300 ACCOUNT OF A TORNADO WHICH PASSED 



" The destructive force of the tornado now became not only apparent 

 to the eye, but also fearfully terrific, from the deafening crash of break- 

 ing boards and timbers, startling the amazed spectator in alarm for his 

 personal safety, amid the roar of the whirlwind, and the shattered frag- 

 ments 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 explo- 

 sion of gunpowder, and I actually became intensely excited with the 

 fear that the moving mass might direct its march toward 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 building used 

 as a depot by the Stonington Railroad Company in Providence, where 

 there was a numerous assemblage of passengers awaiting the departure 

 of the cars ; otherwise several lives might have been lost. 



"The most interesting appearance was exhibited when the tornado 

 left the shore, and struck the surface of the adjacent river. Being 

 within a few yards of this spot, I had an opportunity of accurately 

 noting the effects produced on the surface of the water. 



" The circle formed by the tornado on the foaming water was about 

 three hundred feet in diameter. Within this circle the water ap- 

 peared to be in commotion, like that in a huge boiling cauldron ; and 

 misty vapours, resembling steam, rapidly arose from the surface, and 

 entering the whirling vortex, at times veiled from sight the centre of 

 the circle, and the lower extremity of the overhanging cone of dark 

 vapour. Amid all the agitation of the water and the air about it, this 

 cone continued unbroken, although it swerved and swung around, with 

 a movement resembling that of the trunk of an elephant whilst that 

 animal is in the act of depressing it to the ground to pick up some 

 minute object. In truth, the tapering form, as well as the vibrating 

 movements of the extremity of this cone of vapour, bore a striking re- 

 semblance to those of the trunk of that great animal. 



"Whilst passing off over the water, a distant view of the cloud might 

 have induced the spectator to compare its form to that of a huge um- 

 brella suspended in the heavens, with the column of vapour represent- 

 ing the handle, descending and dipping into the foam of the billows. 



