" THE LEAVES OF THE TREE Were FOR THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS." 11 



wings of the wind for a considerable distance in spite of their lying prone on the 

 ground or clinging to what seemed stationary objects ; railway- trains were over- 

 turned and swept off the line ; steamboats sunk in the rivers, and large wooden 

 structures lifted up bodily and carried off several yards from the place where a 

 minute earlier they appeared as if immovable. Owing to the sudden decrease in 

 the pressure of the outer air, the atmosphere within the walls of the house in the 

 course of the storm, acts against the sides of the structure, so that buildings which 

 might otherwise brave the blast are exploded as if a spark had been applied to a 

 roornfull of gunpowder. Fowls have been known to be stripped of their feathers, 

 little streams emptied of their water, r eavy iron chains blown through the air,, 

 nails driven head-first into planks, stalks of Indian corn shot through a door, large 

 beams tossed with such impetus that they penetrated the earth a foot or more, 

 and in India" (where similar visitations are experienced from a similar cause) "a 

 case is on record in which a bamboo was actually propelled through a mud wall 

 five feet thick with a force equal to that of a cannon discharging a 6 Ib ball." 



ALARMING DISPATCHES TO THE S. F. EXAMINER, 1893. 



ATLANTA, (Ga.), March 4. Georgia was visited by a cyclone last night 

 the reports from which indicate great loss of life and immense destruction of prop- 

 erty. The town of Greenville, having 1,000 inhabitants, was swept out of existence 

 with, however, the loss of but one life. A small town called The Rock, a few 

 miles off, fared worse, as five lives were lost there. Near Barnesville the cyclone 

 dipped to the ground again, and three more people were killed. In East Missis- 

 sippi the storm seemed to have done great damage, completely wiping out the 

 three towns and wounding and killing many people. The cyclone, after sweeping 

 across Mississippi and Alabama, struck Georgia at a point on the Chattahoochee 

 river below Columbus and divided into two sections, one following the course of 

 the Chattahoochee, going north of Atlanta, passing over Rome and on through the 

 Blue Ridge mountains into North Carolina ; the other branch pursued a course 

 across the State south of Macon, passing on north of Augusta and through South 

 Carolina, where it united with the northern section, and passing through Wil- 

 mington, N. C., found its way out into the ocean (to destroy the shipping). 



It was a few minutes after 8 o'clock last night when it struck Greenville. The 

 first building to give way was the Courthouse, which was blown to atoms. In al- 

 most an instant the buildings generally began to grate and fall from their founda- 

 tions. The people, thoroughly affrighted; could do nothing-in the wreck and con- 

 fusion which surrounded them. The night was intensely dark and the weather 

 was bitterly cold. The storm lasted but a few minutes, and when it was over the 

 people found themselves without shelter, and had to go to work to improvise such 

 covering as they could. The fear that a great many had lost their lives added tc- 

 the terror of the occasion. Investigation developed the fact that but one person, 

 a negro, had been killed, though a great many of them were wounded, some of 

 them severely. The Presbyterian church, the postoffice and the college were 

 blown to atoms. The people are in great distress and all are without homes. The 

 town is one mass of ruins, and the damage is beyond description. The next town 

 in the path was Hogansville, where several houses were lifted up and carried two 

 miles where they were dashed to the ground. The Rock, a hamlet of 500 inhabi- 

 tants in Pike county, suffered a loss of five lives. Among those killed was Judge 

 Riviere, a prominent citizen of the county. At a point about ten miles west of 

 Barnesville three deaths resulted, but it is impossible to get their names. In Le 

 Grange four houses were blown down. Mrs. Ross, a lady who lives near Piermort, 

 lost her life, and many others were badly injured, some fatally. The storm's 

 course was down the Atlanta and Florida railway toward Barnesville, and at Pine 

 Mountain, in the neighborhood around Barnesville, the following deaths and casu- 

 alties are reported : Miss Daisy Hawkins and one unknown colored man killed; 

 near Piedmont, two coloied children killed. There are also numerous names be- 

 ing furnished of persons who have been injured. 



From all along the path of the storm come reports of the loss of life, which must 

 run the Hat up to about fifty. The general course of the storm, lay across the 

 country out of the lines of railway travel and witti very little telegraphic communi- 



