DESTRUCTIVE TORNADO. IO9 



the same freshet, though the date there given differs from the 

 one mentioned by Mr. Farwell. Perhaps in his note-book he 

 wrote down the time of entry instead of the date of occurrence. 



Since our last we have receiv'd further Accounts of the Damges 

 sustain'd in the last Storm, 



Particularly from Westerly in Rhode Island Colony, we here a 

 House was blown down, and one Man kill'd ; and from Lancaster, that 

 a Barn there was blown down, and a Horse and six Sheep kill'd. 



Also from Groton in the County of Middlesex, that on [Wednesday] 

 the 1 6th Instant, there was a very great Flood, such as has not been 

 known for several Years past, and that many Hundred Pounds Damage 

 has been done thereby to the Bridges, &c. it took the Bridge which 

 stood a cross Lancaster-River, so called, intirely off; which is the 

 fourth Bridge the Town of Groton has built in about 28 years 

 last past. 



DESTRUCTIVE TORNADO. 



THE following description of a destructive tornado in War- 

 wick, Massachusetts, on September 9, 1821, was written by 

 the postmaster of that town. It is given in a letter addressed 

 to the late Caleb Butler, Esq., under these circumstances. 



An account book had been picked up by the wayside near 

 Sandy Pond, in the south part of Groton. It was found by 

 the late Eliab G. Bolton, who judged, from the pieces of 

 shingles and other rubbish scattered about, that there had 

 been a severe gale in the neighborhood, and the fragments 

 brought here by the wind. The book was fourteen inches in 

 length, five and a half in width, and nearly half an inch in 

 thickness. It had a pasteboard cover, on which was written, 

 in a large and clear handwriting, " Blotter, 1802." The book 

 was given to Mr. Butler, who, on hearing of the tornado at 

 Warwick, wrote to the postmaster of that town about it, and 

 received in reply the following letter. By a coincidence the 

 postmaster happened to be the very man who had made and 

 lettered the Blotter nearly twenty years before. The shortest 

 distance between Warwick and Groton is forty-five miles, and 

 the fragments, carried at a great height, must have gone much 



