Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 July 1875 — A Hurricane in Detroit. [ARTICLE]

A Hurricane in Detroit.

We take the following account of the recent whirlwind in Detroit from the Free Press of the 28th nit.: The destroyer seemed to be a whirlwind which rose apparently near the southwestern limit of the city. It was first seen in that direction in the shape of a dark, smoky-looking spiral mass, shaped like an inverted tunnel of enormous dimensions, and whirling with inconceivable rapidity. Its forward movement was also very rapid in a course north of east, but it did not strike the earth until it reached the vicinity of Williams avenue and Ash street There the first evidence of its awful power was seen in upturned sidewalks and demolished outbuildings, but no dwellings seem to have been caught in that immediate neighborhood. The neatest destruction was south of Grand River avenue, from and including Fourteenth street to Eighteenth, between Magnolia and Linden streets. Its track was perhaps 150 feet wide, and within that limit nothing could resist its tremendous force. Houses were taken up high in air, shaken into fragments and; jn many instances, scattered over territory a mile in length. Indeed, flying pieces of timber were seen whirling aloft and flying about fully two miles from the place where the work of demolition began. Where, at one moment, stood a row of substantial houses, the next witnessed a scene of devastation impossible to realize, with scarcely a vestige of the buildings in sight, so utterly were they swept off the face of the earth. It is not difficult to conceive that such a remorseless monster carried death and mutilation on its wings. Everywhere were heard the cries of the wounded, whose bleeding and rutilated bodies were pitiful to look upon. Richard Bates, aged eleven years, was caught up and carried into the topmost branches of a tall elm which stood on the commons near his mother’s house, at the corner of Fifteenth and Linden streets. His violent contact with the limbs tore the clothing from his person and he fell dead to the ground, a distance of fully fifty feet. A little babe seven months old, the child of Carl Peca, who lived on Fourteenth street, was found dead in the street. Its father and mother were both injured and removed to Harper Hospital. Mrs. Van Duzen, a widow with two children, on Fifteenth street, had gone uptown to visit her father, and when she returned her house was nowhere to be found. It had been carried bodily at least 200 feet, torn to atoms and scattered far and wide. The only recognizable portion of the building found was the front door. Frederick Rademacher, who lived at 748 Sixteenth street, was sitting at home with his wife and two children, when he suddenly felt himself hurled through the air and saw the walls and timbers of his dwelling flying in every direction. He escaped with a slight scalp-wound, but his wife was more seriously injured. The children were also considerably bruised, but their hurts are not dangerous. Mr. and Mrs. Bates, the parents of the lad whose frightful death has already been recorded, and a younger son were badly wounded.

The house of Martin Schneider, at the corner of Sixteenth and Linden streets, was totally destroyed, but both Mr. and Mrs. Schneider were miraculmisly saved by a cupboard which protected them from the falling timbers. When they were rescued bom were found to be quite unhurt. Joseph Bully, of 712 Sixteenth street, was standing in a vacant lot adjoining his a portion of the roof was wrenched off and hurled to the ground, grazing him in its descent and inflicting a bad wound on the side of his head. ** Two vacant houses on Seventeenth street, near Linden, were demolished, and a third, adjoining, was partially torn down. The names of the owners could not bsfa3ccrtaincd, but as no person was injured there it is not so important. August Seaman, who lives on Twentythird street, and his wife were visiting a Mend on Fifteenth street, and were caught in the track of the destroyer. Seaman has a shocking*wound extending from the forehead across the crown to the back of his head, his right arm is shattered, and his collar bone is broken. Mrs. Seaman has a terrible cut under her left eye. Herman Milkie received two fractured arms and severe body bruises. He is conscious, but his condition is extremely critical. Many others were more or less injured; seven were taken to Harper Hospital, but a majority of them were cared for by friends and neighbors in the different parts of the city, so it is not possible, at the present writing, to furnish a complete list of the victims. Incident upon incident illustrating the peculiar action of this storm-cloud, whirlwind or whatever it was might be related if time and space were at command. Two horses were carried over a bam and flung to the earth dead, and numerous smaller domestic animals were made to perform some most astonishing gyrations. Houses on the outer edges of the track of the storm were punched full of holes by huge timbers that were whirled along end over end; shade and fruit trees were uprooted and carried a long distance; bricks from toppling chimneys rattled down and struck fleeing men and women, and through the roar of the storm came the most appalling shrieks.

The house on the corner of Twelfth and Brigham streets was occupied by Henry Ford, his wife and five children. While at the supper table a horrible hissing sound caused Mr. Ford to turn his head, when he saw, as he says: “An inky black cloud coming toward his house, the air being filled with the debris of buildings.” Scarcely knowing what he did he gathered his family about him and started for the back door. He reached the door of the kitchen which opened into a woodshed just in time to see the shed lifted bodily away from the main building and dashed against his back fence, completely demolishing both structures. Standing there in amazement the family were still further affrighted by seeing the roof of their dwelling arise and sail away, followed by a wardrobe, articles of clothing and household furniture, until the rooms were literally bare of everything movable. Strange to say not one of Mr. Ford’s family was injured. Charles Louys, a teamster, lives at No. 798 Twelfth street, and his barn is just opposite the extreme north end of the path of destruction. He had a piece of stove-pipe stored up-stairs in his bam, one end of which projected through a hole in the side of the barn. In that piece of pipe was discovered, tightly wedged, the body of a duck with its head cut off. The head was found upon the bam floor by the side of the pipe. The surface of the ground beneath the

trees where the cloud lifted presented a terrible scene. Sticking into the ground at all angles were pieces of wood, from the size and shape of a shingle to the doors, sections of roofs and walla of houses. Piled promiscuously were trunks, kettles, stone jars and broken furniture. Curiously intermingled were the mangled bodies of chickens, ducks, geese, pigs and innumerable small wild birds, while Weirdly flaunting from the stripped and broken branches above, giving terrible life to the desolate picture below, made doubly desolate by the approaching Shades of nigUH were fragments of clothing bedding amP carpeting. j