The Portland daily press., 1883-09-05
A Poet in a Tornado.
Krissofer Jansen's Word Picture OF the
Recent Minnesota Hurricane.
Madison. Wis. Journal

Madison, Wis, Journal.l
The popular Norwegian poet, novelist
preacher and philosopher, Kristofer Jansen,
in letter to the current number of the Chi
cago Unity, describes the recent tornado in
his characteristic, quaint and graphic style.
Here is a bit of description:
1--WE had built two wings on the church,
you know, as q summer resort for me and
my family, and we had just moved in. The
church itself was not yet finished, the doors
and windows not put in, and the carpenters
and 1oiners busy at their work when the
misfortune happened. The weather had
been turbulent for many days, every night
lightning and laundering and violent show
srs. 1t was In the morning on the 21st. We
had just taken our breakfast, aud had gath
cred out on the porch to look at the grand
play OF the elements performed before us.
Around in the horizon there flashed light
ming on lightning and it thickened and dark
ened more and more. We foresaw violent
tempest. 1t seemed as il the storm moved
away from us in the direction of New Ulm,
and we wondered If that poor town should
be drowned to death for the second time.
1t was swept away by a cyclone two years
ago, you remember. A cloud, black as the
ravens wing, appeared in the west. Sud
denly it split, and between the two black
trains expanded the most fearful, dismal
sky ever saw. The color was green-gray
yellow, and it darkened the sun, so it be-
came dim as twilight. The carpenters had
BY and by gathered together with us on the
porch. This must be hail Storm one of
them said, now we will pretty soon hear of
disasters. Suddenly the cleft widened be-
tween the two black cloud-wings, and the
upper one came with terrible speed, hur-
ryiug back toward US. Let us walk in,' I
said. 1t seems as If we, too, shall get
taste OF it, We went in, and our parlor
looked quite dark. We had scarcely locked
the door before we heard the roaring of the
storm coming. In moment we we're sur
rounded by white cloud, and the wind
and rain dashed the house, which groaned
and shivered through. 1t was not rain, it
was furious torrents of water mixed with
heavy hail, which poured down from heav-
en-. The storm tried to burst open the door,
but five men pressed against ii with all
their might. The wall seemed to give way
and stood In bow; the building shook as
In commissions. l felt like Tightening of
my heart every time the house seemed to be
lifted from the ground and dropped down
again. Twice we had these terrible shocks,
then In moment, house, men, furniture,
were hurled through the air 100 feet away.
do not remember anything before found
myself on the ground crawling among the
debris of my new home. The first discoy-
cred was my wife, with child in each arm,
lying at each side. Men and children we're
scattered around among lumber and sidings,
whether alive or dead nobody could tell. A
table and staircase came flying through the
air. m moi fhar,a l..x
away, so they did not kill my wife and chill
dren, bits of wall and roof whrled round us
here It was impossible to remain. We crept
and crawled and run for our lives down to
the forest. As we found each other there,
we we're only six; friend of ours, farmer,
had one of the small girls in his arms, nv
wife another, and one of my sons chung to
me. But where were the rest of the chill
dren? had myself seen one of the earpen-
tiers run with my third little girl-but the
eldest and youngest boys. Killed. perhaps,
or lying mutilated among the RUNS and i'm
possible to look for them. The hurricane
would have swept us away as soon as we
had moved from the wood. The only thing
TO do was 20 press the children to us and
give them so mach shelter as we could with
our broader backs. The rain and hail
lashed US, the oak shrubs were blown fat to
the ground and their limbs struck our heads
and shoulders like whips. We were obliged
to change place twice to get more shelter
deeper into the brush. Four other men
came toius in the wood. They could tell
that my eldest son was seen. following the
man who carried my little girl, but the
youngest boy nobody had seen. One of the
men-it was the contractor of the build
ing-said that he had been out in the other
wing OF the church, the kitchen. when the
storm carried that wing away and he
had just saved his life by jumping into the
cellar. From this shelter he had seen his
pride-the church-spIintered 1t was lift
ed from the ground twice, and sailed like a
ship down hill till the roof burst, and then
1t wac torn to pieces.
"The lips of the children became quite
blue, and they shivered all through; we must
try to escape to the nearest farm down in
the larger forest. Two of the men carried
the two small girls, then followed / myself
with my son and one of the carpenters,
hand in hand, and at last, came my wife,
supported by two other men. We waded
through the grass and underbrush and mud,
while the wind howled and the rain dashed
and chilled us. We saw at distance the
house of our nearest neighbor, the man who
had made bis escape with my little girl; it
was moved from its ground, but not tipped
over; but it was impossible to stop and in
vestigate whether the rest of the children
were there or not. we must run all we could
shall never forget the calm but pale face of
my wife, with her hair whirling round her
head In wet tatters, and with the water
streaming from face, hands and dress,
dragged along between the two men. As
long as We had shelter In the wood it went
on pretty well, but soon we had to pass a
shelterless read. Then came lightning and
thunder crsnw so that l believed the
heaven would crack, and | bowed down; /
did not care too look back, whether my wife
was struck or not. At last we reached the
farm. God be praised Saved, and with
unbroken linbsi But the rest of the child
rem!
Gas soon as possible the meI went out to
search for them. In less than half an hour
they came back with them all alive; they
we're found on the neighbours farm. Ny lit
tie girl had got some slight wounds round
the eyes from hail; she had cried on her
mother the whole time, and the man who
saved her was compelled to take her by the
neck and keep her to the ground. The
youngest boy had lain down, grasped the
grass and cried: I shall Giei shall dep As
soon as possible our neighbor had moved
from his shelter among the shrubs and tried
to reach his farm. He had not moved far
away before the roof of the church came
flying and dropped down just where he had
been with the children. The kitchen wing
had been ground to small piecee. We were
10 together in the house. and nobody Is seri-
ously hurt. 1t sounds like miracle"