Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 April 1884 — SWEPT AWAY. [ARTICLE]

SWEPT AWAY.

Two Black Clouds Meet Over the Village of Oakville, Jnd., and Demolish the Town. The Cyclone’s Awful Work in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Tennessee. Meet people living in the Northwest will recall the fact that Monday, the 2d of April, was one of the darkest days of the year. Dense clouds obscured the son to such an extant as to render artificial light necessary in Marly all houses. The remark was a common one that it was a good day for cyclones, and so it proved. Many sections of the country were visited by fierce storms that swept away houses and killed many people. The worst of these elemental outbreaks appears to have directed its fury against the little town of Oakville, Delaware County, Ind A correspondent thus describes the min wrought by the windy monster: Its path was about half a mile wide and distance ten miles, presenting a scene of ruin and wreck seldom seen. The cloud came from the northwest, and was of funnel shape and of a greenish color. The center of its destructive track is Oakvilla, a small village on the Fort Wiyne Cincinnati <fr Louisville Road. It is, or was, a place of 125 inhabitants and of forty or fifty buildings, net more than five of which are now standing Indeed, the entire town, but yesterday busy and prosperous, is to-day a mass of confused debris. Houses and all buildings are destroyed beyond repair. The place <is absolutely wiped from the face of the earth. Five persons were killed outright, namely: Mrs. Anna Dearmond, a widow, aged about 55 years; Colwell C. Johnson; a small child belonging to the above; C. Brown’s infant about a year old; Susie Himes, aged 16, daughter of a widowed mother. Two others received fatal injuries. Turner Johnson and Jefferson Hoover. The following were wounded: Nancy Myers, 60 years of age, arm broken and badly bruised; John Hoffman, badly bruised; Mrs. Hoffman, wife of the above, severe wounds; Mrs. Brown, seriously hurt about the head; Jeff Miller, hip dislocated; Mrs. Miller, wife es the above, bad body bruises; Fred Coldscott, of Shelbyville, stopping over night, three ribs broken; Widow Himes, cut on the shoulder; L. J. Holtzinger, bruised and cut; Lemmie Myers, 13, arm broken.

Brown’s little child was found dead about twenty-five yards from the house, while that of C. C. Johnson was whirled through the air a distance of 150 yards, and dropped in a wheatfield, where the body was found two hours after the storm had passed. Miss Himes was alsa found some distance from her demolished home wita almost every particle of clothing stripped from her body by the force of the wind. Mrs. Dearmond was found dead under her fallen house. About a dozen others were injured slightly, but those mentioned sustained most serious wounds and bruises. Among the houses smashed was that of Johnny Sullivan, in which were himself, wife, and sit children, the youngest a babe 2 weeks old. Most miraculously none of the family were injured in the least. The babe was found in a bed covered with debris, but unscratched. The two clouds met at the house of Louis Cochran, two miles south of Oakville, and entirely demolished it in a second's time, and carried the ’ heaviest timbers over a quarter of a mile from the foundation, while some of the planks of the house were found at a distance of two miles and p half. Two bovs riding in a wagon were caught in the wind, the wagon tuxaed over, and the horses ran away. A flying piece of timber struck one of the boys, inflicting a severe scalp-wound, rendering him unconscious. The other boy was also seriously injured by the wagon turning over on him. At Luray, a small town two miles east of Oakville, Will Lines, with his family, was seated in the house when the storm struck and completely wrecked it, killing Lines, but the seven other members of the family escaped without harm. Four miles west James banders, a merchant from Middletown, wealthy and highly respected, had gone to his farm to instruct his tenant, and while in the bouse of the latter it was torn to pieces and Banders killed instantly. In the same vicinity W. F. Fainter, while at work on a farm, was caught by the cyclone and lifted high in the air and thrown to the ground and killed. About the same hour that Oakville, Ind., and the surrounding country was being devastated, a destructive tornado, accompanied by rain and hail, was sweeping with great force over the region adjacent to Greenville, Ohio. Many houses were blown down, one or two people killed, a number maimed, and a great deal of valuable farm property damaged. The village of Jaysville, near Grenville, suffered severely, every house in the town being more or lees injured, and several gersons receiving serious wounds. At Troy and asstown the destruction was also great, houses in both towns going down before the blast. Whole orchards were destroyed, and in some instances stately trees were carried away a distance of several hundred yards. The loss sustained is very great. At Dublin, a large number of houses and barns were blown down. The Christian church of that place was demolished. At Plain City, a number of large buildings were wrecked and scattered promiscuously. A carriage factory was demolished and the cemetery laid waste.

A cyclone swept through the Monongahela Valley, at Pittsburg, leveling fences, wrenching signs from their fastenings, and demolishing several houses. Five persons received fatal injuries, and many others were more or less seriously wounded, by falling buildings. About the time these tornadoes were doing their awful work in Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, a series of cyclones were tearing through the Sunny South, leaving death and desolation in their track. A dispatch from Chattanooga, Tenn., reports: Much of the country is miles from a railroad, and only meager details can be learned, but enough is known to characterize it as the most destructive storm that has prevailed in this country in years. The storm commenced in the neighborhood of Collinsville, Ala., and passed in a northeasterly direction. Sweeping up Wills Valley and then crossing Lookout Mountain, it passed off into North Georgia, and near Tilton left the.,earth. The width was less than 300 yards, but its force was terrific. Tne ■wind seemed to be formed in numberless whirlwinds, each whirling within itself, with a roar like thunder, and it moved over the earth with lightning-like rapidity. Trees were uprooted and whirled hundreds pf feet, and the path followed by the storm was cleared as wheat before the scythe. The swath was precise and well defined, and the strip it made is a scene of ruin and desolation. Many people are known to have been killed. The house of the Hon. Clayton Tatum, of Dade County, Ga., brother of the State Senator, was demolished. He received fatal injuries. His child was instantly killed, and his wife has both legs broken. The house of Jahn Crowley, in the same vicinity, was also demolished and the entire family killed. A lady and her daughter at Collinsville, Ala., were killed. It is reported that the cyclone swept along the crest of Sand Mountain, Georgia, before it reached the valley, and every house in its path was whirled like corks upon the sea, and many lives are reported lost. The storm crossed the Alabama Great Southern Railway nbar Sulphur Springs. Immense trees were torn up by. their roots and thrown across the tracks. Another arm of the storm passed to the noritewest and did great damage in Madison Countv, Alabama, in the vicinity of Huntsville. The house of William White was swept away and his wife and his mother- in-law, Mrs. Conner, were instantly ki-led. When it struck the residence of James Glover he was sitting indoors with a little child on each knee. The house was blown over and several timbers struck him in the back, causing instant death, but both children escaped unhurt. In another family a little child was caught up by the furious wind and carried several hundred yards. Storms prevailed the same, night at several other points in North Georgia and in East Tennessee. Houses were unroofed, fencing blown down, and general destruction marked its path. The total amount of damage or the entire loss of life will never be ascertained, Imt hundreds of thousands were destroyed and scores met their death. It was the fourth destructive cyclone attended with fatal consequences that has prevailed in that section this year. A dispatch from Columbia. 8. C., reports that the town of Timmonsville, on the Wilmington, Columbia & f ugusta Railroad, has been completely wrecked by the gale, and that many of the inhabitants are kilted and injured.