The Olneyville tribune. (Providence, R.I.) 1893-189?, 1894-04-28
a KANSAS CYCLONE.
The Awful Sight Witnessed By q
6icvcIist.

0tCvCuSt.
Being an enthusiastic wheelman,
writes John NJ. Steele, in st. Mich
olas, / frequently take long rides in
to the country. The evening of June
II found me on the road from Topeka
to Lawrence. The heat of the noon
day sun had given way to a slightly
cooler temperature, and the blue
dome was dotted here and there with
floating white clouds There was
scarcely breeze enough TO move the
willing foliage Of the lofty trees on
the bluff north of the road. The
whole world seemed at peace. l
could hear in the distance the peculiar
cry of the Farmland calling the pigs
TO the evening feeding. The milk
maid was busy with the cows.
As / moved slowly along, delight
ing in the glorious beauty Of the
landscape, and in its peaceful activ-
ity, / noticed that the air felt so
close and sultry that / found exer-
tion difficult; and this, with rus
tling in the trees and the yelling of
the suns face, prompted me to turn
to the west, where it seemed that a
thunderstorm was gathering. 1t
moved along rapidly-only a summer
shower. To the left, along the bluff,
the gentle drops of rain were falling
with lullaby-like patter on the thickly
clustered trees of the hillside forest.
/ had dismounted from my wheel,
and was watching the progress of the
storm that, passing so near me, had
not touched me.
But, all at once, with q mighty
roar like the rending Of the heavens,
dark greenish cloud with tints of
yellow and black, it's massive folds
writhing in and out like serpents at
battle, emitting vivid flashes of light
ming came over the bluff quarter of
mile east of me. 1t was shaped
like huge top, its irregularly formed
upper half revolving rapidly while
the lower end swept the earth along
path a quarter of a mile wide.
Startled as / was | could not take
my eyes from this awful messenger of
destruction. The crash of the build
ings first struck filled the air with fly
ing debris, in which fragments Of
houses, furniture, trees, farming i'm
plements, haystacks and telegraph
poles-all were propelled by Won
derful, irresistible current Of ruin
and disaster.
Eighty rods wide the death-dealing
cyclone swept along, skirting the
bluff, where it stripped foliage and
bark from the trees, and now and
then swooping down on some farm.
So suddenly did the storm burst that
many had to flee with all speed to
their cyclone cellars, the only safe
refuge from these fearful storms.
After course of half mile along
the bluff, the funnel-shaped monster
swerved to the right. 1t swept
through huge wheat-ields, where it
snapped off the dropping heads Of the
almost ripened grain, and then tore
on through the little village Of Will
Jamestown, transforming what was
the moment before "a lovely village
of the plain" into a scene of devasta-
ton. Houses, barns and other build
ings were destroyed, and human be-
ings carried through space as if they
We're but feathers.
Many lives were lost, and many
homes literally swept from the
face of the earth. There were many
miraculous escapes. A baby,
six months old, was discovered by
the roadside several hundred yards
away from the house, asleep and un-
injured. An old lady sixty years old
was carried a mile from her home and
lodged safely in the wide-spreading
branches Of an oak tree, unhurt. A
family of six sought refuge in a small
space under the stairs; the house was
carried away with the sole exception
of that portion, and the family es-
capped injury. A house was COM
pletely swept away; but the family
cat and her kittens under the porch
were not disturbed.