Year: 1876

NO. 27.


swayed forward aud backward with


a sort of swaying motion which rem.


dered it necessary to catch hold upon


something to retain standing pos


ture, and even with such support


standing was not as steady as might


be, and the housekeeper was thrown


violently to the floor. 1t proved up
on examination after the tornado had
passed the house, which is about


22x36 and two stories high, was first


raised from its foundation, carried


several feet to the rear, then thrown


back upon the foundation, which was
of solid masonry, crushing the wall
like an egg shell and throwing the
most of it into the cellar. The chin
neys were thrown down and all the
windows demolished, while the roof
on the kitchen and woodshed spread
and fell in. Mr.. Watts, as soon as
his house quit dancing, started out to
see what damage had been done, and
his curiosity was completely satisfied;
for where his large barn had stood
only two minutes before was only
hole in the ground, into which was
piled about as indiscriminate and cha
otio mass as was ever seen. On top
was corn, wheat, oats, mud and debris
of all kinds, and upon this Mr.. w.
mounted and called in loud voice
to his two men, whom he knew to
have been in the building at the time
it was struck, for some time receiving
no reply, but he was at last made
glad by the sound Of voice coming
seemingly from the bowels Of the
earth, but which proved to be Tay-
lor's. Selling a shovel, Mr.. w. went
to clearing away the grain, and at last
unearthed, so to speak, the victim,
who was held down by the weight of
a reaper which had descended upon
him from above, the frame work of
which together with hay and straw
had kept the grain from smothering
him. He received severe injuries,
but will probably recover. Kirk lay
near him with ladder on top of him,
also some plank and other little tim
bers; he was also quite seriously in
jurcd. Apparently all that saved
these two men we're some barrels and
boxes filed with wheat that stood |
near them, which kept the mass from
settling down upon them. Beside
the men, grain, two reapers, hay,
straw, plank, ladders, and other arti-
cles in this hole, were four mules and
two horses, all dead. Medical assist
ance was at once summoned, and the
men properly cared for, while willing
hands went to work to clearing up
the wreck to release the buried stock
that were still alive. Such another |
scene Of confusion confounded was
seldom if ever before witnessed.
-Four cows lay dead all in heap.
with parts of wagons, corn plows and
apple trees on top of them. All the
cows and steers were mourning the
loss Of one or both horns, some an eye
and others their caudal appendage.
Iprooted trees, farm machinery, hay,
straw, rocks, fencing, dead fowls,
broken wagons, and everything per-
tanning to the makeup of a respecta-
bic but disordcrly tornado were scat
tered around in beautiful confusion.
One horse corn planter was carried
and thrown ia wrecked mass over
40 rods from where it started. OF
three wagons not one sound wheel is
left, the spokes in two wheels having
been literally blown out, while the
tire Of one new wagon wheel was
blown of and lay over so rods away
upon the opposite hillside and twisted
out of all shape. This same hillside
presents most striking resemblance
to the back of an enraged porcupine;
it being filed for space about 90
rods wide with fragments of fencing
and mlterial of the barn driven in
endwise into the ground, 50 thick
that it is impossible to safely ride
through on horseback without in
juring your horse.


The tornado passed over the next
hill and dropped upon the house of
Mr.. Finton Bowling, and in the twink
ling Of an eye the house with its con-
tents, was lifted up and carried about
GO feet aud along the ground, settling
with one corner upon the ground
and then with an awful crash it was
ground into atoms so fine that stand
ing upon the spot where it stood be-
fore the storm, not one vestige of 1t
remained in sight; while one Of the
inmates of the house, Mr.. Dowling,
wife and little girl aged 9 years, were
hurled over hundred feet into the
creek. Mrs. ID. and the little girl fell
upon the north side of the creek
while Mr.. d. fell upon the south side.
Mrs. Bowling says that the parlor
stove and dining room table were in
company on that eventful trip through
the air, and it is probable that it was
the stove that fractured her leg. Her
left leg is fractured quite badly just
above the ankle, the bones protruding
through the flesh. She also received
, sarar, ort oyar Tho lafx avn o,l |