The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1883-09-20
The Cyclone Season.

: Ono the fcrcest Of the many torna-
s that have occurred within the last
four months was that which swept over
southern Michigan on Monday, July %.
1t played havoc with farm houses, barns,
fences, orchards, and forest trees stand
ing in its track. Several women and
children were killed, one woman, accord
ing to tho telcgraphic dispatches, being
picked up by the wind and torn to
pieces.
1t was carly last spring that this cx-
| traordlnary series of storms began, and
, very few weeks have passed since then
without bringing news Of tE1 fatal dcS-
tructive work OF one or more whiriwinds.
Sometimes several tornadoes have oc-
CURED no"4iy simultaneously in different
places. Disastrous rainbursts and thun-
der storms have added to tho extraordi-
nary character Of the weather, and only
evidence OF n similar condition OF atm0s-
phcrlc disturbance extending all over
the world IS needed to give very strOrg
confirmation to tho views of the sun
spot theorists, for during all these
stormy months, and up to the present
moment, the sun has been spotted like a
leopard's skin, aEd plainly agitated by
tremendous disturbing forces. Some
shredsgof the required evidence of n
Worldwide extension of meteorological
disturbances have been obtained, but the
record is very incomplete and unsatis-
factory. There have, fcr instance, been
extraordinary rains i'll some parts of
Europe, including watclspouts in Hun.
v, ana we have heard Of destructive
q Sdations'in India, or terrible hur-
'e Mt the Samoan Islands, and of
floods in Buenos Ayrcs. Still, no
T. nf nofIK ,~rnl,o1,11y xuDnll 1,o
to look upon all this as proving
,-spots have anything to do with
her especially since previous OBJ
inc periods Of sun-SpOt
ell doubtful and con-
But 1t may, perhaps,
evidence furnished by
storms of the last two
is favorable to the sun
., and that it would not re-
great deal moro of the same sort
nee TO incline the scales of iudg-
>cidcdly in favor of tho theory.
ever the cause may be, it is GER
1t 1T would be hard to match the
record of 1883, and, Judging
40 telescope aspect of the sun
5the last six months, an inhabitant
torb would have to be pretty
r citizen to be able to recollect n
.- t~Alp "hol i'ttll blOIlllS nh(i DcSn so 1rG-
q1ent and SO ferce.-Nc,O IIork San.
-------.-se-.--
TIE BRAZILIAN ARMY is in q rather
disorganized condition. The cx.Minis-
ter of War in Brazil gives melancholy
account of The laxity of discipline, not
merely among the rank and file, but also
rnong the higher officers. One of these
Colonel, on hearing that he had beer
81. sed over, went to tho War Depart.
..Sent, abused the officials there, and
!, swore that if the Emperor did not sec
jnsticeydone he would let them know
/, what three hundred bayonets could dc
ir the Streets of Rio Janeiro. The hos
t,itals in many parts nro sinks of financial
corruption. Some officers frequently
receive for medicine four or five times
their active pay, and leeches are hiret
four or five times n month at eighty
cents each every time. Electric collars
are supplied at thS cost Of tens Of thou
sands Of dollars, and "feeding bottles
figure in the accounts for over fifty thou
sand dollars, tas thouGh,' adds the ex
Minister scarcastically, "the militar,
hospitals were nurseries for children, "