Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-12-11
STRICKEN By A TORNADO
Singular Freak of n Powerful Cyclone IN
Illinois.

Singular Freak Of n Powerful Cyclone in
Illinois.
A Chester Qll.) special says: "A sim
gular narrow-gauge cyclone swept
through here last evening from the
southwest, and, after having inflicted
damages on the penitentiary to the ex.
tent Of several thousand dollars, passed
east along the course of the kaskaskia
river. A number of people were
severely, if rot fatally, injured. The
width of the wind bosom was not to
exceed 100 yards. There was no indi-
cation that it had come any considerable
distance and the funnel-shaped cloud
which usually presages the tornado was
not seen. In the heart Of the city no.
body knew Of the destructive visitation
until hours after it had occurred. At
the penitentiary, where the demolition
was exclusively done, as if by design
ing hand, the results were the first inti-
nation of the calamity. Henry jenkins,
a teamster, who was on the river bank
Just before the penitentiary was struck,
narrowly escaped with his life. His
fear was first excited bya roar peculiar
to river rapids. Looking out upon the
Mississippi, he was surprised to see the
water at very near the centre of the
stream separate as il some huge body
had been plunged into it from
above. simultaneously there was
reverberating crash. Under the
apparent atmospheric pressure the
concave sink seemed to continue to
the river-bottom in the shape of a huge
bowl, with q diameter OF not less than
100 Yards, the pillows rising into a
rim which he described as being as many
Yards high. The next instant draft
Of chill air enveloped him, and not
pausing to further view the phenomena
of the river, he fell to the ground in
anticipation of the coming cyclone
The skirt Of it caught him as it swept
by and spun him around like top but
his only injuries were a broken finger
and a badly bruised body. The lorna
do passed like a flash, carving a
straight path towards the penitentiary
through fences, hedges, and everything
that happened to stand in its way.
Captain A. j. Nichols, Of the peni-
Tertiary guard, was in his parapet-bOx.
The box was wrenched from its fasten-
ipgs and hurled into the work-yard,
fifty yards away. The Captain was
cut up badly about the face and the
head, and is supposed to have suffered
internal injuries that will prove fatal.
He was the only guard on the wall.
All the boxes on the wall were carried
away. Joseph Villmore, life-conyict,
was crossing the yard. lie was lifted
from his feet and blown against wall
five Yards from where he stood. His
right leg struck the stone and, breaking
below the knee, the bone was forced out
through the muscles and sinews. He
is also thought to be fatally in
ured. The shoe-shop was unroof-
ed. Hank Wilkinson, life-con-
Wet from Texas, was buried under
one Of the fallen chimneys. lie is not
expected to recover. The partly-com-
pleted State shop was RACED to the
ground. Huge rents, through which a
cayalcade could pass, were made in the
heavy stockade. The roof of the war
denis house and the cell building were
ripped from their supports and scat
tered about in splinters. Colonel Robert
Wilson's residence near the peniten-
tiary was unroofed and moved half a
foot from its foundation, but the occu-
pants were unframed. 1t is regarded
as miraculous that where so many were
exposed in the penitentiary yards SO
few should have been hurt. The dam
age is approximated at $50, 600.
No details have been received from
the eastern course of the cyclone.