Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 October 1893 — Disastrous Tornadoes. [ARTICLE]

Disastrous Tornadoes.

The firsttornqflo recorded in America dates nack to the May of 1761. South Carolina was the district then afflicted. In 1840 a tornado struck Natchez, Miss., tearing houses into fragments, killing 317 people, carrying some of them long distances through the air, seriously injuring 109 others, sinking between sixty and seventy vessels, flooding the city to the depth oi a foot, and passing off within four minutes from the instant that it made its first appearance. In 1842 another tornado visited Natchez with even more disastrous results, leaving behind it upon this occasion between four and five hundred dead.

For nearly forty years there was a cessation of these visitations, namely, until April 18, 1880, when Marshfield, in Ozark Township, the capital of Webster County, Mo., was totally destroyed by a cyclone that struck it and left it in five minutes. At that time Marshfield had a population of 655 only, but it was an enterprising town, with an unusually large number of houses for its population. After the cyclone had passed, ICO of its population had been killed, and of the remaining 555 every individual was seriously injured. Previous to the experience of a week ago, the most destructive tornado the United States has experienced was probably that which struck Louisville, Ky., and the neighboring States on the afternoon of March 27, 1890. The tornado, accompanied by a terrific rain, entered the city of Louisville at one side, passed through, leaving it at the opposite side, and in its wake two square miles of prostrate buildings, one hundred dead, and a vast amount of suffering.