Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 February 1894 — WRECKED BY A WIND. [ARTICLE]

WRECKED BY A WIND.

GREAT DAMAGE DONE ALL OVER THE WEST. Housci 17nroofed and OU Derrick* and Tree* laid Low in Ohio and IndianaDeep Snow at Omaha—Flood* In the South. Storm Wan General. A terrific windstorm swept over Northern Ohio, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. In Seneca County fences were laid low, forest trees and orchards destroyed and building’s unroofed, but thus far no person has been reported injured. Telegraph and telephone wires have been blown down and Ihe service is badly crippled. In what is known as the Black Swamp region greater damage was done. At Hicksville the storm raged in all it 3 fury, over the southern portion of Defiance County, destroying tie homes of Janies Jones and Jasper Blighter, their families barely escaping with their lives. The oil field was also the scene of destruction, and the large seventy-foot derricks erected over the wells were but playthings before the tornado. The storm wa9 accompanied by a deluge of rain—almost a cloudburst. A i mall frame rcho; lhouse two miles south of Hicksville was caught by tho storm and carried from its foundation. The teacher was just dismissing the scholars. Several of the childien were badly bruised, but no.i.cseriously injured- T h e storm followod the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad across Indiana and Ohio, and traveled at the rate of forty-five miles an hour, as repo, ted by the telegraph people. Tho clouds were scattered as soon as they had gathered, and within ten minutes after the fury of the stirm theru was a clear sky. Damage In Indian PERU.—Considerable damage was done here by wind from the west, which was almost a cyclone. Several buildings, numerous trees and factory chimneys were blown down. Store fronts were also blown in. Fort Wayne. —At 3 o’clock in the afternoon Fort Wayne was visited by a terrific windstorm. Fifteen minutes before the heavens were clear and the weather was like spripg. Clouds began to gather overhead and the afternoon became almost as dark as night. The wind blew a terrific hurricane. Rain and snow came down in torrents. In twenty minutes the hurricane was over. Signs, fences and trees were blown down, but no serious damage or loss of life has been reported.

Michigan City.— What seemed to be a cyclone passed over this city at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon. It ■was preceded by a thunder shower. Then a fmnel-shaped cloud formed over the city and passed northward with a muffled roar. At the northern outskirts of the town the funnel dropped suddenly earthward and, sweeping a pathway through a lumberyard. carrying boards and debri9 of every description, it passed over the Michigan Central and Monon Railway freightyards, lilting half a dozen cars from the tracks and wrecking them. Indianapolis. —This city was swept by a windstorm that blew twentyseven miles an hour for a few minutes. Buildings shook and everything loose was driven on before the gale with threatening velocity. Little damage was done here, but the reports from the State show that ruin is strewn in the path of the wind. I rom the counties north and east of Indianapolis comes tho report that houses were unroofed, fences blown away and in some places stretches of forest trees laid flat. At Elwood D. H. Havens was lifted from the top of a low building and pitched to the street on his head. Damage to property occurred at Marion, Peru, Logansport and Kokomo, where roofs were sent hurling through the night, but no casualties are reported. In Illino'g. Mascoutah. —A furious wind-storm prevailed in this section. Fences were swept away and trees blown down. The artesian well frame on Kojb farm blew down. The workmen barely escaped. I Nashville. —The heaviest and most •destructive wind which has prevailed here in years has been blowing during the entire day, razing fences to the ground and destroying other valuable property throughout the county. | Greenville.—A terrific gale swept through this section, doing much damage to trees and small buildings. At Smithboro the wall of a brick building in course of construction was blown down, and freight cars on the side track I were badly damaged. At Other Points.

Omaha. — By far the heaviest fall of 3now of the season is the one of to-day. It began about 5 p. m. and by daylight everything was buried beneath a foot of the beautiful. Nashville.— The Cumberland River, owing to heavy rains, continues to rise all the way between this point and Burnside, Ky.. the head. "The water is fast spreading over the low lands, forcing many families to vacate their homes. Topeka. —A heavy rain fell all over Kansas. Then the temperature fell and the rain turned into snow, which continued throughout the State six hours. In the eastern part the fall was light, but in Western Kansas the snow is very deep in places. Memphis.— The heavy rains have done mueh damage in this section. The eounty bridge crossing Illinois Bayou, hear Russellville, Ark., was swept away, and two trestles of the railroad bridge broke loose. Fifty boats of the pontoon bridge crossing on the river at Dardanelle, Ark., were carried away. The Ouita coal mines, with an area of over eighty acres under ground, are filled to overflowing.