256 Account of a Hurricane at Shelbyville, Term. 



blown about in the air like feathers and escaped without a scratch. A 

 young lady of uncommon courage and presence of mind, who was 

 out of doors, and had escaped from a falling house, described the scene 

 as awfully grand and magnificent. " I looked," said she, " for well 

 known places, and they had vanished. I turned to go into the house 

 and it was gone. I went for the kitchen, it likewise was not to be 

 found : I looked up and beheld the lightning flashing vividly upon 

 floating planks, plaister, bricks, and shingles, all glistening like white 

 pieces of paper, and filling the air ; around me I beheld the white 

 walls of uncovered houses glaring in the light of the storm." 



The' court-house, a fine brick building, was blown down to the 

 ground. The bank, several taverns, a church, and many stores, 

 shops, and dwelling houses were laid in ruins. Some houses were 

 merely unroofed ; others were blown av^^ay to the first story, and 

 others were laid prostrate with the ground. The gyral form of the 

 tempest was evinced by the manner in which the materials of the 

 same building were scattered about in different directions, and by 

 the testimony of an individual who declared that- he was carried 

 around in a circle of fifty yards diameter with a piece of timber to 

 which he held fast, and by which he was dreadfully bruised. He 

 was picked up two hundred yards from his bed fellow, and in a con- 

 trary direction from the house in which they slept. The general 

 direction of the wind was from west to east. The gale was suc- 

 ceeded by rain in quantities almost amounting in devastating power 

 to an avalanche. No hail fell during or subsequently to the storm. 

 The following facts will show the velocity and force of the wind. 

 Laths were shot into brick walls with such force as to penetrate be- 

 tween the bricks, and then turn up and break off, and laths were 

 seen to have penetrated through the boards of houses. Heavy pie- 

 ces of timber were carried to great heights, and falling penetrated 

 the roofs of houses. Pieces of plank and shingles were carried 

 along the path of the storm, and strewed on the ground for three 

 miles from the town. A book belonging to an attorney, whose office 

 was blown away, was found seven miles from the village. Doors 

 were blown from their hinges, locks and bolts were forced, and if a 

 wall proved strong enough to resist the violence of the wind, large 

 masses of ruins were found piled up against it. 



A remarkable phenomenon, which was confirmed by the observa- 

 tion and testimony of many witnesses, was, that sound was not con- 

 veyed by the atmosphere to any distance, owing perhaps to its ve- 



