The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-08-21
A STORMS RAVAGES.
Death and Destruction by a Tor
nadO i'm New York State.
Three Workmen Crushed to Death
by a Landslide.

A dispatch from Norwood, N. V, gives the
following account of the destruction wrought
by a tornado, which struck the village about
5 =. NJ, and continued about fifteen minutes
The cloud is described as a dark and roaring
mass of wind and rain, and was preceded by
n calm. AS the cloud drew nearer a roaring,
Kissing sound was heard. which increased
to a wild crash as it struck. Hailstones
much larger than walnuts filled the air, while
sheds, roofs, boards and limbs of trees were
scattered in every direction. Several per-
sons who were out in the storm showed the
black and blue marks where they were struck.
Drivers left their teams in the street and fled
for their lives. The devastation in some
parts of the village is almost complete. Vege-
tation of all kinds is as flat as though run
over by n roller. On one street there were
over thirty trees blown down in the yards
and highways, some of the trees being q foot
in diameter
The bridge OF the Ogdensburg and Lake
Champlain railroad - rs feet long - was
picked up and thrown thirty or forty feet
into the river. The staging and tower were
torn from the new sch)ol-house The steeple
of the Congregational church blew over. The
roo. was torn from the Holbrook brick block
also the roofs from the Norwood Lumber COM
pany's mill and sash, door and blind factory.
Wells q Gibbs factory, the Ohio and Louis
Vile Central freight house and n portion of the
ROdee grist mill. Windmills belonging to
Luther Bartlett and S. r. Phelps were blown
down. Pcarson's broom factory is a mass of
ruins. The Whitney house barns are un
rooted. Napoleon Cardinals new house was
carried forty feet from its foundation and
destroyed. Beside these at least one hundred
buildings are injured to some extent. Many
windows are broken entirely anil probably
two thousand panes of glass smashed.
The loss OF life so far as reported included
Michael Martin. a farm hand, and Mrs.
David ~Fitzsibbons. The injured were Myra
Ormsby, aged eighteen, probably fatally
hurt; Mrs. George Cramer,S :. f.. Leslie, Mrs.
Oliver Lunderman, Carl and RunIs King and
Charles Miner.
As the farmers came in they brought re-
ports of damage at Hcwittsville. West Pots
dam, Norfolk, Raymondville, Plum Brook
and Brookdale. John kenneen, assessor at
Norfolk, and Carol King, of the same town,
are INJURED. The total loss is estimated at
from 5000 to $500. 900.
A Schenectady dispatch says that the dam.
age to the railroad was fully $4,000 and
neighboring farmers suffered to the extent o
S1O,O OO.
An Ithaca dispatch gives the following ac-
count of a terrible accident which occurred
at ~Mckinney's, about five miles away, during
the progress of n thunderstorm 1t seems
that on the approach of the storm
SIX men who were working in the
vicinity of Mckinney's took refuge in
a shed at the base of a perpendicular ledge of
boulders which forms the palisade along the
east side of Clyuga Lake. The rain descend
ed IN torrents, and in some way loosened
several of the great stones overhanging the
cabin in which the men had fled for shelter.
These fell with terrific force, completely
demolishing the wooden structure and
instantly crushing to death three men.
Their names were: Michael Mack, foreman Of
a section gang on Cayuga Lake railroad ,
Patrick Mcmahon and Michael Fahee. Two
OF the remaining three men escaped with a
few scratches, but the third. John Sullivan.
had his hip crushed and was otherwise in.
Jured internally, so that it was thought nc
would die. Fahee and Mcmahon were both
married and leave families.