The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-06-01
Curisas Incidents Of the Recent Wind
Storms.
AT RACINE, WIS.

Many Of the people living near the center
of the city knew nothing of the awful havoc
created in the outskirts by fridays blow
until the following morning. No fear,
had been entertained of q cyclona, for 1t was
generally known that Prof. Gray had de-
mopstrated that such thing was out of the
question near large body of water. But
when the people heard the noise like ''tlie
rumbling of a million railroad trains" as
one man described II, some became alarmed.
The noise ceased in minute, and then
men and women came to the doors Of their
houses to see what was going on. The mud
dy cloud had gone, and white one was
coming toward the city with astonishing We
Iocity. 1t appeared to pass over the north
end within two--minutes,. and when it
reached the lake hundreds of people rushed
to the shore to see the effect. Immense
masses of water were apparently drawn up
by ths cloud as it travelled along, and the
sight is said to have been a very beautiful
one. When the cloud disappeared in the
distance everybody on the south side OF the
river believed the storm was over, and they
went to bed without knowing what had TAX
en- place on the outskirts of the city mile
or so distant.
The next morning, around every spot
where there had been a dwelling were the
former occupants who were gathering what
remained of their household goods, though
few found any article of value. A singula.
thing noticed was that in almost every in
stance the bedding was in good condition,
while stoves, beds and chairs had disap-
peared. One man was seen taking off q
wheelbarrow full of quilts-all that was lef
of his effects except a cow, one of whose
horns had been knocked off. Another FAM
lily found only clock, vinegar jug and
cup and saucer. a few lost absolutely
everything they possessed. - -
The triplets and their parents, Mr., and
Mrs. John Sabin, who lived on Hegaer,
street. escaped with some slight. bruises.
This was good news to the people of Racine,
who had taken great interest in the chill
dren. Sabin'S house was struck, but only
the front wall'was torn'away. One of the
tTiplets was in a font room in its cradlei
and the mother grabbed it and ran otit,
while the father looked after the other two
Mr.. Sabin was struck on the nose and hand
by flying pieces of timber, but Inc dFlft
mina his hurts, being happy over the preSer-
walton of his progeny.
AT SPRINGFIELD, ILL.
Tie vagaries of the cyclone defy enumera-
ton or description. Preserving one geHeral
course from northwest to southeast il wab-
bled and twisted in every conceivable way.
With penchant for high ground, it was
not too proud to travel along the lowlands,
uprootslg, twisting, shivering and splinter
ing massive oaks and stalwart hickories,
scattering fence-railS in every direction, and
playing with telegraph and telephone poles
as though they had been match-sticks and
the. wires slender threads.
Not satisfied with running homes, it scat
tered their cOntents-sometime the most
trifiing-on every hand. A large mirror in
the English residence was broken into
thousand pieces, and relic-hunters picked
them up to-day. a teapot landed i'm the
boughs Of Young sapling, where it was
caught and held, while pieces of lady's
necklace were found in the hedge-fence,
under careened stoves and in various Out-of-
the-way places. In short the cyclone
seemed to have no regular programme, but
to take pretty much everything that came
in its way and do with it what IL pleased.
- Some Of the escapes and Incidents at the
other places were peculiarly interesting.
Seven people rushed into Bolivar Turkeys
cellar and escaped, though baby was
slightly hurt about the head; and eat
which had found its way there was killed.
Twelve persons at Henry Turley's also took
refuge in the cellar and escaped, while one
of Turley's six horses was safe and sound
with a halter; and broken piece Of the
manger around llisneck, half a mile distant,
and the other five Hear the barn. The hedge
fence opposite Roy's was coated with geese
feathers and every now and thelornainented
with a clump of cOrIistalks. Sam Ashton
found his vest half mile away, but the
thirty dollars he had left i'm one of the pock-
cts was missing.
AT HARVARD, ILL.
The following reliable account OF the de-
scent of the cyclone Friday evening upon
this section is given by farmer living near
Chemung, two miles north of this place:
The sun was shining all day Friday" he
said, land there was a stiff gale blowing
from the southwest. About six O'Clock /
noticed a funneEsllaped cloud, with the small
end uppermoSt coming toward the village
from the northwest. At the same time
heavy rolling cloud came toward us from
the southwest. Before the two clouds met
the gale suddenly stopped, and there was a
dead calm. The clouds approached each
other almost mile from where / was, and
the counter-currents rolled over them upon
one another backward and forward. The
funBel-shaped cloud tipped completely over,
and its small end swept the ground. There
was suffocating calm for few moments
after the clouds collided. The collision
was marked by clapO thunder and glare
OF lightning. Then came roaring wind,
and / saw the big cloud, that, had been
formed by the two sweep by. Its center
was of yellow sh color, but the top and the
sides were Jet black. 1t slanted downward
toward pond, and could see it sweepingup
and carrying masses of mud and water. 1t
lifted the fences straight into the air, and
they seemed to float in its bosom rather
than whrl around. / was about mile out
of the clouds course, but the strong wind
struck me downward to the earth. In half
a minute the cloud passed, and then the hot
sun poured down upon US brighter than
ever, ) fs 80
To illustrate the force of the cyclone it is
noted that hickory trees from six to ten
inches in diameter were twisted and torn
from their places like reeds. A heavy oak
beam was found four miles east Of itsformer
position. Near the Sugar Creek bridge two
trees FIVE feet in diamer were broken down
five feet from their base. A horse was
taken from stable and carried about three
hundred yards into an adjacent field. When
found he was tied to a part Of his manger.
which had been taken with. him. He re
ceived hut few light bruises. = : t7'H
The cyclone presented peculiar character-
istics. Where it assuIBeda fmna shape it
sucked up trees, drew h9nseS high into the
air, andwheIt this Rnpes sh5tR wts sDsent
black, massive clouds seemed 10 come with
tremendous power md kpOck againstsThat-
ever stood insthe Way, hurting the object
along close to the earth's surface. When
the storm took up Mrs Downs baby the
little one had clothes OH, but when thef
f.; &c rooo,.od uroS frao fyoua cuc X