cxxxv 



es, orchards, grape vines, floral shubbery, well-curbs, buggies', 

 wagons, cutters, &c, &c, were caught up, whirled, shaken, dashed to 

 fragments, and the pieces taken for miles beyond. Never was work of 

 destruction more rapid or complete. The track of the whirlwind is as 

 if some mighty river had rushed over the course, leaving thousands of 

 odd fragments strewn with liberal yet spiteful power. 



Trees were torn up by the roots and thrown rods away. Roofs, sides, 

 doors, floors, chimneys, underpinning, and furniture of houses were 

 pounded together, broken into fragments a,ncl fairly sown over the 

 land. Log chains were twisted apart, stoves and plow castings broken, 

 ready for the smelter's furnace. Tree tops were loaded with clothing, 

 bed-clothes, feather beds, carpets, chairs, harnesses, calves, sheep, 

 dogs, cats, and poultry, dead or writhing on points of branches which 

 had themselves been broken. Timbers have lodged in the topsof tall 

 oaks, or, from their weight, borne saplings to the earth, and the sap- 

 lings left covered with fragments of household goods as if hung out to 

 dry. Doors, partitions, roofs, and floors of houses are found from live 

 rods to three miles from where they belonged. Horses and cattle were 

 killed or so badly maimed as to make tneir death an act of mercy. 

 Eencc rails, for ten years lying on the earth till imbedded therein, were 

 whirled out. Stumps were torn up. Great rocks of twenty tons 

 weight, were rolled, lifted, and broken by the mighty power. 



Near the resideuce of John Gardner stands a tall oak rising about 

 sixty feet from the ground. The wind whisked every leaf and small 

 twig from the tree, leaving it looking as if dead. The house— a large 

 white one — was taken so high in the air that it was seen above the tree 

 tops, dashed to the ground, lifted again higher than before, whirled 

 around aaid dashed roof down upon the earth a few rods from its foun- 

 dation, and all but a few timbers borne away. Mrs. Gardner was in 

 the house all the time ; was spilled out in the second tumble and but 

 slightly hurt, while an infant who was clinging fast in her arms escaped 

 without a scratch or bruise! 



In a school house were twenty-four children and a young lady teach- 

 er. The building was lifted high into the air, dashed upon the ground 

 some distance from its foundation, again lifted about forty feet and 

 dashed bottom up to the ground, and the fragments swept away. 

 Eight children were killed and every other occupant badly injured. 

 One little ten year old girl, whose thigh was lacerated and broken, 

 when found in the fields begged the people to look for the others who 

 were worse hurt than herself. The school house is not to be found. 



Mr. Bennett was blown from his own demolished residence into a 

 cellar near by, from which a house had been torn away. In a few 

 seconds a little girl was thrown in by him for company. At the same 

 time a horse was hurried in, striking Mr. Bennett and badly breaking a 

 leg. The horse kicked and struggled to release himself from the rub- 

 bish which was "spilling" in upon the party, when Mr. Bennett tried to 

 get a knife from his pocket that he might cut the poor animal's throat, 

 and thus save the life of himself and the girl. At this moment a span 

 of horses with part of their harness on were hurled in upon him and 

 killed. The wagon to which they were attached went — the box to the 

 west — the running gear into fragments and away over the field. The 

 man who was in the wagon driving when the storm began was thrown 

 like an arrow into an oak thicket thirty rods south from where he start- 

 ed, with fatal injuries." 



