San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-03-26
TALES OF THE TORNADO.
QUICK AND TERRIBLE DEVASTATION
CAUSED BY THE WINDS.

Curious Freaks Wrought by the Lee Sum
nit Observation-Disclosures Picked Clean.
Houses Completely Destroyed in Quar-
ter of a Minnie.
The premonItory symptom of the birth OF
a tornado is a violent agitation among Ger
tain low lying, meuacing black clouds from
which protrudes as the upshot of the strug
gle, funnel shaped appendage, which de
sends more or less rapidly toward the earth,
and begins its career of mischief the moment.
but no sooner than, it touches it Lifting
alternately and dropping, and swaying with
slight zigzagging movement from side to
side, the dusky vaporous sheath, conceallng
the gyrations of a whirlwind terrifically au
dible from afar, advances with rapidity
leaving scant time for thought or fight. The
funnel cloud" inclosing the Lee Summit
tornado made its appearance about
D. m. on May 80. 1879, looking like
large elephants trunk with tie small
end pointing downward. Another observer
compared it to an immense serpent hung up
by the head and writhing In agony, its tail
curling and lashing as if actuated by the i'm
pulses of living body. 1t would rise, fall
and careen from side to side like balloon
The roaring was intense and could be heard
at distance of seventeen miles. A gyratory
motion in a direction contrary to the hands
of a watch was distinctly visible, and the
cloud, as it approached boiling and twisting
presented a frightful appearance For
twenty-five miles, however, it Travelled
harmlessly In the air at height of several
hundred feet, then struck the fertile plain
of Missouri at several distinct intervals, leav
ing at each swoop a track of devastation
SIS feet wide The gaps, where the
cloud had temporarily retired upward, were
altogether untouched, and tornadoes have
been known to descend just low enough
to reap away the summit foliage of trees
without hurting anything beneath.
ASTOUNDING DETAILS.
The inmates Of DR. Donnington's house at
Lees Summit emerged from the cellar, to
which they had retired Oh the approach OF
the Storm to find that their habitation had in
the meantime twirled round as if on an axis,
had told them nothing of the catastrophe.
The crash of falling timbers was completely
masked by the hoarSe believing of the tempest.
surprisingly minute activity was displayed
by it. Clothes and bed linen looked as II
some person out of pure mischief had care
fully torn them into small strips. Several
chickens were completely denuded Of their
feathers An iron bound trunk in Mr.. Thad
deus W. Warden's house was torn to pieces,
and the lock found sticking in rail, half q
mile to the northeast Photographs from al
album which the trunk had contained were
carried four miles, and a receipt for lumber
from Dr. Donnington's house was recovered
from a distance of forty miles Mrs. War
denis long hair was partly cut, partly torn
from her head twisted into a rope, and laid
yard or two from where she stood.
Some singular freaks" of the wind are re
corded. A carpet was taken up untorn from
the floor to which it was securely tackled
feather beds were ripped open, sewing ma
chine was broke into half hundred pieces
the six fragments Of massive iron kettle
were dispersed in as many different direc
tions, dog was carried 200 yards and found
dead, with his head and shoulders driven into
the ground. A heavy lumber wagon wa:
| lifted over a corn field, 100 feet across, and
deposited intact on the other side, while ar
adjacent house was, without injury, moved
| six inches from its original position.
Mr. Quissenberry's house, on the other
| hand was struck as II by a cannon shot, ano
| completely wrecked, and the debris of Mr.
! Warden's dwelling was strewn over an area
| of five square miles. Human life was moi
| spared Most Of the i'll fated Harris family
persisted, Grievous injuries were widely
distributed The sufferers were usually
found thickly coated with viscous black mud
their eyes and ears closed, hair matted, some
times their very garments stripped off. And
all this havoc was wrought in scarcely more
than a. quarter Of a minute. The previou!
| calm of the air was re-established within
twenty seconds Of the instant when it wa!
first disturbed.
QUICKER THAN A MAGICIAN.
The "DelphoS tornado" rivaled the Dav
export brothers in its capacity for untying
knots In the house Of Mr.. Mcbride was {
strong trunk, clasped and bound with iron
in which $4,000 in greenbacks was deposited
THE money was tied up in $500 packages
containing smaller packages Of 800 each
which crossed each other at right angles anc
the whole was firmly bound together by
strong cords. then all the large packe-~
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