Notices of Tornadoes, Sfc. 75 



the engraved pictures of 'water spouts' above the ocean, which I 

 had frequently seen, that I should have come speedily to the con- 

 clusion that one of these ' water spouts' was approaching, had I 

 not been aware that this phenomenon occupied a space in the 

 heavens directly over a dry plain of land. Whilst attentively 

 watching the progress of the cloud, with its portentous dark cone 

 trailing its point in contact with the surface of the earth, I noti- 

 ced numerous bl^ck specks, resembling flocks of blackbirds on 

 the wing, diverging from the under surface of the clouds, at a 

 great elevation in the air, and falling to the ground. Among 

 these were some objects of larger size, which I could discern to 

 be fragments of boards, sailing off obliquely in their descent. 

 This alarming indication left no room for doubt that a violent tor- 

 nado was fast approaching, and that these distant, dark specks were 

 fragments of shingles and boards uplifted high in the air, and left 

 to fall, from the outer edge of the black conical cloud. This fear- 

 ful appearance was repeatedly exhibited, as often as the tornado 

 passed over buildings. 



"The whirlwind soon swept towards an extensive range of 

 buildings, within a few yards of me, the roof of which appeared 

 to open at the top, and to be uplifted for a moment. The whole 

 fabric then sunk into a confused mass of moving rubbish, and be- 

 came indistinctly visible amid the cloud that overspread it, as 

 with a mantle of mist. 



" The destructive force of the tornado now became not only 

 apparent to the eye, but also fearfully terrific, from the deafening 

 crash of breaking boards and timbers, startling the amazed spec- 

 tator in alarm for his personal safety, amid the roar of the whirl- 

 wind, and the shattered fragments flying like deadly missiles near 

 him. At one instant, when the point of the dark cone of cloud 

 passed over the prostrate wreck of the building, the fragments 

 seemed to be upheaved, as if by the explosion of gunpowder, 

 and I actually became intensely excited with the fear that the 

 moving mass might direct its march towards the open area of the 

 yard, to which I had resorted, after abandoning a building in 

 which I had previously found shelter. 



" Fortunately the course of the tornado was not over the build- 

 ing used as a depot by the Stonington Rail-road Company in Prov- 

 idence, where there was a numerous assemblage of passengers 

 awaiting the departure of the cars ; otherwise several lives might 

 have been lost. 



