The age-herald., 1899-03-21
TERRIFIC CYCLONE
 STRIKES SELLERS Left But Three Houses Standing in the
 Town. NOT A HUMAN LIFE LOST But Six Persons Were Injured by the
 Wind. CITIZENS WARNED OF APPROACH Was Just Four Minutes From the Time the Black, Funnel-Shaped Cloud Formed Until It Struck the
 Town-Some Peculiarities.
CITIZENS WARNED OF APPROACH


 Saturday afternoon, leaving but three houses standing.
 Five beautiful little homes, four general merchandise stores, five tenement houses, a nice public school building, large steam mill and ginnery and number of barns were completely demolished, wn..e the roof of the depot was removed, two residences twisted from their original po- sitions and number of telegraph poles blown down is the serious damage to prop erty.
 Marvellous 1t is that no human lives were lost, for in several of the houses which were blown fiat with the ground, large families were seeking protection from the destructive, funnel-shaped black cloud, which, in it's fury, was demolishing all that was in it's path. Six persons were more or less seriously wounded, as fol- Jews:
 List of Injured
 Mrs. c. S. Boyd; shoulder and back serl- ously bruised by flying timbers.
 c. s. Boyd; severe gash across head.
 James A. Poole; injured in spine and legs.
 Mrs. Johusie Jones; slightly bruised.
 Becky Sloane, colored leg broken and other bruises.
 An unknown negro had an arm broken. A mule and a horse were killed and other stock and cattle injured.
 Sellers is a small town on the Luverne branch of the Plant system of railroads, twenty-five miles southwest of Montgom- cry It is new town, having been built within the past six years. Though the town is so near Montgomery, and the cy- clone demolished the town at 1 o'clock Saturday afternoon, no news of the disas- ter was received here until about noon Sunday.
 The wires were all blown down and tele- graph communication cut off.
 As there are no Sunday trains running on this division of the Plant system, The Age Herald representative, together with Chief Train Dispatcher Richard Butt and Cap- tain w. c. Blob, of this city, chartered an engine and coach and went to the scene of the storm immediately after receipt of the news. The train was in charge of En- gineer Smith and Conductor Walker, and the run out was made in about an hour. A half dozen invited guests accompanied the party.
 A Sad Sight
 It was a sad sight which the little town presented. What was once a pretty little village situated in a grove of small oaks is now a huge pile of pine splinters. Lit tie groups of the citizens, some of them with bandaged wounds, were gathered about viewing the shattered remains of their once beautiful homes-representg 8 in many instances all that the onlookers possessed. Some were left with only the clothes on their backs as their all
 A true picture of the scene cannot be S a where from the outside world is needed, for there are people without even morsel of bread left them. The four general merchandise stores in which business was conducted were torn down, and the stocks of goods were caught up in the wind and scattered for miles and miles along its course. Rio bons and empty boxes from the wreck were picked up distance of seven miles in the storms course.
 The storm approached the town from southwesternly direction. A few minutes before it's approach heavy rain had fal- len, and the winds were still blowing at a high rate of speed.
 Citizens Warned of Its Approach
 The citizens were warned of the coming cyclone For a distance of five or six miles southwest of Sellers lies an open prairie country, forming from the foot of noun tain The furious black cloud was first seen as it swooped down, seemingly, from the top of this mountain into the muddy swarm below It was discovered by c. s. Boyd who was riding up to his home from Carmel, where primary election was be- ing held. He gave alarm of the approach ing wind, and a scene of wild scrambling among the citizens followed. Many of them left their houses, seeking refuge in flower pits open ditches and hugging close to the small oaks.
 According to the watch of s. w. William son it was just four minutes from the time of the forming of the cloud until 1t reached the town. He glanced at his watch when he first saw the cloud, and it showed the time of 12:50 D. m. At 12;54 his watch stop- ped, and has not run since. He says the storm stopped his watch, though he was not bruised at all
 Demolished in Thirty Seconds
 In thirty seconds after the wind struck the beautiful home of w. M Sellers all of the other buildings were blown away. The cloud rose after 1t passed Sellers, and so far as is known, Edwardsville, in Cleburne county, is the next place 1t struck.
 At MT. Sellers home curious and seemingly impossible feat was performed by the wind. Under the gallery in the rear of MT. Sellers home his we'll Is situated. It is curbed with brick and mortar. The wind entered this well and lifted six feet of the brick walls up and left them on the
 
 culvert. Mir Sellers, with his wife, three children and the colored cook, sought refuge in the flower pit, and all escaped without a scratch. The home, which was a handsome structure, was picked up by the wind and moved a distance of eight feet. The house was left such e wreck as will require rebuilding. All the house. hold good were saved except the china, glassware and crockery. A half dozen handsome lamps were smashed. MT. Sellers also lost has store and stock of mer- chandise and his ginnery. His total loss will foot up from s7,000 to 5000.
 Narrow Escape From Death
 The next house reached was that of c. s. Boyd. Here there was a narrow escape from death. MT. Boyd took his wife and 16-months' baby from the house and sought refuge under a small oak tree Turning his back to the storm, he put his