The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-11-09
THE FEARFUL TORNADO.

BoGs Of the Singular Ereaks II Great
Windstorms In the West.
The awful force Of tornado cannot
Be realized by any one who has not had
an opportunity to become familiar
Herewith. The history of these disas-
tiers is replete with examples Of tho
most extraordinary character. Thus
an account of storm which took place
in Kansas in 1879 relates that sulky
pillow weighing TOO pounds was carried
long distance, and one of tho axles.
one and three-qusrter inches in Diane
ter, was snapped squarely of.
Wagon wheels were broken into
splinters and the tires twisted into all
sorts of shapes. A man was carried into
the air and there came into contact
with a horse, whose tail he seized and
was thus carried along for consider
able distance and finally dropped to the
ground comparatively uninjured A
two-horse wagon with one live horse at
tached to it, the other having been
killed and torn away, was seen at
height of a hundred feet in the air. A
hog weighing three hundred pounds
had timber seven feet long and six
inches square driven directly through
Its body. The wheel OF wagon was
carried . mile, while chickens were
stripped of their feathers and their bod
les carried three miles from home
In Jackson county. Mo-, in 1879,
tornado carried away house, no part
of which was ever found. The carpet
OF part of the house, however. was
pulled from the floor and left on tho
ground uninjured. Several garments
that had been in tho house were found
at distance of five or six miles
large trunk was torn to pieces and the
lock was found half mile away driven
into the rail of fence Two heavy
quarter-inch wagon tires were twisted
literally into knots
In Marshall county. Kan. the same
year that the two storms already re-
ferred to occurred, another tornado tore
down a massive iron bridge. It lifted
the heavy structure squarely from the
piers and dropped it into the river The
rods and beams were twisted into all
sorts of shapes. Rods two and one-half
inches in diameter were broken squarely
off. The structure was lifted from tho
abutments SO easily that but two stones
of the three piers that supported it
were disturbed in any way.
In April, 1879, there was severe tor
nado near Marlborough, s. c.. which
was signalized by many peculiar occur
rences. A hickory tree fiftyfour inches
in circumference was lifted bodily out
of the ground and carried some distance
up a steep bank. An iron chisel was
carried ninety feet and driven tive
inches into log. A basket of books
weighing fifty pounds was carried two
and half miles and found hanging to
q tree with the contents intact Gerani-
ums in pots were carried milo and
found uninjured. Letters and books
were carried six miles, and articles Of
clothing were found ten miles from
their owners houses.
At storm in Missouri an entire rail-
road train, with the exception OF the
engine, was thrown from the track, the
cars being deposited in all sorts Of po-
sitions at varying distances from tho
track. In a recent storm in Kansas
barn with horse inside of it was
lifted by the wind and deposited on tho
roof of two-story building, while
trees were driven through the walls Of
houses and many other strange occur
rences were noted. In fact, volumes
could be filled with the bare recital Of
the strange freaks of tornadoes.-N. Y.
Mail and Express.