Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 July 1875 — A Destructive Wind-Storm in Detroit. [ARTICLE]

A Destructive Wind-Storm in Detroit.

We take the following account of the recent whirlwind tn Detroit from tire Fre» Prc»» of the 28th ult.: 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 tlie 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 greatest 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, in 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 mutilated bodies were pitiful to look upon. Richard Bates, aged eleven years, was caught up and carried into the topmost branches of a tall elrt which stood bn 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 lie 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 .he street. Its father and mother were both injured and removed to Harper Hospital.

Mrs. Van Dozen, 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 f ound. 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, Mho 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 M is. 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 miraculously saved by a cupboard which protected them from the falling timbers. When they were rescued both were found to be quite unhurt.

Joseph Bully, of 712 Sixteenth street, was standing in a vacant lot adjoining his house when a portion of tlie 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 tlie owners could not be ascertained, but as no person was injured there it is not so inwortant. August Seaman, who lives on Twentythird street; and his wife were visiting a friend 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 barn 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 roartof 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. Wlrile 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 lie 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 wardrtrbe, articles of clothing and household furniture, until the rooms vere literally bare of everything movable. Strange to say not one of Mr. Ford’s family was injured. Charles Louys, a teamster, lives at No. Twelfth Street, and his bam is just opposite the extreme north end of the path of destruction. He had a piece of stove-pipe stored up-stairs in his barn, one end of which projected through a hole in the side of the barn. In that piece of pipe was discovered, tightly wedged, the bodv of a duck with its head cut otf. The head was found upon the barn floor by the side of die 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 walls of houses.

Piled promisctiously 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 a hove, giving terrible life to the desolate picture below, made doubly desolate by the approaching shades of night, were fragments of clothing, bedding and carpeting.