Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1884-02-28
Of the YOrkville Enquirer
LETTER FROM CHESTER.

CHESTER, February 26.-Our town was
visited with very destructive storm about
o'clock last Tuesday evening. The Bap-
| tist Church, bell tower and several build
ings were blown down. The Presbyterian
Church, oil mill and number of handsome
buildings on Main street were badly dam
aged. An immense amount of fencing was
leveed to the ground. The entire loss is
estimated at $685. 900. desired on last We'd
nesday morning to send by telegraph to
the ENQUIRER this general account of the
storm, but the wires were down, and L could
not do so.
1t may be we'll to give the particulars of
the storm, and / will begin at Mr.. r.
Brandt's jewelry store. Itwas unroofed, in
volving a loss of 5000. The bell tower fell
in the narrow, vacant place between the
Brandt and Davega buildings. Had it fall
en- on either one, not only property but
lives would have been lost. The National
Bank building was unroofed, involving
loss of $3.50. The stores of Wylie & Agurs,
s. NJ. Jones g. Co: and Isaac Heyman had
their parapet walls blown down and roofs
partly taken off, making loss of 81 900.
The stores of Clubhouse & Co., p. Nail q
Son and J. X. Coleman were unroOfed-
loss $500. The roofs of the last two build
ings were blown a considerable distance-as
far as the Central Hotel These stores are
all on the south side Of Main street; those
on the north side were uninjured. The
roof of the Jail was blown off, dreadfully
to cry aloud in their distress. The building
is damaged aboutS3OO. The Baptist Church
was blown down, involving a loss to the
congregation of $1,000. The seats were not
injured, but the materials of the building
were so badly broken as to make them
almost valueless for future purposes. The
Presbyterian Church was considerably dam
the roof pressed in. The bell was carried
some distance. The loss is estimated at
81 600 The coored Baptist Church also
fell victim to the storm. The building
materials were demolished; the loss is 81 200.
The third story of the oil mill was blown
off, and the engine and other machinery
were badly damaged by the falling in of
bricks and timbers. The tin roof was blown
almost to the cemetery-about quarter Of
neighborhood Of $4,000. The stock was
quite panicky the next morning after the
storm; several shares exchanged hands at
% cents on the dollar. Had the mill been
running at the time of the storm, several
lives would in all probability have been
lost. Purvis AleXander's blacksmith shop
toppled over, covering in its ruins Mr.. j..
l.. Love and his son, of the Bullock's Creek
section who were camped near by, and had
taken shelter beneath it, Fortunately they
escaped with only slight injuries. The loss
is about S400. The machine shops of Mr..
Erskine MOffatt were unroOfed, involving
a loss of $500. The old, rickety building
used many years ago as carriage factory
by Mr.. G. Hoist fell, and in its fall one OF
the old landmarks passed away. The loss
may be estimated at $3.50. Too much space
would be consumed in giving the details
of the damage to private residences. The
were those of Messrs. w. A. Sanders, j. j.
McLure, T. S. Mills, Julius Mills, B. M.
Spratt, r. d. Cousar, W. H. Rosborough,
D. Hemphill and Mrs Julia Rainey. The
damage to each ranges from 5000 to $500.
NichOlson's hotel was unr0Ofed-lOss $500.
Almost every house in town was damaged
more or less in some way. great deal OF
window glass was broken by the hail, which
accompanied the wind and rain. An i'm
mense amount of fencing and many trees
were Frustrated.
The storm was also very destructive IN
the western portion of the county. Messrs.
r. A. Love, j. A. Walker, John Lipsey,
Alexander Wise, Levi Wilkes, George
Douglas, Moses Stone and several others
suffered severely in the loss of barns, stables
and negro cabins. On Wise's plantation
not building was left standing except the
dwelling, and it was badly damaged. Mr.:
Wise estimates his loss at $4,000. On Mrl
J. B. Cornwell's plantation a colored girf
was killed. She was buried in the ruins o.
a building. On Mr.. Bergman Withers.
place, a son of Mr.. Oliver Sims, who lives
there, was killed. Houses were leveled to
the ground. The storm ragged with destruc-
tive fury three or four miles below Black
stocks. Mrs Strings house was blown
Il H. l>D, Il I, fho fol
ing timber. The dwellings of Messrs. John
Cannon and NJ. G.. Tenant, and barns
and negro cabins on the plantations, OF
N1essrs. James Jones, and j. w. Wilkes
succumbed to the power Of the storm.
The storm Occasioned considerable dam
age in the cemetery. The handsome mon
ument erected over the grave of the late
Dr. A. p. Wylie was irreparably injured.
The shaft was thrown off the base and bro
ken. The beautiful monument erected to
the memory of Mrs. Madison Ross was in
iured. A number of other monuments were
more or less damaged.
Did space permit, the interesting expe-
riences of many persons during the storm
might be given. / cannot refrain, however,
from mentioning touching incident that
occurred here. The head of household
being absent from home, his little daughter
about ten years Of age, was much distressed
er of her intention to pray for her father,
she knet down amid the agony of the
household, and prayed earnestly for his de-
liverance. That father made a narrow es-
cape from death. He was within reach of
the bell tower at the time of its fall, but was
uninjured.
The cyclone was confined for the most
part to the western and southwestern pOr-
tions of the county, inflicting loss on those
whose names have already been mentioned.
North of our town it extended two miles to
Mr.. J. P. Ferguson's place, where it unroof-
ed some outbuildings, and south OF our
town it extended three miles to Mr.. Matthew
Whites plantation, where it inflicted SIM
liar loss East Of our town the fury of the
storm spent itself at Mr.. Hamilton McCan-
dless' place about three miles from town,
where it blew down ginhouse. 1t is true
that the wind blew with great violence all
over the county, but it did not reach the di-
mensions of cyclone except in town, and
the western portions of the county.
The day after the storm a telegram was
sent to Hon. ]. j. Hemphill our Congress-
man, asking him to secure from Congress an
appropriation of 5000, 900 for the relief ofthe
sufferers. He replied by stating that no as
sistance could be obtained from the general
government, unless the State was unable to
provide for its sufferers.
The work of repairing the damage of the
storm is rapidly going on. The rebuilding
of the parapet walls, and re-roofng Of the
stores on the south side of Main street will
be finished by the end of this week. The
roofs on Brandt's building, and on the Bank
building have already been replaced. The