St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1899-08-16
A WESTERN TORNADO.
People aad Animals WhirIed through
the Air.

the Air.
Tohn R. Musick in the August Century
gives vivid description OF personal
experience in tornado at Kirksville.
Mo-, from which we take the following
extracts:
perhaps the most remarkable expe-
rences were those of Miss Moorehouse.
Mrs. Webster and her son. The three
were caught up in the storm and were
carried beyond the Catholic church.
nearly one fourth of a mile, and let down
on the common so gently that none was
killed. Mrs. Webster had some slight
cuts about che head, her son had one
arm fractured, but Miss Moorehouse
was uninjured.
I was conscious all the time was fly-
ing through the air said Miss Moore.
house, and it seemed a long time. 7
seemed to be lifted up and whirled round
and round, gong up to great height,
at one time far above the church steeples,
and seemed to be carried long distance.
prayed to the Lord to save me, for
believed He could save me, even on the
wings OF the tornado; and He did won.
derully preserve my life. AS was going
through the air, being whirled about at
the sport of the storm. saw a horse
soaring and rotating about with me. 1t
was white horse and had harness on.
By the way it kicked and struggled as it
was hurled about l knew it was alive. I
prayed God that the horse might not
come in contact with me and it did not.
| was niercifully landed upon the earth
unframed, saved by a miracle.
Young Webster says he saw the horse
in the air while he was being borne
along. AT one time it was directly over
me, and was very much afraid would
come in contact with its flying heels
The white horse belonged to a teamster
named Cheney, living in the southeastern
part of the city. Its mate was found
dead near the wrecked barn in which the
animals were standing. Their master
had just come in from his days work,
and seeing the rain coming up, put the
horses in the barn without removing the
harness. The white horse, it is said,
was caught up and carried one mile
through the air, and, according to the
accounts of reputable witnesses, at times
was over two hundred feet high, passing
over church steeple. Many who were
not in the storm say that they saw
horses flying in the wind. Beyond being
we'll pastered with mud, the white horse
was uninjured by his aerial fight.
Remarkable as this story may seem,
there are Others more marvellous. The
storm which swept over Kirksville car
ried with it no fewer than i've horses in
oIl 10 .. NJ
Calvin Little, whose home was destroy
ed he and his wife being killed, had a
horse that was carried two miles by the
storm, alighting uninjured, save for
few bruises, and being plastered with
flying mud. Three horses carried nearly
as far were found dead in the track of
the tornado northeast OF the city. One
horse was missing from his stall and
found grazing in distant pasture. A
gentleman on the western border of the
tornado was lifted out of his own door
yard, over a high wall into the door
yard of a ncighbor, so suddenly that he
never knew how he came there. Tin
roofs were torn from houses and found
so tightly wrapped around the stumps
oftrees that it was difficult to remove
them. An orchard south of the city had
the trees torn up by the roots, carried
four or FIVE hundred yards, and piled into
some vacant fields. Some idea of the
fury Of the wind may be formed by the
size OF the trees uprooted. Some Of these
were from twelve to eighteen inches in
diameter, with roots ten feet in length.
The earth from which they had been
jerked looked as il it had been torn by
Dynamite exnlosions.n