The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1893-04-22

ASN'S A"DOD oOSou III tOSy uWCliiuB llOlSt
of U. j. Hutchinson. 1t was a home con-
secrated to love and happiness. In vain
tho family tried to reach the cellar, not
ten feet away. They saw the black Bosom
OF death coming, but it's motion was too
rapid. Almost as soon as seen it had
them in its relentless grasp and The havoc
was terrible. Mrs. Hutchinson was
fatally hurt and every member of the
family injured. The house was too COM
rlete a wreck to photograph. The storm
here was in full energy. A barbed wire
fence was literally stripped, leaving only
the posts standing-another remarkable
manifestation of the incalculable force of
Il ornado.
A hedge fence-one OF those thrifty old
fellows OF forty years growth-a hedge OF
bois dare, whose trunks were as large as
a mans thigh and as tough as whitleather
lines the road that turns to the east
ward north of Hutchason's house. These
trees were drawn in towards the center of
the storm track two hundred yards away,
many Of them being uprooted and man.
gled out of shape.
DESoLATION AT ''NETTLEwOOp."
A walk OF two miles brought us to
"Nettlewood," the HON of Capt. Ryland
Todhunter, a leading stock raiser. Capt.
Todhunter r~ejoices in one of the hand
soonest homes in this county. His family
consists of himself, his charming wife a
son and three little girls.7 His residence
rests upon a slightly ridge. To the
south and east stands agrove of stately
forest trees. Oaks, walnuts, elms and
hickories mingle in a scene of sylvan
beauty. Through the southwest corner
OF this grove trends a deep, tortuous
~raviue. On the opposite side OF the road
from the grove stands a story and a half
log house, property of Frank Kroeck.
Within the grove seventy-five yards from
Kroeck's stood a tenement house occupied
by an old colored woman and her little
eight year old daughter.
The tornado struck Kroeck's house and
carried away the roof and all the logs of
the half story. All his o%uthouses, stable
and shed were swept off down the valley.
The storm then crashed into the grove
with the fury of n demon. The house of
the negro oma was crushed like an
When Mrs. Todhunter undertook to press
it's head into its normal shape its brains
fell out into her hands.
The storm, as if maddened by the oppo-
sition presented by the trees, played wild
havoc. 1t rended, tore and splintered
them. 1t pounded them to the ground.
1t tore them up by the roots, then used
them as weapons to beat down, mangle
and crush other trees with. A large oak
was rended in twain; one half fell to the
west the other to the east. Trees nearly
two feet in diameter were twisted in two
or snapped off like pipe stems and shiv-
cred into a thousand splinters. 1t was
the mad revel of a devil incarnate. Moth
ing withstood its destructive force.
Mrs. Todhunter heard the roar OF the
storm. Calling the family to her she
attempted to lead the way to the cellar,
but ere she could pass through the dress
ing room the storm burst. The room was
filled with a black vapor that smelled of
sulphur, and other fumes fresh from
haNOo- ~ SShAl oo I bhdD hlTb.
Todhunter thought the lamp had gone
out. In the sitting room and parlor the
window panes were blown in and the
room Uttered with heaps of rubbish. The
shutters were torn from their f~astenings,
the south and north walls of the house
were sprung out. The structure rocked,
shivered and careened to the horrible
shock.
Fortunately, though, the storm swept
by without further injury to the dwelling
house--but what a wreck was there out
side! 1t was a scene OF havoc, confusion
and desolation. The beautiful grove was
mangled and torn. The grand orchard
was swept clean, not a tree left standing.
Many of the trees were dragged two hun
dred yards from where they had grown
and yielded their delicious fruit. The
barn, where the Captains finest horses
were stabbed, was crushed and careened,
and had to be propped to prevent its
falling. Nineteen fine brood mares were
loose in the grove but had found safety
without the path Of the destroyer. Fences
were razed, %shrubbery crushed. 1t sickens
one to behold what is and reflect upon
what was.
The storms next visitation was the
home of John Lucke. The house was
demolished, his wife and brother-in-law
killed, himself, daughter and son badly
hurt. Mrs. Lucke was standing by her
stove preparing supper when the tornado
struck. When the ~lifeless body was found
1t was lying by the stove one hundred
yards away.
From Lucke's only barns were injured,
except the house of John Mason, colored,
which was wrecked. This was three
miles east OF Dover, and twelve miles
northeast from MAYHEM.
. H NATURE OF A TORNADO.
Now as to the nature of a tor nado, for
it is an objectionable misnomer to call it
but that sounds all too tame. Tornado is
the word. 1t is a local storm, of much in
tensity and destructive energy. No well
informed writer would speak of it as a
cyclone. A cyclone partakes of few of
the features OF q tornado. A cyclone is a
vast revolving storm, continental in its
course and effects. At the center it is
generally calm, whereas a tornado is
most energetic and business-Iike at it's
center.
While the MAYHEM tornado was sweep
ing across Lafayette county at the velocity
of one hundred miles an hour and it's
whirling motion increased at times to a
thousand, leaving death and destruction
in its track, a cyclone was prevailing all
over the Mississippi valley. The tornado
in no place had a width extending five
hundred yards. The cyclone at the same
time extended from Winnipeg, in Man.
itoba, to San Antonio, Texas, and from
indianapolis to Denver city. AT the
cyclone or storm center there was a calm
with a barometic pressure of 29.1O inches.
At Lexington the pressure was 1880. 1t
was the indraught of air into the great
depression at the storm center along the
perimeter OF the isobaric of 1890 that
.A.M