Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1885-08-06

two other slight showers, and then Their
was no more rain till some time befor
daylight on Monday. All day yesterda,
one thunder gust followed another, ut in
tervals of half to three-quarters of al
hour, and rain fell in torrents, accom-
panied by lightning and thunder.
About / O'Clock in the afternoon
cyclone showed itself in the upper part o
Elk Neck, about four or five miles south
west of Elkton, and Judging by the wa,
it got in its work was fully equal TO tn
disastrous tornadoes of the southwest. |
was accompanied by q singing or hum
ming sound, like that made by :,
humming top, and Travelled rapid,
in a zig gag path its tract
being about 100 yards wide ant
its general course towards the northeast
Emerging from the bushes and barren
of Elk Neck il struck the b. & o. tele
graph line on the Elkton g. North Eas
road about two miles and half west o
Elkton and entirely demolished three o.
the poles. The shocks of oats standing
in field near by, were literally blown tc
pieces, and scattered over the tree tops il
neighboripg woods.
Except the destruction of woods ant
fences, little other damagewas done unit
the storm reached the valley of the Little
Elk creek, at wilma. Here the barn and
grist mill of Daniel Harvey were literally
blown to pieces and scattered in every
direction. A son of Mr.. Harvey and the
miller, seeing the storm coming, tool
refuge in the lower story of the mill and
escaped unhurt. The old stone mansion
house at wilma is still standing, but the
porches are not; neither is u single one OF
the majestic old forest trees which formed
the grove in which it stood. Some of the
buildings on the farm of DIR. Justice
Dunot, which adjoins wilma, were I'M
rooted.
A train of cars standing on the track OF
the new b. q o. railroad at Wilma was
blown about quarter of mile along the
track, though all the brakes were screwed
down tight. The train men jumped off
and chung to the rails of the track to
escape being blown away.
The Ledger paper mill ut Marley, lust
above Wilma, WINS unroofed, and the
smoke stack blown down. Three of the
workmen are reported to have been in
| jured. A barn on the Spence property,
near Marley, was blown down.
At Andora, five miles south of Elkton,
the storm was severe, and destroyed the
orchard of Daniel Arbuckle. The ronds
are entirely closed by fallen timber in the
track of the storm, and the telephone
lines blown down, consequently il is inn
| possible to get accurate information
about the extent of the damage or the
area covered by the cyclone. The
road for the distance of half a
mile near wilma is so densely packed with
fallen trees that a man cannot get along
| it. Naked trunks of trees entirely
stripped of branches, and in a few in
stances of bark, mark the track of the
storm near Wilma, while the corn and
oats are entirely destroyed. So far as
| yet heard from no lives were lost
Of the two men reported to have
been injured at Marley mill, the Cecil
County Neaos says: John Doud and
Samuel Ferguson miraculously escaped
losing their lives, the bricks of the falling
smoke stacks and the debris of the boiler
room falling on and burying them or 10
feet under the ruins. A force of men went
heartily to work and rescued them from
their truly perilous situation. They were
badly cut and bruised about the head and
body but, fortunately, not seriously in
jured. Drs. Carter and Whitaker were
summoned and gave them the proper
medical attention. Henry Brown, o
colored team driver, was blown quite 9
distance through the air and seriously in
| jured while endeavoring to manage his
frightened horses.
| IN CHESTER COUNTY.
In West Chester Monday afternoon ant
evening the damage effected was solely by
the rainfall, and it was chiefly confined
to that portion lying along Chester creek
known rs the East ward. The breaking
of the breast of an ice dam served tC
deluge score of small tenements so sud
denly as to drive the inmates into tn
upper stories in order to save their lives
Huge gullies were worked in the streets
small bridges were swept away, furnitur
floated in the yards adjacent the houses
cellars were robbed of provisions an,
general destruction marked the course o
the rush of waters. though happily, with
out taking life.
About $50 o'clock in the afternoon al
ominous cloud floated into sight at Pocop
son township, and in its seemingly frenzie
gyrations demolished large double
decker barn belonging to William
Pritchet. The roof was carried distanc
of 600 feet, where it broke and was scat
tered over the adjacent fields. In the bar
at the time of the terrible visitation MI
Pritchets farmer was engaged threshin
| with machine. The frame norton o
thu building was lifted from the walls an,
carried away, without doing injury to tn
men or horses at work on the inside an,
so suddenly was the work of destruction
performed that the men scarcel
observed their situation until the franz
was scattered over the adjoinin,
premises. Other buildings, and trees an,
hedges were scattered like straw. Mr.
Pritchet was himself picked up by til
wind and carried from the barn distanc
of 90 yards and escaped with few Sigh
bruises. When the wind struck him h
was looking at the strange movement o
the clouds, and he describes its motor
and form to that of huge augur, boring
its way through all with which it came il
! contact. His loss will aggregate severa
thousand dollars, upon which there is nj
insurance of character to cover tbii
damage.
Along the Wilmington & Northern rail
road a number of washouts and land
slides INSTRUCTED travel yesterday morn
ing while on the Brandywine the mill
were flooded to their second stories il
some instances, and work necessarily sus
pended. The iron works of Pennock 4
Co., in Valley township, were flooded tc
such an extent TINT the workmen wer,
obliged to draw the heats of their fur
naces and leave the mill in order to say,
their lives.
While crossing small stream nea
West Chester, Samuel Brinton, with hi
horse and carriage, was thrown into til,
stream by the bridge giving way befor,
the force of the waters, and his life for ,
time was in great jeopardy. Cows were
seen floating in the swollen Brandywine
and number persisted. Scores of small
bridges all over the comfy were sweep
away, and the damage done to farm
, buildings, roads, crops and fields by tn
, water is incnlcuTable.
ANOTHER CYCLONE.