildings being twisted about
some being the limit, but there is no ev-
idence showing that anything except
some side issues of the cyclone passed
over between the village and the depot
Whether there were two storms or
whether there was simply one and it
separated west of the village and APP
preached from two different directions
cannot be decided with any degree of
certainty. But it is clear that both
united at O'Niers saloon, which is
literally exploded as though by some
enormous conclusion, the north and
south sides and east end being blown
outward and the west end being sent
to one side. 1t was here that the only
loss of life occurred. There were six
persons in the building at the time it
was struck. Mrs. Bridget Kelley of
Ridgeway, slept down stairs, and had
only arrived that day, for short visit
to Mrs. O'Niel, her daughter. The rest
all slept in the second story. Those
above heard the storm coming and
started to get out and reached the
head of the stairs going down out
side the building when it was caught
up. All were carried down in the
debris but escaped with slight bruises.
Mrs. O'Niel alone was caught in the
partition and injured somewhat. Mrs.
Kelly appears not to have heard the
storm. She was killed in her bed, the
timbers falling and crushing her skull
like an egg-shell. From here the storm
went east, picking up in its course the
humble dwelling of Gilbert Hanson, 8
section hand, who with his wife and
two children were in the building at
the time. Hanson caught one of the
children and started to get out when he
was caught and sent whirling through
the air and landed some rods away in a
neighboring corntield but uniniured.
Mrs. Hanson did not escape so cas-
lily. Her collar bone was fractured
and several ribs broken. The whirling