The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1893-03-08
A Devastating Cyclone.


O terrible wind storm swept across sever
al counties fifty miles north Of Columbus
doing great damage and causing consid-
erable loss of life.
The storm came up from the northwest
and struck Greenville, the county seat
of Meriwether county, about $50 O'Clock
demolishing the business portion Of the
town and a great number of dwellings,
Thirty-eight stores and dwellings are re-
ported to have been blown down, and
but three business houses in the whole
town are left intact. Every house
was damaged to greater or lesser ex-
tent
Only one person was killed, a negro
women. No one was injured.
Odessa, a small town near Greenvllle,
was completely swept away. Several
persons were killed.
At Woodbury., ten miles east of Green
vile, houses were blown down and trees
uprooted, but fortunately no lives were
lost. About two miles from the town
two negroes and one white child were
killed. Many are reported to be seriously
wounded.
At Molena, in Pike county, church,
academy, planning mill, two stores and
several residences were blown down.
Five lives were lost, white woman
named Mrs. Fell and four negroes.
Advices received from Piedmont coun-
ty, few miles from Molena, report that
only two houses of twenty remain stand
ing. A young lady named Hawkins was
killed and her parents badly wounded.
Almost every one in the town was woun-
ded to some extent.
From the lower part of Troup county
is reported great destruction. Several
people were injured but nonewere killed
outright. Many narrow escapes are re-
ported A party was being held in one
house when giant tree was uprooted
and crashed through the building split
ting it into kindlinG wood, yet nobody
there was hurt.
A baby not a month old was carried
distance Of thirty yards and for half an
hour lay beneath a lot Of boards appa-
rently uninjured.
Meridian, Miss, March 5.-A terrific
cyclone in this section wrought incalcu-
liable loss of life and property Friday
night.
The cyclone struck Marion, Ala, at
about p. m. travelling around the
southwest to northeast. 1t was described
by an eyewitness as a whirling ball
of fire and travelled in a zigzag
course. The main track was 300 yards
wide and everything in that track was
swept away, tho wreckage OF houses
being scattered for miles along its
course.
At Marion only two fatalities are re-
ported. A dozen persons were injured
more or less severely. A child was
blown out of its mothers arms and was
instantly killed, its mother escaping
without injury.
At Toomsuba, Miss, there was great
destruction to both life and property.
Numerous dwellings and stores were de-
molished, and their contents scattered for
miles around. Among those who were
fatally injured was a Mrs. Rodnett, who
was struck by flying splinter an inch
thick, eighteen inches long which pene-
trated from the top of the left shoulder
through her back, coming out beneath
her right shoulder blade diagonally across
the back.
Miss, great damage was done. In Bar
teen people killed and twenty seriously
injured. Mrs. Harrington, an aged lady,
was blown away and hor body has not
been recovered. A fine Jersey COW was
blown mile at Pachuta and alighted on
the Baptist Church uninjured.
The cyclone seemed to have started
in Mississippi, then moved Eastward
through Alabama and Georgia, switching
off into North Carolina, giving South
Carolina nothing more than unusally
high winds.
It has been impossible so far to even
approximate the financial loss occasioned
by the cyclone, but it will 60 into the
hundreds of thousands.
Reports from the centre of the cyclone
disturbance show that the great destitu-
ton will call for relief. Many of the
cyclone sufferers are in a destitute con-
dition, having been rendered houseless
and homeless by the wind, with not a
vestige of clothing except the garments
they had on their backs. Starvation
stares some Of them in the face.