The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1899-10-20
A CYCLONES FRANKS.
QUEER TRICKS PLAYED BY A MIS-
SOURI, WIND TWISTER.

SOURI, WIND TWISTER.
This Storm, So 1t Is Alleged. Drove
Wheat Straws Through Pine Boards
Like Nails and Cut Up Other Very
Curious Capers.
People who have never travelled over
the track made by cyclone always
look incredulous when told "cyclone
stories" But those who have had eX-
perience with the dread twisters or
been privileged to note some Of the
queer freaks perpetrated by the storms
are prepared to believe anything. A
! cyclone can perform most wonderful
freaks. Their power is not alone DEM
onstrated by their destructiveness, for
often it seems that the storm is pos
sessed of humorous bent.
| In the Grinnell Qa) cyclone about
1S years ago the storm perpetrated
some queer jokes. One victim of the
storm was a gentleman whose resi-
dence was blown into space. He was
| the poSSeSsOr of a new frOck coat,
which he had hung upon the wall Of
the sitting room q few moments before
the storm struck. In the pocket of
the coat was big silk handkerchief
After the storm the coat was found
two miles from the spot where the
house had stood, but the handkerchief
was gone and in it's place was brick
bat
About Is years ago cyclone passed
over a portion of Andrew county, Mo.
1t struck near Elk Dale, country
postoffice, and played some queer
pranks. 1t struck an orchard and pro-
ceeded to show what it could do.
There were 16 rows Of trees in the
orchard. Every other row was un-
touched, and in the rows struck every
other tree was twisted off at the roots.
but every other tree In the stricken
rows was left uninjured.
Seated under a walnut tree near the
Elk Dale postoffice was a woman en-
gagged in churning with an old fashion
ed dasher churn. The cyclone snatch
ed the dasher from the churn and
drove it through the woman's thigh,
but the churn was not overturned. and
not drop of the milk was spilled.
A stretch of pine fence about Is
rods long was blown to pieces by this
storm. Broken bits of board were
scattered all over the surrounding ter
ritory. Wheat had just been harvested
and that storm drove the ripened
wheat straws through those pine fence
boards like so many nails, splintering
1a h<,o ord nd irin cfy
in.
A country church several miles
northeast of Elk Dale was struck by
the storm. The building was lifted
from the foundation and turned one
quarter Of the way around and SCI
crosswise of the foundation, and the
plastering on the walls was scarcely
cracked.
This storm struck q farmhouse
where family of five had just seated
themselves to eat supper. The frame
of the house was jerked into the air
but the floor was .uninjured, and thu
family suddenly found themselves eat
ing supper in a driving rain.
, Among the other animals owned b.
DIR. Bond of Elk Dale was a colt tina
promised to be a world beater on tn
track. The storm forever settled tn
! fate of that colt 1t picked the anima
up and carried it two miles and thel
! gently deposited it In the crotch o
{ an oak tree 80 feet from the ground
This story would sound better If
: went on to relate that the colt wa
I uninjured, but truth compels the state
E ment that the colt was as dead a
julius Caesar. The strange part o
this incident is that there was neithe
I mark, bruise nor broken bone abou
4 the animal. DR.. Bond insists to thi
! day that the colt died Of fright.
i In barn a few miles from Ell
Dale three horses and three cows wer
housed, the horses on one side of th
e partition, the cows on the other, horse
and cows facing. The barn was d.
molished, but not scattered, and th
middle horse and middle COW wer
4 killed. The rest of the animals wer
r uninjured.
! The steeple of a church that hal
h pened to be in the track Of the storl
q was jerked upward, turned upsid
down and driven through the roof {
a the church, the point Of the steepl
: resting on the spot where the ministe
:. was wont to stand when reading th
:. Sunday lesson. The pulpit carpet coul
@ be shifted under the point, and tt
- steeple itself could be swung a fot
- or more in any direction.
i. Milt Laughlin's well on his farm We
;r attacked by the cyclone. Water VIZ
:, drawn by means Of an old fashione
= wooden pump. and that pump, tubir
and all. was snatched out Of that we
- and no trace of them was ever foun
r. The well. however. still remained.
- This storm was not noted because {
- it's destructiveness Of human life, I
- one being killed, although a numb'
a were severely injured. But 1t was d
q structive of property, demolishir
~ houses and barns, killing stock an
- blowing the newly harvested whe;
crop into the sweet subsequently. YC
- can tell the people living In its trae
- any kind of a cyclone story, and the
- will believe it with all their heart
:" They know what a cyclone can
" when it tries.-Omaha World Herald.
!" Rufus Chonte's Sharp Tongue.
L. Rufus Choate's thrusts were not q
VI ways so good natured as are usual