The Portland daily press., 1896-06-10

nonn., Aug. 8, 1878. when thirty four
Seople were killed, seventy were wound
ca and ninety-two buildings were wiped
/ out. Stone monuments were blown of
their bases. The velocity of whirl re
quired to accomplish this was estimated
at 260 miles an hour. From these facts il
would appear that the East is not at all
safe from calamities of this kind
The electrical display at Walingford
| IS described as having been most terrific
Straight rods of fire descended from the
clouds to the earth. On June 10, 1888.
tornado OF the yeritable pattern struck
Pine Plains, n. Y. 1t caught man on
d road with a team and wagon CARVING
a hogshead of sugar that weighed 1875
pounds Horse, cart and hogsheau were
| blown over stone wall, and the man
was carried fifteen rods in the opposite
direction. The history of cyclones is full
OF such freaks. People, horses and cattle
are carried for miles and put down unin-
Jured. Women are stripped entirely of
their clothing, and their hair is some
| times torn from their heads and twisted
| Into ropes. Chickens are deDuded of
| their feathers without being hurt. IL
! one recorded instance the trimming wan
taken off dress as neatly as if it had
been done by hand. On another occa-
sion q carpet, which had been securely
tacKed TO floor, was taken up and car
| RED out OF the house without being torn.
YeU another absurdity was the driving
OF piece or scantling seven feet long
ana SIX inches square lengthWise through
the body OF hog.
he occurrence of such freaks points
naturally to electricity as the caus e.
Nothing else could account for them.
Accepting this theory, it may naturally
De asked how the tornado gathers it's
tremendous store of electrical energy.
NAILS a very difficult question. We
KNOW bnat there is electricity in the at
mosphefe. By means of kites carrying
electfoiletars, and in other ways, it has
peen aseertalned that TIE amount of cleo
tflclty IN the atmosphere increases enor-
nously with the altitude. Whence comes
this eleotricity2 Perhaps il is generated
ny sunlight. Another theory is that the
neat energy of the sun is transformed
uhder certain conditions into electrical
energy. My notion is that the particles
OF moisture which go to make up the
clouds are some of them charged with
positive electricity and others with mega
tive electricity, under ordinary circum-
stances. Conditions of which we know
little or nothing cause them to rush to-
gether. and there follows q display of
lightning accompanied by the noise we
call thunder. Now and then the rushing
together OF the particles is accomplished
With such energy that what is called
SASo'A DdiCu Aoi4OWcj cAu d lUOb VI ruiu
may fall III ten minutes. 1t is as If q river
poured from the sky, the water coming
down almost continuous fluid. The
reason for rain is not known with GER
tainty, but | believe it to be an eleotri-
cal phenomenon. A tornado is common
~ accompanied by cloud burst.
A tornado is a thunder storm multi
piled in violence. That description,
though true enough 80 far as it goes, is
not satisfactory. We know that in
thunder storm there is concentrated an
enormous quantity of electricity over
head, about mile usually above the
earth. Respecting cyclones we are sad
ly lacking in data. When a phenomenon
OF this sort occurs, everybody runs away;
no one thinks of watching It, am not
certain that the funnel shaped cloud is
not mythical Idea; people are so ready
TO accept and repeat the notions of
Others. A man who had barely ESCAPED
tornado once told me that what looked
like an enormous ball rolling on the
ground pursued him. and other testimony
confirming this description has been
offered by-a number Of witnesses Of SINH
lar occurrences
1.-The approach of tornado is never
without warming. It is accom- papied by
roar that has been hkensd to the bel
lowing of a million of mad bulls, or to
the rumbling of ten thousand trains of
OAAH OfO1 fhS AIduy O1luStS. u6 Wlutu
Of the path of destruction is rarely over
three hunderd feet The best thing to
do in case of the near approach of such
storm Is to run to the north. There |
is no safety, however, except under |
ground. In Kansas and elsewhere in |
the tornado belt prudent people construct |
what they call cyclone cellars. Such q |
cellar is usually an excavation made |
through the west wall of the cellar of |
tns house outward, so that no part Of it
is beneath the dwelling. The floor OF |
the cave is made level with the floor of
the cellar OF the house, and its earth Roof
is supported by heavy timbers and arohed
with masonry of brick or stone. These
are precautions against damage by the
falling of heavy masses of debris
No building of stone or any other
Is proof against the violence of
q tornado. This fact was illustrated at
Grinnell, Iowa. in 1882, when a storm of /
this kind took sixty lives and destroyed
$500, 600 worth of property. One Of the
buildings reduced to complete ruin was
q solid edifioe OK stone and brick used for
q public school. The tornado tore it to
pieces as easily as If 1T had been so much
lath and plaster. That was the 'reeor d.
tornado up to 1890, when cyclone struok
Louisville, KY, and wiped out seventy
SIX lives and So, $50, 600 worth of property
This catastrophe was accompanied by q
.FeIuouuous yeleubTiOai uispityi uallS OF
fire flying about. OF course. nothing in
history up to date has approached the St.
Louis tornado
The occurrence of disastrous tornado
always gives a boom to 'oyclope' insur-
ance. Agents Of various companies are
doing rushing business in this line in
Sc. Louis just now They charge the
SAME rate as for fire insurance, though
tatistics show that the risk is only one
fifteenth as great. This policy of extor-
ion reacts upon the insurance compa-
aies, because after little while the For
lado scare is sure to diminish and the
insured stop paying"
RENE BACHE.
For the Home of Friend1ess Boys.
rranoemenks have heen mazda for a |