On the Causes of the Tornado, or Water Spout. 159 



tence of an hiatus. In a house which was exposed to the vertical 

 influence of the tornado, a sheet was lifted from a bed, and carried 

 into a fissure made in the southern wall, which subsequently closed 

 and retained it. The same result was observed in the case of a 

 handkerchief, similarly fastened into a fissure in the northern wall. 

 In some instances, frame buildings were lifted entire from their foun- 

 dations. Joists and rafters were torn from a house and thrown down 

 at the distance from it of about four hundred yards, and in a direc- 

 tion opposite to that in which the trees not lifted from the earth's 

 surface were prostrated. Of course lighter bodies, such as shingles, 

 hats, books and papers, and branches and leaves of trees, were car- 

 ried to much greater distances. There was no genera] rain, but hail 

 and rain accompanied the fall of the other bodies. The tornado 

 lasted, in any one place, for but a few seconds : the whole of the 

 damage done at a farm having been accomplished, as the farmer 

 stated, while he was passing from the front to the rear of his man- 

 sion, so that, by the time that he reached the back door, there was a 

 perfect calm. Meanwhile, his house and barn were unroofed, and 

 all the neighboring trees thrown down. The noise which accompa- 

 nied the phenomenon was by every witness described as terrific, 

 being best exemplified by the rumbling of an immense number of 

 heavy carriages. Every object in its path was bespattered with mud 

 on the side towards that from which it advanced. Houses looked 

 as if roughcast, and individuals were so covered with dirt as to be 

 disguised. 



Some thunder and lightning attended the tornado. Some trees, 

 which resisted the onset, yielded subsequently ; and hence were piled 

 upon those which had fallen earlier. The weaker trees were under- 

 most, and pointed in the direction in which the tornado approached; 

 while the stronger were on the top, pointing in the direction in which 

 it moved away. 



Four different places were noticed, where all the trees lay, wiih 

 their summits directed to a common center. In the middle of one 

 of these localities, the house was unroofed, and the handkerchief 

 and sheet were lodged within the fissures in the walls, as already 

 stated. The windows in the same house were all broken, and much 

 of the glass thrown outside. From the evidence, Mr. Espy infers 

 that the apparent height of the tornado was about a mile. He states 

 that there were, on the same day, two other tornadoes, about seven= 

 teen miles apart 5 and of which the nearest was about the same dis= 



