This is from an old newspaper story.. Not about Columbia, but close enough to be of interest.. TORNADO AT MONTICELLO Preface: Occasionally an area is so affected by an event that generations to come will hear stories for years into the future. The Monticello tornado of 1882 is one of these events. There are probably some old timers in the area who might tell you of having heard, first hand, some of the events you are about to read. The following report was published in a newspaper in 1928, some 46 years after the storm, and was told by Professor G.L. Martin of Prentiss, Mississippi. Prentiss. March 31, (Special) Thermistocles, the Greek naval hero, whose memory was so acute that it is said he could call every citizen of Athens by name, remarked that he often wished he could forget. Some of lifes events are so tragic they cut into the soul like etchings in granite. To many citizens of Jeff Davis and Lawrence counties now entering middle and elderly life, Saturday April 22, 1882 was the most tragic day of a lifetime, the memory of which even now makes knees quake and the spinal column tingle with fright. And with reason, for on that terrible day there swept across these two counties the most frightful Cyclone within the history of south Mississippi. A fiendish, hurling, twisting, cataclysmic dragon of the air swept a path of death and demolished homes beyond the power of words to describe. Forming somewhere west of the Mississippi River, it was as though Zeus had again descended his throne on Mount Olympus and writhing in a paroxysm of wrath against the inhabitants of the earth for the fire stolen by Promethus, hurled from his lofty perch this dragon of the air which tore out the very pockets of the sky in its fury and then striking the earth here and wrought death and desolation in the twinkling of an eye. As the people of the peaceful little town of Monticello, then a river village of about one hundred and fifty inhabitants, were gathered about their noon day meal on April 22, 1882, there swept out of the southwest this terrible monster which hurled into eternity ten souls, wounding thirty others, three of whom died later of the injuries, and destroyed practically every house in the little village. Old timers say it was the darkest day they have ever known. All during the morning of that terrible day, there was intermittent inky darkness with sparse light. The heavens fairly thundered terrible elemental disturbances. Keen tongues of lightning licked against the horrible black curtain of the sky. The sun seemed gone. And then, in a flash, came the horrible disaster. The white people killed were: Hezzie Weathersby, Chancery Clerk of Lawrence County, Allen Sharp, a farmer who was in the brick store at Jake Meyers when it was blown down, Reverend S.W. Dale, editor of the Monticello Advocate, and the wife and child of Dr. J.M. Cannon. Of the seriously wounded, three died within a few days, namely: Marx Cohn, brother of the Cohn brothers now of Brookhaven, Miss Odum, of that part of Lawrence which is now Jeff Davis who was visiting in MOnticello, a colored man, Anthony Goinstead, and a colored woman. Hezzie Weathersby met a horrible death jumping from the court house door into a clay hole made by a tree that had just fallen. He was struck by brick and debris from the court house, the upper story of which was razed as though cut by a knife. Reverend S.W. Dale, Editor of the town paper, lost his life in the cyclone. His two sons Joseph and Stephens, dug out material from the scattered debris of the print shop and resumed publication of the paper continuing it for a year, when the young fellows moved the plant in January, 1883, to Columbia where they began the publication of the Pearl River News. Stephens Dale remained in Columbia until his death in 1925. Among the seriously wounded in the storm were Mrs. Carlisle, W.H. Butler and his wife, Dr. J.M. Cannon, Jessie Wilson, Marx Cohn, Jake Myers, Miss Odum, and Anthony Goinstead. Marx Cohn, Miss Odum, and Anthony Goinstead died later from their injuries. The brick church was blown down. All the churches, stores and every dwelling except that of C.R. Dale, Mrs. Vanerson, and McInnis were destroyed. In all, about thirty houses were demolished. An old copy of the Brookhaven Free Press carrying an extra under the date of April 24, 1882, has this paragraph among others: Later, the last courier report is as follows: Bill McInnis thought to be fatally injured, Bruce Muse, son of Dr. Muse, thigh broken, Miss Price, skull broke and not expected to live, Marx Cohn will in all probability die (as he later did), Miss Carlisle badly wounded. A negro woman was burned when the stove was overturned. She is expected to die, Jake Myers is reported as much better and up. The old paper carried the following in the same issue: Still later; Anthony Goinstead has died. Not a single person escaped from injuries of some kind. Horses and mules were lying dead over town. Eight corpses were laid out at one time in the court house. Dr. J.M. Cannon will probably die. The little town was simply swept from the face of the earth. In the midst of the terrible disaster, it providentially happened that Dr. J. W. Bennett of