The Aberdeen examiner. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1866-current, 1883-04-26
A Destructive Cyclone.

.he forenoon OF That DAY was dlsma
gloomy and unpleasant, and at tn
hour of "high twelve" a black
ominous cloud, attended with deaf
ming roar and rapid strokes of terrif
lightning, approached the vicinity Q
Aberdeen, filling all who took note O
it with fear and apprehension, for it
very nature seemed to indicate tina
the elements had formed conspirac,
for the purpose of wreaking terrible
vengeance upon everything tina
should happen to lay in its course
and terrible, indeed, was its work
The little village of Freedmantown, t
suburb of Aberdeen, populated en-
tirely by Industrious colored people
who, after years of toll, had managed
to accumulate means sufficient tc
purchase their six or eight acres Of
ground and erect cabin upon it, lay
exactly in the course of the cyclone
and was literally swept out of exist
ence, not a single habitation left
standing, while three persons--a man,
a woman and a boy-were killed
outright and colored people to the
number of thirty five Or forty, more
or less seriously wounded, while the
fields were strewn with dead and
dying horses and mules, cattle, and
even dogs and poultry. As soon as
possible assistance was rendered the
suffering wounded ones and during
the evening twenty-nine were provi-
ded with shelter and bedding in the
county Jail, converting that building
into perfect hospital. Two of them
have since died, and others with bro
ken limbs, fractured skulls, internal
injuries, ETC., are suffering the agonies
of death itself. The physicians Ia
bored Sunday evening and night and
nearly all day Monday on their first
round of dressing the wounded
These unfortunate people lost every
thing they possessed in the short
space of not more than five minutes;
houses, fences, trees, furniture, pro-
visions, clothing and absolutely every
thing swept away from them, and no
one knows where most of it went.
Twenty-three dwellings, occupied by
as many families, were destroyed and
their inmates, to the number above
indicated, killed and wounded. In
the front yard of Mr.. Wilson, whose
residence was just in the edge of the
territory covered by the cyclone,
stood numerous oaks from one to two
and half feet in diameter, which
we're uprooted, some of them broken
short off, and piled in one huge mass
as though they had been so many
straws; two chimneys to his dwelling
were also blown down, but the wind
does not seem to have fairly struck
the residence.
The course of the cyclone was
from southwest to northeast, until it
crossed James Creek in the direction
of Aberdeen, when it took a due
easterly direction which placed Freed
directly in its course. The
James Creek bridge, structure one
hundred and fifty feet Or more in
length was carried away. A half
mile beyond that point stood the fine
team cotton gin and grist mill of
Hon. L. E. Houston, which was also
blown away and the engine and boil
ers terribly wrecked by the large
trees falling upon them.
About three miles further in that
direction the cyclone passed through
the plantation of Mr.. J. w. Howard,
taking away fifteen out of twenty
two cabins and killing one mule.
Considerable damage was also. done
On the places of Weller, Haas & Kraus,
|. w. Randle, Mr.. James
Roy and Mrs. Evans, in the prairie,
out we did not learn the extent.
From Aberdeen eastward, it passed
Mr.. Sharpley's place, with little dam
zoe, where it crossed the river and
passed over the premises of Mr. James
Lackey, and Mr.. F. NJ. Nichols, and
NJ. Riley Nichols, with great force
md violence but attended with less
atality. Mr.. Lackey's residence was
blown down, wounding himself and
wife seriously, while the tenement
houses on the places of the Messrs
Nichols were nearly all Destroyed.
From point fourteen miles east of
Aberdeen it seems to made a
Jump to the Buttahatchie river dis
ance twenty-four miles from the city
where the devastation was again COM
In Freedmantown the destruction
vas more complete than elsewhere in
he county, for not only was every
louse swept away, but every vestige
If fencing also, and each householder
lad cotton his little crop fairly start
ID which will of course be lost, from