The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1910-02-26
|RELAND'S FAMOUS
BIG WIND DESCRIBED
The Date of This Visitation
Was January 6, 1839--Gale
That Swept Over Ireland
Did a Great Amount of
Damage to Property---Ves-
sells Wrecked and Loss of
Lifein Consequence Added
to the Sum of Disasters:

The "Big Wind" throughout Great
Britain and Ireland, in 1889, has al
ways been q subject of great inter-
est to the natives of that country.
Those now living who remember the
event are all Is years old or upward,
as it is II years since the big Winds"
blasts passed over Great Britain. Be-
low we give an article copied from the
Boston Pilot, printed in 1861, and pre-
served by subscriber of that paper
living in Iowa and sent last week to
the Davenport Catholic Messenger. The
letter follows:
To the Editor of the Pilot:
Dear Sir:-In reply to your cor
respondent, writing from Racine.
Wisconsin,, as to the date of the fright
full hurricane referred to, beg leave
to state that the night Of Tuesday, Jan
uary 9Th, A. D. 1889, was the exact
time when that awful exhibition of the
fury Of Natures angry elements oc-
CURED.
Two and twenty years have come
and gone since then, and many are
tho strange events "by land and sea"
that crowd upon the memory, yet the
recollection of that night is as vivid
on my mind today as If it had trans
pired but an hour ago.
A boy at the time in the quiet home
of my ancestors, by "shannon's flowery
banks" we'll remember the consterna-
tion. Of the people on that awful night.
Terror and dismay struck fear to every
heart; and as the mighty storm king
swept over tho land with terrible and
resistless force, it seemed as If Nature
itself were sroaning beneath the dam
gers Of its own experiment. The
American tornado, carrying with it in
stantaneous and rapid destruction, is
a direful visitation; yet-and I have
witnessed many on this continent
they are as zephyrs compared with tho
bowling blasts Of the great Irish hur-
ricane.
First, commencing as an ordinary
gale in the early part of the night
and blowing from a westwardly di-
rection, and again suddenly increas-
ing in violence until midnight, when
general desolation appeared to have set
the seal of wrath on the island.
Houses built of solid masonry fell
shattered to their foundation, whilst
oaken rafters, states and thatch were
borne in the air, like chaff of straws
in the we'll known fairies blast" while
villages were laid waste and houseless
for a time, and but few portions OF
Ireland escaped wholly the destruction
of the night.
At one time the very darkness Of
death would prevail reminding one of
the Realm of Night through Which
Satan voyaged to the gates of Paradise,
but accompanied with the discordant
horrors Of fierce hail and rain-the vivid
lightning, as it were contending for
its passage through darkness visible"
and the loud reverberating crash Of
thunder essaying thousand times to
rise above the unnatural rage Of Nep-
tune. The rain during the night was
not of the gentle, irrigating element.
but far away across the entire country
were swept great showers of salt
water hurled from it's bi!lowy depths
by the angry wind-god. The storm
at it's height was from six to ten
hours duration. Towards daylight the
clouds swept away gradually, and the
stars twinklingly came out from their
hiding places, and the moon, so brilliant
Gas it ever is in the Western Europe IN
windy weather*), shone in replacement
as the wind then abated. At sunrise
a "high wind" only continued, and in
q few hours the entire people of Ire
land were out to witness the devasta-
tion of a night.
Homes wherein the contentment OF
generations and firesides by which
many a fervent prayer was uttered,
weer on January 7th, 1899, roof1ess
and dreary. In the parish where the
writer was born, several lives We're lost
by falling houses and so in many
other parts of Ireland. How ominous
that storm appears today! In its
track. many evidences of which still
remain, another blast has swept-the