The Portland daily press., 1885-08-05
PHILADELPHiA'S CYCLONE.
A Storm that Ratified Like a Train of
Artillery.
A Graphic Account of Its Effects.

PHILADELPHIA, Penn, Aug. Mr.. John
Dialogue of Camden, whose works were de-
stroyed by yesterdays cyclone, says
Looking out the door upon the river l saw the
tornado tor approach / could see the buildings Of
side, going off like chaff. Then the storm struck
the Major Reybold, which was partially abreast
of my place. Portions of her upper works were
whirled fully 400 feet into the air. A tremendous
roar preceded it. The moving fury resembled a
dense mass of rolling black smoke, and it trav-
eed within 10 feet of the surface of the water on
the river. A singular phenomenon was noticed
not only by myself, but by all my men in the yard.
This was huge ball OF fire. fully 10 feet in diam
eter, which swiftly accompanied the storm cloud
After playing sad havoc with my establishment,
saw this ball of fire explode about 250 yards
north of me with report SO terrific as to shake
the foundations of the buildings in my yard. Fol-
lowing this came number OF explosions, but of
less force. All the sky to the eastward was unus-
uay bright, and had a sort of rainbow appear
ance. In fact this was one of the most remarka-
BILE sights of the kind that had ever seen. The
ball of fire which exploded am satisfied played
the mischief at the American Dredging Company's
place.
The people of Camden all tell the story of
the rumble, like the rattling of train of
heavy wagons over paved streets, that ac-
companied the cyclone Before it the air
ing the awful sight fled in terror by the hun
dreds to their cellars. The cyclone lasted
between four and five minutes, and was
marked with terrific puffs and roars. 1t is a
singular fact that fiat rooted houses suffered
the most; the wind, with the greatest ease
catching them under the cornice, lifted them
as though they were sheets of paper. There
was hardly an lntance where a manSard roof
building was wrecked. SO great was the vi
olence of the wind that the fronts and sides
of houses and bulk windows were smashed
as though they were eggshells. Roofs were
carried hundreds of yards away. Shade trees
were moved down like platoons of soldiery
on the battlefield. Monster trees that had
stood the storms of years were uprooted or
broken off like pipestems The eccentricities
of the wind could be seen on every side.
Buildings which it would seem that an ordi-
nary storm would demolish, and which were
in the path of the storm, were spared, while
their neighbOrs-modern structures of brick
were gutted or wrecked outright About the
only two public buildings damaged were the
Tabernacle NJ. E. Church at Third and Pearl
streets, and the Cooper schoolhouse, close at
hand.
LATER.
The best information at hand regarding
yesterdays cyclone is that five persons lost
their lives, two are reported missing and six
| ty were injured, some so seriously that re-
| covery is impossible. The missing are Mary
and Thomas Atkinson, of Camden, who were
on the Reybold, ,and who are believed to have
| been swept into the river as no trace of them
could be found The scene in the 25th ward
| of Philadelphia this morning is one of DESC
lation. Many houses are razed to the ground
others are completely gutted, while many
more are roofess. The appearance of locali-
ties on both sides of the Delaware river in
the direct track Of the tornado resembles a
once thickly populated region that has been
visited by an extensive fire. The total loss
will amount to about $5O0,0OO, including
$250,o00 on property in Camden, $15O,O0O in
Philadelphia, and $25 900 on vessels damaged
in the river. The rain storm which followed
the tornado also did great deal of damage
and the water in the Schuylkill river this
morning is higher than for many months. In
Managunk some of the streets were washed
away by the flood to depth of seven feet
from curb to curb. The trestle work of the
bridge there was carried away, and the eel
lars of 300 houses were filled with water.