The Bryan daily eagle. (Bryan, Tex.) 1895-1898, 1897-03-20

/ known Of a ease where one OF them
struck a town that had a forest OF even
few acres IN extent TO the southwest.
"Tornadoes always travel from
southwest 10 northeast am inclined
10 thina that a forest Of moderate ex,
tent 10 The southwest 81 town Is a
most eiuclent protection agalns.
storms OF this kind. because the trees
draw oG the electricity that gives 10
tt % clone iis energy. n this Is true.
u follows that every town In the dan
ger belt ought 20 plant trees for a tor
nado barrier, II II has not already this
doionrc. Such plan Is much sim
pier aud less costly than the dyna-
mite system which have already sug-
gelIci. The towns ought not 10 re-
main undefendod while waiting Tor
trees 10 grow. and % would propose
that temporary makeshlft might be
feryiceable. consisting az a barrier OF
tan poles with a net work Of wires ex-
tending between them.
Some time ago I made a ilft OF 2.22i
iorngdocs that were recorded In the
United siaicl between 1873 and ISIS.
They caused an average loss OF one life
and fii.Si2 per cyclone. New York
state hal 100 OF them. including one Of
The first order. costing q total Of 81.
10000. There were III IN Pennsyl-
yania. which destroyed si.0gs 900
worth OF property One OF the very
worst occurred at walllngford Conn.
August Q. 1875. when 90 people we're
Killed. 20 wounded and % buildings
we're wiped ont Stone monuments
were blown OF their bases. The We.
loeliy Of whirl required 10 accomplish
this was estimated at 800 miles an
hour From these facts O. would ap-
pear that the east "a not AZ all safe
from cllamltics Of this Nina. The
electrical display at wnlllngford l. de-
scfitoi as having been mos, terrific.
Accepting this electrical theory. Il
may naturally be- asked hoW the lorna.
do gathers o. tremendous store OF elec.
trical energy. This 10 a very dlaicult
question. We knoW that there h. e.ec-
iriclty In the atmosphere. Whence
comes this electricity Perhaps Il Is
genrwted by sunlight Another the
orr "a that the heat energy OF the sun
a. transformed under certain condi-
lions into electrical energy. Ny notion
Is that the particles OF moisture which
90 20 make mp the clouds are some OF
them charged with positive electricity.
aud others with negative electricity.
under ordinary circumstance. Con
d.uona of which We know little or
nothing. cause them Co rush together.
and there follows O. display Of light
nlng accompanied by the noise We call
thunder
"A tornado is thunderstorm multi
piled in violence Respecting 'cy-
clones. we are sadly lacking Ga data.
When q phenomena of this sort or.
ours. everybody runs away. no one
thinks % watching Co. am not Ger.
tain that the Handicapped cloud ls
rot a mythical idea.
The approach OF q tornado d never
without warning. % De- accompanied
by roar that has been lloncd 10 the
holloginr oi million mad hulla
Tho width OF thc path % destruction ia
rarely over 800 feet The best thing
To- do ln calo OF th' near approach OF
such a storm o. 20 run % th, north
There o. no safety. however. cxccp,
underground.
no building 90 stone or any other
material d proof lgllns, the violence
% tornado Tha fact was mus.
ratcd at GrIuno.l losa Ia 1859. when
o. storm 90 thlE k.nd took sixty lives
and destroyed $4,000 worth Of pfop.
criy One ~ The hulldlnrs reduced to
complete ruin w2i a solid cdlace OF
stone ana brisk used for a publle
school The tornado torr @ to pieces
as clrily as 10 {, bad been 80 much
laih and plaster. That vas the 'r.,.
ord' tornado nm TO 1880. when a 'cv.
clone struck Louisville. Ky. and
wiped ou, scvcn,y-sly lives aud s. $50
600 worth OF property"