Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-05-27

Correspondence o. the Globe-Democrat-
sherman. Texas. May 22.-The mar
velous force Of The cyclone was exerted
in more than one direction. There was
lifting. suction movement which drew
things upward the moment the cloud
reached them. And then there was a
whirling motion which tore things into
small bits and ground them as in
mill while they mounted toward the
center. A third direction OF the eXer-
else Of power was the pounding which
the earth received. The path Of the
cyclone. even where it crossed soft
fields. is hard. Seemingly there was an
irresistible lifting force in the front OF
the cloud and a beating power II the
rear of it. while. between, the rotary
motion did its churning.
Scores of eye-witnesses who were
close TO the edge and observed the ap-
proach OF the cloud describe its first
action in JhS same manner. They say
that when the from OF IL reached a
house that house was lifted off its foun-
dations. This movement was almost di-
rectly upward IL did not show the ro-
tary force. But when a house had been
lifted from u to % feet from the
ground it suddenly went to pieces and
he fragments we're swallowed in the
.ortex. DR.. Michael. while getting his
horse out of the shafts of his buggy,
md. while running 10 cave himself,
aw the cloud come across several truck
arms. q saw this same action in the
asses OF the Dulin and ChisOlm houses
md Of several other buildings. In each
,ase the building was lifted whole 10 a
distance Of u or i feet. as he judged
he distance. and then went to pieces
before his vision.
1T was Just as IL they had exploded
when they got up in the air, is the way
Or. Michael describes this phenomenon.
At the Halsell place two buckets Of
milk were hanging in well 20 feet
deep, to keep cool. The suction drew
the buckets out of the we'll, and the ro-
sary motion did the rest. The buck
cts have not been seen since.
The hour of hard rain had covered the
earth with mud puddles. The cyclone
cloud licked up the muddy water in its
way and raired il down for half mile
on either side East of the path the
south sides Of the houses are spattered
thick with mud. West Of tie path the
north sides Of the houses are IN the
same p.seicameut People who have
turned the garden hose against the
soiled house fronts have found the work
OF cleaning difficult. The churning 1t
received made the mud of the consist
ency of plaster. and it sticks like the
nest OF the hornet.
One man describes the storm cloud as
looking like an elephants trunk let
down from heaven. the small emu
whiSking along the ground and drawing
up everything il touched.
An0her man. who limped into the
Biukley Hotel Office the next day, look
ing for a cheap rate ticket to Teanes-
see. had fresh scars on his face and car
ried his arm in q sling. He was asked
for his experience.
Il seen it comm" he said, "and put
my shoulder agin the door. The roof
went on. Then me and the door went
~ through the hole. That is all / know
about Il"
levitt Ames. a little boy whose father
and mother and sister were killed, told
now it happened. in this way:
Papa and mamma and all of us were
On the bed when it struck the house.
{ saw sister taken mp 10 the ceiling
vice and dropped back 70 the bed, and
hen il seemed like the house eXplod-
3D."
The rotary motion wrought its per
ect work in the middle line Of the path
North of the Ely home was fine grove
n which a Sunday school picnic was "a
have been held the day following the
welcome. The trees were widespread
ng oaks and elms. with trunks from
me TO three feet thick. Some Of these
we're dragged up by the roots and laid
down with their tops toward the mid
die line Of the cloud. Directly on that
ire the spiral force twisted the trees
from bottom 70 top, leaving them stand
ng in the form of a cOrkscrPw. with
trunks splintered by the twist and
branches interlaced Bots dare is the
ougheSt wood in Northern Texas. To
irive a pail into a Bots dare stick re-
luires a skillful hand When Bots dare
posts are used a fence is good for five
times the life of oak. Where the rotary
motiongota good grip on the Bots dare
post il twisted it on as ii il had been a
pine lath.
Just where it left the Sherman sub
urb of FaEview and passed into the
country the storm cloud gave one OF
The amazing exhibitions of its rotary
force. AT IN eend Of High street it came
into the Irvine and Stadler places two
Of the finest in Fairview. The Irvine
residence was on the west side of the
street. The Stadlers lived diagOnally
opposite. Both houses were new and
complete i'm all appointments. The
middle line of the cyclone was midway
between them. The path at this point
was wide enough to include the resi-
deuces and the other buildings. When
it reached the north edge of Fairview
the storm cloud had maintained a con-
tinuOus ground connection FOR fifteen
miles. an unusual distance for a cyclone
to dip" And yet the havoc wrought
showed no dimunitiOn of the destructive
power. The wreCking of the Irvine
and Stadler places was as complete as
anything 20 be seen in the entire path.
The fragments of Mr.. Irvine's house
were scattered in his neighbours yard,
east Of the street A section OF the
floor. which was about all that thu
grinding had failed % reduce 10 kind
ling wood was left on the ground near
where the foundations of the Stadler
house had been. When Mr. Stadler got
home after the storm and started out
10 look for the remnants of his house.