The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1904-02-12
FURY OF THE WINDS
Cyclone Wipes Town of NarrOWS
From the Face of the
Earth.

energy swept down upon Narrows'
and In the twinkling OF an eye the
hamlet was In ruins.
OF the six business houses and
Thirty residences. not single build
aug escaped partial or total destruc
ton, and though 70 lives were lost a
score OF persons escaped as II by a
miracle.
The property losses will amount to
fully SIS 900 distributed as follows:
+. Renfrow & Co, stock OF goods
damaged 81, 900; Fitzhugh Renir'w'
brick business house, total wreck
81. 600; Ell Dawson, one business
house, total wreck, and one business
house and dwelling damaged 81 900;
II. c. Powers, damage to stock barn
and saw-mill $4,000; Robert DUH,
new residence not quite completed
totally demolished. So 900; John I
Johnson, residence entirely destroyed,
slooo; B. p. Petty, damage to stock OF
groceries, 500; Roy Armendt, dam
aged to house and stock Of furniture,
= 500; Allie Wympsatt, damage to bus
mess house, 500. Other losses In
damages to residences and outbuild-
ings will exceed 81, 900. The covered
wooden bridge across Rough river
was literally riven into splinters.
The three story brick business
house, 3oxSo feet, occupied by r.
Renfrow & Co, general merchants,
was RACED to the very ground level
scarcely one brick being left upon an
Other, and the stock OF goods, worth
$4,000 by recent invoice, were taken,
piece by piece. from the shapeless
mass of brick and mortar Sunday.
The clothing department was on the
| third floor, and many garments were
found in the tree tops on the hill east
of the town, and a coat and vest were
found In Thos. Harrison's yard two
miles away.
The narrow escape from death OF
number of persons are not, perhaps,
the least interesting incidents OF the
storm. Only five minutes before the
destruction of the brick building,
Fitzhugh Reuirow had gone To the
third floor to better secure some win
dows against the approaching storm
Frank Berkeley, the night-watch, reg
istered time at the door OF the brick
store about two minutes before K col
lapsed and had just entered his resi-
dence, thirty yards away, when the
storm wrecked 1t, turning it almost
over and jamming the doors so they
could not be opened. To the terror
of imprisonment In house, rapidly
going to pieces In the storm, was ad-
ded that OF an overturned and broken
kerosene lamp. Fortunately the oil
did not ignite and he and his family
went out of the house by the panel OF
the door from which the wind had al
ready blown the glass. Rob Duff and
Bud Lawrence were patching In the
A. Johnson drug store which was
completely wrecked. The front Of
, the house was wholly blown out, and,
but for a stack of lumber on the east
side OF Il, the walls would have fallen
fat on the ground and crushed to
death the sleeping young men
Without waiting to dress they ran
over to the brick store for shelter and
were SHOCKED to find 1t pile OF chaos
Frank Wade was sleeping In an up
stairs room and window was blown
across his bed. He started down and
when at the head OF the stairway, an.
other window struck his back. He
said he thought 1t was hailing glass.
John Johnson, a bachelor living In
small house near the river, had an
/, appalling experience with the winds.
After the storm John was there. but
the house; where was II? Not board
marks the spot where 1t stood. John
son was In bed when the storm struck
his house, but so quickly and com
pletely were stills, body and ROOF
swept away that he does not know
how It went or how he escaped with
his life and limbs.
The storm seems to have been 10
cal one, originating near Dundee,
three miles below here, and to have
expended it's final energy In destroy
ing this village. 1t destroyed Clay
Crawford's house aud the house of q
colored man just south of Dundee,
and damaged much fencing and out
buildings between that point and this.