Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1888-01-06
AGRICULTURAL.
THE GBEtT WEST rs. COHFOET .ND .
SIFEIl. ~ VERMONT
rcrribi, C,cIonc.


LITTLE ROCK, Dec. ia special from
Cove, Polk county, reports thaJ a destruc-
tive cyclone visited Armstrong Academy.
Indian Territory, Ft Washita and Green,
at an early hour Saturday morning. caus-
ing great destruction to property and loss
Of life
A terrific rumbling sound was heard
about ) O'Clock 4 startled the few settlers
from their sleep to awake them 90 the hor
ror Of impending death heavy, black
cloud, funnel shaped, was seen in the dis
lance and rapidly approaching. When
about a mile north of Ft. Washita it struck
the ground, and from this point south for a
mile the work Of ruin was continued. The
cyclone travelled at about the rate of Il mile
"a minute. In an instant from the time it
struck the earth half the houses in TT
Washita were in ruins, and dwellings were
picked up and made into kindling wood by
the fury of the wind Armstrong academy
was not greatly injured, but the ranches in
the immediate vicinity suffered greatly.
At Green, a little hamlet six miles south
of Armstrong the damage was heavy and
many persons were injured. Seventeen
houses and general store were carried
away bodily, while horses and cattle within
the vicinity covered by the storm were
cannot of course be estimated, as the full
extent of the storm is unknown The two
children killed at Green were carried about
60 yards by the wind and dashed to the
ground and mangled so as to be almost un-
Recognizable Many cattle and other stock
were also killed 10y lightning. The storm
only lasted about six minutes at any one
point
In western HnnsnS.
WICHITA, Dec. 2l.-Pryate advices from
the west are that four people froze to death
in Ashland, Clark county, Monday night,
and widow, Mrs Riley, and two children,
near Dighton, Lane county, were also
found dead on Tuesday.
Hale Cowlev, a prominent real estate man
of this city, has arrived from trip Of sew
eral days in the counties of Clark, Co
Inanche and Mead and says that before the
arrival of the blizzard many people there
living on claims were coming to the towns
for food and fuel The druuth last summer
prevented raising anything, and all pro
visions are shipped in, and the scarcity of
provisions was not less to be feared than the
scarcity of fuel In number of towns
there is little fuel, and all means of trans
portation being cut off. many fear great
distress in the sparsely settled districts.
A leading railroad man of this city said
that with no interference to traffic by SNOW,
it would be as much as the railroads coud
do to keep the people in western Kansas
supplied with food and fuel He claims
that the phenomenal increase Of mileage ON
all lines in the state found rolling stock not
increased proportionately, aud there is
great need of freight cars and engines.
Concerning the coal famine out west the
railroad official minated that he had news
today, but did not wish to make known to
the public exactly what it was. He gave
assurance, however, that matters were i'm
much worse condition than could be de
sired. He did not hesitate to say that if
traffic were impeded several days the peo-
pile would suffer.