Brookhaven was called that way on a matter of business. By this merciful coincidence, the physician was able to relieve much acute suffering and some ways assauge the pains of the dying. The presence of the doctor marshalled the spirits of the people and relief work was begun at once. A hospital was immediately established at the old Smith place, one of the three houses left standing in the village. Although it it was in the days before telephones, couriers made fast time and nearby towns, upon hearing of the tragedy, held relief meetings. The following were appointed at Brookhaven: J.H.M. Martin, Charles Heuck, E. Pieffer, J. Nevers, M. Natly, William Abshagen, Dr. J.W. Maybin, Hon. H.Cassidy and J.B. Dourghty. C.R. Dale of Monticello was appointed to receive contributions to be distributed to the destitute. Jackson citizens sent a check immediately for $102.35 and a $10.00 telegram was sent by R. and T.A. Innis of St. Louis, Missouri. Mr. Joe Dale, present editor of the Lawrence County Press, states that relief came from everywhere, a box of clothing coming from Saratoga Springs, New York. Still panting for devastation and seemingly unsatisfied with the terrible toll of life and property at Monticello, the tornado crossed Pearl River and came up the Monticello and Mt. Carmel hiway across Jeff Davis County, tearing up much property in the Whiting and White Sand communities belonging to H.T. Griffith, J.O. Sutton and others. Mr. Sutton lost his brand new dwelling into which he had never moved, and much stock and outbuildings. Mrs. Eliza Parker, mother of the Parker brothers who now reside in Prentiss, was injured when the home was blown away. The cyclone continued its path in a northeasterly direction through the Clem community and on into Covington County, and sisters Miss Mattie and Mrs. P. Brady were in the path of the twister, but were unhurt. As usual, the terrible Dragon was not without its freaks. The old boatman, who was supervising a dredging crew at Monticello, stated that from under the cliff, the river lifted as though by magic and hurled fish and snakes in the swamps to the east, leaving for a fraction of a moment the bottom of the river visible for a quarter mile up and down the stream. Irish potatoes, just coming up, were blown out of the ground. A 2X4 Pine scantling about 12 feet long was hurled through a Post Oak tree, the end extending equal distance on either side. Uncle Jim Polk of Jeff Davis County says he has seen this tree with the scantling in it. Bills of indictment found by the Lawrence County Grand Jury and which were in the court house, were found in the suburbs of Meridian. Hickory trees two feet in diameter and greater were twisted off, the snarled stumps showing mute evidence of the terror of the wind. The whole path from one-fourth to one-half mile wide was simply a mown swath as though a giant scythe had been used in the ghastly work. J.O. Sutton of Jeff Davis County says that a man and his family, a wife and seven children, on his place was at dinner when the dwelling was simply swept from under them, leaving them sitting on the bare ground immediately under the house. The house was blown into flinders and the occupants were unhurt except for a gash on the mans head. It is said that relief parties heard a knocking in one of the vacant houses in Monticello. Upon investigating, they found a yearling a piano and a clock. The yearling was blown bodily into the house and when given the opportunity to browse for grass, he accepetd the offer with apparent thanks. Jack Myers found all his beautiful calicos hanging among the trees, torn to shreds and flapping in the wind. Myers became disgusted with cyclones and moved to Beauregard. On April 22, 1883, exactly a year later, that town with his goods was blown away by a cyclone. Vander Calhoun, a civil war veteran now sick at the home of his Daughter in Prentiss, owned a tanyard in Covington County in the path of the twister. The more than 200 dry cow hides that he had stored furnished fine play for the wind. Some of the hides were found in Smith County miles away. The freakish and the miraculous broke about even. Families were gathered in houses which were carried away leaving the inmates unhurt. This was true of Rev. Joseph Gilbert, a Presbyterian minister of Mt. Olive. Many people were hurt whose names are not mentioned here. The elements along the trail of the aerial dragon were filled with flying debris,trees,tree tops, remnants of houses and every conceivable material. Old timers state that just after the terrible wind passed there was the most terrific rain they ever saw. The very heavens seemed to have been loosed. Stories of the awful rain preceeding the Battle of Waterloo are only faintly comprable in their estimation. And then, just to show how beautifully and grandly nature can act when not molested with extraneous forces, the clouds rolled away and Old Sol came out in a glorious burst of sunshine and calm. If any man doubt the date of this terrible disaster let him ask any old timers who were in its path and they will answer with emphasis, April 22, 1882!
Posted on: Tue, 29 Apr 2014 20:11:16 +0000
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