The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1888-02-23

truction,of tho County Cour
House, magnificent two-slOr
brick building. The Court Hous
stood in prominent place an
could easily be seen almost from til
tower To the ground. Ii looked t
me as though he huge pile of bricl
and mortar had been struck by
gigantic battering ram, Or ii yo,
please by a big club in the hands o
II power strong enough 10 knock i
down at single blow. 1t seemed
TO collapse al at once-spread out
crush and bury the buildings sur
rounding it,"
Marcus Aarons. a drummer from
Philadelphia. who was passenger
on the train, says: 1T was ter
rible calamity. l never witnessed
anything so frightful in my lie :
On reaching the Mount Vernon ,ta
lion it began to thunder and light
ming P esently it began to rain
and hail. driving every ono to sI'eI
ter. Ju>t about this time a pGrten-
iious. black cloud funnel shared,
was seen over our heads. Sume OF
the people knew in r,nment what
was coming and began to cry ont
words of warning. The clou,l
burst in IL minute after forInihg.-
1t came with the roar and crash of
a mighty battle. Houses of all de
scrIpt;ons went down like wheat
beio'e the fail. Men, women and
children ran, hiiher and thither,
and praying in their per-
il and fright. The County Court
House was utterly wrecked and a
three story mill was blown across
the track just behind us. Onr IRAN
was lying in he track Of the cyclone
and it was taken at flying rate
down tho track. The engineer
could not c0n;rnl he train and for
for us the brakes we're not
on. Trees wero upro0ted and cars
lifted cleanly eff their wheels. The
passage Of the cyclone must have
occupi. d at least two minutes. |
think that fully half of the town
was totally wrecked. and to add TO
the horror of wind. many fires broke
out among the ruins. From the
train We could see the smoke ana
flames using from The dozen differ
cnl houses Our train did not vail
long enough in The town for us to
learn the accurate lvss of life and
property, but the devastation was
terrible. A strange thing was that
three minutes after the cyc'on., the
sun WAS shining brightly and serene
Iy on :he scene of dessolation
j. A. Wallace, agent of the
Southern Express, at Shelbyvllle.
Tennessee. also saw the storm from
, train window. and described it
.hus. ~ behel,l fearful black
.loud coming from the nOrt! west,
Il was in the shape of Il large inver
ed cone and it could he plainly seen
% be revolving around on AN Imrg-
nary axis, and at the same lime 10
,e bouncing up and down thro lgh
he air with wonderful frlghtful
peed. II grew denser and the
, ackness assumed ferccness that
vas Appalling. The wind in our
vicinity was now blow
ng with an a most Incredible vrloc
iy, as the cloud w.:s ap! ro 'ching,
ausing the standing coaches to rock
nl sway or their trucks ike RI, ctu-
lie. Men and women on the
reefs were blown to The g-ounh.
II mnmeul the w!,iriing cloud ar |
ivch at The town. and it conld he
cen dipping down here and there
nd tearing off hnnse roofs. and then
ising higher into the air again. like
swaving balloon. 1t woald float :,
long with lightning like raridlty.
ut soon swoop down again upon
re delrmSeless little town III anoth
: spot, raising the houses and
ees. licking the sides of buildings
nd tearing great holes in lliem.and
aving devastation along every ,
rt OF its .conrse As the cloud :
Duld dip downrand rise again, 1t
'p!d carry trees upward Into the !
+ and throw them to the ground i
til mighty force. hundred yar'ls
ay Parts of the houses. roofs. f
'es. boards, bricks, with ail kinds
debris. were flying through the