Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 July 1879 — DESTRUCTIVE STORM. [ARTICLE]

DESTRUCTIVE STORM.

A Tornado In Itiaasarbaaettf Croat Vami(« Done at Boston, BIUBcM. Worcester, kprinsOeld, Ktc.Several ■.lves Loti. Bouton, Mam., July ML One ol the severest tempests ever experienced here swept over the city this afternoon. T had u ration of the storm, at its greatest violence, was about twenty-live minutes, and in that period great damage was done to life and propertv. Reports from various points down the harbor contain accounts of serious damage and distressing accidents. Many small yachts and other boats were capsized. The most serious disaster yet reported isthatof the small schooner Myrtle, of Charleston, having on board six persons, consisting of four women, a man and a boy. The schooner was capsized off Bold Island, and all excepting the man, Thomas Dunham, who clung to the mast, were drowned, . The women were Margaret Dunham, wife of Thomas; Mary Ann Dunham and Susan Dunham, sisterc; Lizzie Dunham, his niece, and a boy named Arthur Ryan. A boy named Waller Ilittcnhamo was a’So drowned by the capsizing of a boat off' Hull. The damage throughout the city can hardly be estimated at present, but will probably amount to many thousand dollars. In thesouthwestern part of the town it was particularly severe. Hail foil in large quantities, and a large number of windows were broken. Many trees were blown down, and some houses'-were unroofed. Chimneys toppled over, and the flood in some of the streets formed ariver several inches deep. One main was killed by a falling chimney. • The loss in glass alone will amount to several thousand dollars. Many tine trees on Boston Common and in the Public Garden were felled by the wind. The hurricane struck Nantasket Beach about half-past live. The Albion House, a large hotel, and two large barns belonging to the hotel, were completely wrecked, burying Charles O’Hara, a driver, and Anna Oglesby, cook, beneath the ruins. The former is badly bruised, and the latter had her shoulder dislocated and was otherwise injured. Thompson’s phfitograph car was blown to splinters, ana Charles Acker, the artist, received injuries which will probably prove fatal. A coach was overturned and the three-year-old child of W. H. Joy, of South Weymouth, was killed.

Pittsfield, Mass., July 16. This afterqpon a tornado from the west struck tiie southern suburbs, Two persons were killed and three or four wounded, some fatally. Buildings were unroofed and blown down. Hundreds of trees were leveled, and fully #75,000 or $20,000 damage done. A black cloud springing up suddenly in the west, while the thermometer indicated eighty-six degrees, was the first warning of an approach of the storm. In fifteen minutes the sky was so. black that gas had to bo lighted in the stores. Rain, mingled with hail, rushing wind and almost incessant lightning and thunder made the storm memorable, even if it had not been so disastrous. In the village little or no damage was done, the tornado taking a course from west to southeast about half a mile from the business portion. Toward the western part it first struck the Kellogg place, occupied by Thomas Payne. The wall of the kitchen part of the house was blown in, and the barn completely demolished, wagons smashed, and hay blown away. Following along the valley to the southeast, it leveled hundreds of trees. Bridget Tate’s house, next in its course, was unroofed and the barn demolished, but the inmates escaped unharmed. Pomeroy’s factory was unroofed, the surrounding tenements daiflaged, and the building known as the TammaDy blown to pieces. In the building were Matthew Collins, ten years of age, who was crushed beneath the debris, and John Collins, his brother, had both arms and jaw broken, and an old man named Mathern was very severely injured. From the factory the wind tore across the fields, leveling fences, orchards and crops, and next struck south street. The Redfield House was partly unroofed, George Wentworth’s house was lifted from its foundation and turned around, and carried two rods, and other houses in the vicinity lost chimneys, piazzas, etc. The Taylor place, occupied by Samuel Payne, a tine brick house surrounded by stately trees, was entirely unroofed, the trees all broken or torn up by the roots, and the place presents a scene of ruin and wreck. Opposite, the residence of the Hon, J. A. Dunham was unroofed, the conservatory ruined and the barns were E rostrated, but none of the people were urt. His son-in-law’s residence on the south was also badly damaged. A falling tree struck the horse of Mrs. Beckwith, of Stockbridge; the horse sprung around, overturning the wagon upon Mrs. Beckwith, killing her instantly. The storm then passed over the open fields. No damage was done for a mile or more, when it leveled an orchard on Willis’ place, tore up the trees around Kernochan’s summer residence, and demolished the iron bridge crossing the Housatonic River, and reached the buildings of John W. Noble. Two barns here were blown to pieces. Gleason’s slaughter-house also tumbled into ruins. * From Noble’s the storm rushed across the valley, leveling all in its way, and struck at last on the west side of Washington Mountain, where six barns were destroyed. Two houses were partly blown down, and all the fences leveled. The track of the tornado was not over sixty roils wide. Fitchburg, Mass., July 16. The tornado here lasted but three minutes, and all the damage was done instantly. The spire of the Universalist Church was hurled into Main street, opposite the Roll Stone House. The tin roof of the City Hall was launched ifito lhh slrefet. The easterly wall of the extension to the City Hall, in process of construction, waS blown down, and several workmen had very narrow escapes. Trees along the street, from the Fitchburg Hotel to {the Episcopal Church, were, to a great extent, blown down or broken of& and also several on Hartwell, Pritchard and other streets. Many houses lost all their chimneys, sqven falling from the Fitchburg Hotel,' and the damage to the Cily Hall is estimated at SII,OOO. V '_ "1 Worcester, Man., Jnly 16. barn owiml by Mine. Rudersdorff was demolished. A man named Cheney and two horses were killed.-! Nonfie is injured beyond hope of recovery, and two men named Marshall and Baker are seriously injored. " , i

BraixoFncU). Mu*., July 18. The Blonn of wind -was very sudden. The base-ball stand in Hampden Park was blown to pieces, but the audience fathered to see the game between the pringfields and Now Bedfords miraculously escaped serious injury, though several were badly bruised. At East Hampton, Pomeroy Block was unroofed. Northampton suffered most. Her famous elms, some of them three feet in diameter, were torn up by the roots, and the prostrate trees scattered everywhere through tLe town. It is impossible to estimate the money damage, but It will seriously impair the town's picturesqueness. The Mansion House was unroofed. Other towns thereabout suffered generally from prostrate crops and trees, and a picnic party on Mount Holyoke saw the ruins of six barns.