The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1890-04-03

account Of the terrible storm ~
Louisville:
There was another strange feature
Of the cyclone which reared through
LouisvilIs. Heretofore the destroy
lag cloud had almost Invariably
made Its descent about o'clock In
the aftsrnOon. On Wednesday, how
sver, it hung In the inky darkness
In the southwest until Q s'eleck.
when Il dropped through the pelt-
Ing rain, and. with the deafsning
roar which always accompanies 10
flight, bounded into the heart Of the
city. From its twisting came rib
bons Of Gre, and above the din Of its
rsslstless rush came the most appall-
Ing peals Of thunder. Men who
clung desperately 10 stationary
objects saw through the spiteful
flashes Of lightning . great, dark,
trembling mass, which seemed 20
rise llks IN inverted cone 70 the
clouds, which were skipping toward
the Indiana shore.
IL was plainly . tornado. The
characteFistiss Of q hurricane were
not noticeable. Tue cloud twisted
and ground lie way into every
object It met. IL bounded from one
side Of the street 10 the opposite side
like . huge rubber ball, and vher-
ever It struck It tore Its way like .
projsetIls fred from . tremendous
gun. IL did not display LIS energy
among frame cottages, a. hss been
lts custom on . western plain. lt
attacked stone, iron and brick, and
when it had finished biting front
cut here and Q roof OF there 10 raced
with . laundering roar across the
swollen Ohio and into the city Of
Jacksonville. The district looks rs
though hundred rife guns has been
turned upon Il for tvsnty-fOur
hours.
The noise was Indeseribable. IL
was like . subterraaean upheayal
that had suddenly Frustrated snOrm-
Gus buildings. The earth trembled
fer miles around and In some In
stances buildings many blocks away
from the district torn aud shattered
by the cloud trsmbled violently.
Although the cloud rolled and
tumbIed In the streets for less than
two minutes Il performed all the
eccentric acts Of previous tornadoes.
Massive buildings were torn asunder
while Q frame barber shop standing
right In the path Of the destroyer
Wss left untouched; roofs covering
some Of the largest buildings In the
city were ripped or a. clearly -
though the blade Of o great knife
had been ct work upon them. In
other places the walls came down
with q crash aud I'm Q cloud Of dust.
Still other buildings were blown full
Of holes, some Of the apertures being
large enough for the admission Of
barrel. The walls Of q score OF
buildings are shattered and ready TO
topple over. In other cases the
household goods Of one family were
blown into the street, while the
lights were not extingulshed In ad-
joining rooms In the same structures
The cloud that swung its cone
around immense tobacco warehouses
and hurled their bricks and timbsrs
for blocks around bounded gayly
over q baby carriage within ten feet
Of Its most awful ruin.
As the cloud sped away In lie
course toward the Indiana shore Il
dipped into the Ohio river, which 10
now ut food height. River men say
the spectacle was one Of remarkable
grandeur, and from their boats,
which were already throbbiug in
the rushing food, they heard the
roa. Of the tornado as Il burst away
from the heaps Of wreckage in the
business district Of the city. About
one block from the river the cloud
arose with its cone flashing as
though Il carried In Its talons 9
thousand flaming arrows. Then II
plunged with q roar and q hiss into |
the river. An angry battle eDsued.
The water was churned into an
angry surf, whose waves were OF
yeasty white. Then . waterspoui
sprAng after the spout that had
fallen from the clouds. The twin
furies struck Jacksonville almost
at the same time. The spout drawn
up from the river simply hurled its
water and mud upon the ruins Its
more terrible companion had &C.
The storm cloud then
bounded into the air and swept
away into the country.