Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-05-25

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The tornado season has fairly com
menced, though not In the section OF
country where its most terrible ,rayages
are usually experienced. Those which
occurred early In the month at Hot
Springs and Ozark. Ark, were compar-
atiye3y harmless, though thirteen lives
were lost and much OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
but the Mississippi and Georgia affair
was on a scale Sufficient to entitle Rtc
3be called the inaugural of the season,
and from. now l nth August, or even
September,I, we may look for similar
occurrences in the southwestern part OF
me country. ~ The signal service has IN
vestigated over sin hundred tornadoes
with 4 the 10 result !, of the dis.
covery that the hate spring and summer
are the periods when they are to be ex.
pected, the larger number occurring in
June. ~ This year they have commenced
earlier than usual and at points further
east than usual, for Kansas. Illinois.
Missouri and iowa are the principal
/ sufferers. Mississippi, Georgia and Al
ALBANIA, and the borders of Tennessee
and South Carolina are more or less
rayaged by tornadoes, but--this spring
being aniexception-not with such dis
astrous, results as. attend those which
originate in Texas and the Indian Ter.
ritory, and travel their. northeastern
course through;the States above men.
toned. Baii. Iii = .th - '.Tf ~
Although it is early in the season.
the recent tor1tTdo is one of the mos
destructive ever known in this country.
AS nearly as, can; be ascerfained from
| the conflicting, accounts this tornado
entered the, continent from the Gulf OF
| Mexico, crossing the Mississippi a short
distance below Natchez without doing
any special damage in Louisiana,D af
| this point it divided, one branch going
southeast, the, main' funnel, however.
| keeping on its northeastern track, and
| infiicting the most terrible losses of life
and property at Wesson and 'Beaure-
gard, in Copiah County. 1t passed Alb
erdeen, in the northeastern part of the
State, crossed Alabama obliqnely with:
out much damage, and entered Georgia,
in Harris County, crossing, the !Chatta,
hoochee River, euriously enough, at the
| very point where every. storm has en-,
tered Georgia since 1904, the first veal
in which. tornado was recorded. 1t is
also curious that it divided on the
Georgia line, just as it did on the Mis-.
sissippi line, one branch keeping on its
northeastern course, spending itsell
in South Carolina, while the other
veered into Southwest Georgia II
will be seen, therefore, that il
| traversed an immense area of Ter;
titory, its damage being spread over
| five States. though the heavy losses are
confined to two. AS compared with
| the damage occasioned by tornadoes in
1881 and 1882, the results are frightful
The whole number of lives lost in 1881
was l87. Last year they amounted to
500. BY way of comparison a state
nent showing the loss of life occasioned
| by the worst tornadoes of 1882 will be
of interest. In April fifty lives were
lost at Brownsville. Mo-, and .Monticel-
10, La; in May, eighteen at McAllister,
Tex; in June, 100 at Grinnell, Ia, and
thirteen in Kansas; and in July, TWEEN
! ty-five at Coalville, Pa. AS we have
] said, 500 lives were lost in all last wear.
| and l87 in 1881 The complete reports
| of the loss of life % occasioned by the re-
1 cent tornado have not yet been sent in,
but it is already known that 1870 per
sons were Killed. AS of the 283 injured
many will die and many counties swept
by the tornado have not vet been heard
from, it is reasonable to estimate that
1 the total loss of life will reach at least
$50, which is much larger than that oc.
casioned by all the storms of 1881, and
only one-third less than those of 1882
which was considered an exceptional
tornado years 1t will also be observed
| that it has inflicted loss of Life more
al. II
In view of such disasters as these
and the certainty that they win occui
in specified sections of the country a
| specified times, it is not creditable L.
science that these terrible phenomen,
1 of Nature. are not better understood
4 and that some means for the protection
of human life in the tornado area have
not been suggested. Now that scienc,
says it has exploded Scriptural reveal
tons and pretends it has made myth
of an overruling Providence, it woult
4 seem as if it might understand. thes.
i natural phenomena and strip them o
some of their destructive power, ant
no longer let the wind blow where j
listeth. We fear, however, that it will
always remain true that no man cal
tell whence it cometh or whittier j
4 goeth. The most the signal service ha
4 done is to recommend the building
of underground dwellings as place
of refuge, which is not Away
4 practical, and it may be remarke,
\ they do not always constitute place
of refuge. The only man who ha
made a practical, well-sustained sug
i gestion with regard to the origin of tn
tornado is Prof. Tice, of St. Louis
who, notwithstanding his vagaries as
weather prophet and his unfortunate
Z place of residence, is a man of scien
tific attainment. His theory is to tn
i effect that the tornado is display O
electrical energy, and that the mani
! festations of every tornado, such a
denuding trees of their bark and re
ducing wood to- fibres, are electrical il
! character, the splintering being oc
! casioned by the passage of the electro
current through the sap, which de
4 composes it into its constituent gases
7 expanding with terrific force Whethe
I lice theory be true or not, the sub
ject deserves more thorough treatlnen
/ than it has yet received from the hand
of the sayants, Who is the futur
philosopher who will bottle the tornad
as Franklin bottled the lightning?-
Chicago 1ri6st7ae. 'iT ~ l-1s3@ =.
: 9tt just Like 'Em.