The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1913-08-29
WILD WIND ANTICS
The Havoc That May Come When
a Tornado Breaks Loose.
STORMS PLAY QUEER FRANKS

Houses Have Been Carried Bodily Into
the Air and Exploded, and Half a
Building Has Been Swept Away,
While the Rest Remained Unframed
The weather bureau mt Washington
has been collecting statistics and facts
about cyclones and tornadoes for many
years, and the experts have succeeded
in securing considerable valuable data
about the big winds; but. after all. the
freaks Of the storm are the things that
give 1t special interest. and II all these
BILE reading would be furnished Every
visitat ton of tornado adds to this val
liable storehOuse Of queer freaks.
1t Is not uncommon for the whirling
wind to cut house In half. demOlish-
ing one side and lea Wing the other un-
disturbed. This happened in an Iowa
tornado, and the part that was left In
tact was so little disturbed that the
clock on the mantel continued ticking.
as If nothing had happened.
In the Texas town Of Sherman,
which was visited by a tornado In
1896. two houses were picked up and
carried into the air. where they ex-
ploded. Every one In them was severe
ly injured except a baby, which did not
receive so much as scratch. A man
milking a cow In shed saw the COW
and shed carried up In the air, but he
was not SO much as touched. Not a
drop Of the milk In his pail was spilled
or disturbed.
In the st. Louis tornado Of the same
year a carpet In the parlor Of one house
was pulled up by the twister and car
ried away few hundred yards with.
out so much as a rent being torn In 1t.
The tacks had been pulled up as neatly
as II extracted by u careful carpet
layer.
In another house the bedclothing and
mattress were lifted from the bed. and
the bedstead was left intact. A resi-
dent was carried through the roof of
another house with the bed and drop
ped quarter Of mile away without
injury. The mattress saved him In the
fall, and he picked himself up in va
cant lot to dress without knowing ex-
actly what had happened to him.
The "twisters" have been known to
pull nails out Of shingles and then go
on to pick up chimney bodily and
carry 1T through the air. In Kansas
one picked up buggy and landed it in
the branches of tree. At another
time 1t ripped the harness completely
Off a horse and left horse. buggy and
man uninjured. In Louisville, in 1890,
a tornado carried the roof Off q house
and pulled child from the mothers
arms and carried it safely to another
house six blocks away.
But these are merely among the
harmless freaks Of the big wind. There
are others more heartrending. 1t has
dismembered human beings, tearing
arms and legs from the body. and
twisted the hair of women into ropes.
In Kansas 1t drove piece Of scantling
six inches square through the body Of
a hog. At another time it blew in the
door Of farmers house and carried
the owner away on the door, to drop
him In the branches Of tree. The
tornado did not hurt him. but he broke
his neck falling from the tree to the
ground.
No one has succeeded in measuring
the full force Of tornado, but 1t Is
known to travel at the rate Of 200
miles and more an hour.
Tornadoes are exciting more general
attention than formerly because Of the
greater number Of towns and villages
locat ted In the tornado belt Each sue
cessive one Is more dangerous than its
predecessors because 1t Is apt to find
more human material to destroy. For
merly 1t might travel half the length
of n continent without finding anything
In its path to destroy except grass.
trees and OCCASIONALLY the crops Of a
solitary farmer Today, If 1t followed
the same route. 1t might pass over a
dozen villages and towns.
The only thing that can possibly
break the force of tornado is range
Of mountains. 1t may create wild
havoc among the trees and powders
of mountain, but it cannot carry the
mountain itself away. 1t will uproot
giant forest trees. suck the water from
wells and streams. twist and demolish
iron bridges and carry up houses. but
the mountains are proof against the
mighty force OF the wind.
Until we know how to control the
tornado or find some means of battling
It. its menacing danger must always
be source Of considerable uneasiness
in the great plain sections Of the coun-
try. But. like earthquakes, the tor.
nado and cyclone do not come every
year. and sometimes they defer their
visit for decade or so. for which we
NAV be thankful.-George f. Walsh In