November 22, 1874 Tuscumbia-Colbert-Lauderdale County F4 Tornado
November 22, 1874 Tuscumbia-Colbert-Lauderdale County F4 Tornado
From The Montgomery Advertiser, November 24, 1874, pg. 1:
The Tornado in North Alabama.
The news of the terrible tornado which passed over North Alabama last evening, wrecking houses and destroying lives in its course, clothed our entire city this morning in profound sadness, a feeling which was intensified to deep grief when it was ascertained that such a fearful calamity as the loss of his wife and two children had befallen the respected and beloved Senator from the Second District – Hon. J. Burns Moore. Our telegraphic columns furnish the only information we have at this time. We shall however have fuller particulars in the morning.
The universal feeling here is that of the deepest sympathy with Mr. Moore in his great calamity, but human sympathies are unavailing to heal the wounds or assuage the suffering occasioned by this terrible blow.
From The Montgomery Advertiser, November 25, 1874, pg. 4:
Full Details
Of The
Tuscumbia Storm!
Many Narrow Escapes!
Loss Over $500,000!
Tuscumbia, Ala., Nov. 24.
In the storm Sunday about three hundred persons were deprived of houses and total loss to the town and private individuals is estimated at $500,000. Memphis and Charleston Railroad company losses twenty thousand dollars. The storm came on while most of the people were supping and come like sound of rushing thunder, and passed over immediately. Houses were blown down in many places. Streets and roads were everywhere filled with crumbling walls and shattered timbers. The people immediately organized and appointed a leader and set about relieving those hurt by falling timbers and recovering the bodies of the killed.
In addition to the killed and wounded mentioned in yesterday’s Nashville dispatch, thirty persons were injured. Soon after the storm had blown over it was discovered that the iron railway bridge over Spring Creek, about a half mile from town, had been completely destroyed. At the same time it was remembered that a train from Memphis was expected to arrive at any moment. The utmost confusion prevailed. No one seemed to know what to do. At length a young man named Wamble seized a huge stick of pine wood and after thrusting it in the fire from a house nearby, he rushed toward the broken bridge waving the blazing wood over his head as he went along. He had almost reached the creek when his torch was extinguished by the rain which was falling in torrents. At the same time the whistle of an approaching train was heard and the next moment the head light flashed through the darkness and young Mr. Wamble called with all his might but the engineer heard nothing but the sound of the storm and before any warning could be conveyed to him the engine, baggage car and one passenger coach went over the embankment fifty down into the Creek. The rear passenger cars did not go off the track it being blocked up by the wreck of the foremost ones. The engineer, fireman and baggage-master went over with it; they were cut out of ruins after two hours hard work. They were very dangerously burned and bruised – but are expected to recover. Several of the passengers were slightly injured but none of them were prevented from proceeding on their journey. They were delayed three hours.
The searching party first removed the ruins of State Senator Moore’s house. Mrs. Moore was found on bed with two heavy timbers lying across her and two of her children under her bed, all crushed out of shape. Two other children were rescued alive.
John Hodgkins was blown out of the second story window. His house was blown down, burying his brother’s family. On cutting through the wreck, Mr. Hodgkins and his wife and four children were all found crushed to death. The mansion of Mrs. Winston was blown down and she was found killed by heavy wardrobe and other furniture. The house was valued at over forty thousand dollars. Her son-in-law, ex-Gov. Lindsay, occupying a portion of the house was unhurt.
From The Athens Post, November 27, 1874, pg. 3:
A Terrible Tornado.
Death and Destruction.
One of the most terrible and destructive tornadoes which has visited North Alabama in years, swept over the town of Tuscumbia, on Sunday evening last. Particulars of the loss of life and destruction to property is given in the following dispatch from that city.
Tuscumbia, Ala., Nov. 23rd. – A terrible storm occurred here last evening at 6 o’clock, destroying one-third of the residences. Twelve persons were killed and many others injured. Mrs. Wm. Winston, mother of the late ex-Gov. Winston, the wife and two children of Hon J.B. Moore, Senator from this district, and F.D. Hodgkins, Esq. editor of the Chronicle, with his wife and four children, were killed. The Catholic Church, Deshler’s Female Institute recently finished, both of the flouring mills, and the most substantial brick dwellings in town were destroyed. Many poor families are without homes.
A bridge on the M. & C. Railroad, near town was destroyed, and the Eastward bound train was precipitated into Spring Creek. Fortunately no one was killed. The Engineer was badly burned. It will be several days before trains will run through.
From The Moulton Advertiser, November 27, 1874, pg. 3:
A Sad Calamity.
We are grieved to learn that a terrific tornado, moving from South to North, struck the town of Tuscumbia with fearful force, on Sunday evening last, at about 7 o’clock, utterly demolishing some 75 buildings, and killing 16 human being, and doing other incalculable mischief. We have not been able to gather much that is reliable, through reports are numerous, and we hope greatly exaggerated. It is certain, however, that as many as 16 persons were killed, to-wit: The wife and two youngest children of Senator J. Burns Moore – F.D. Hodgkins, his wife and four children – Mrs. Winston and 6 persons in the country. We await particulars with intense and painful anxiety. Our hearts go out to the sufferers in sincerest sympathy, and we sincerely hope that the calamity is not so great as has been reported.
From The Moulton Advertiser, December 4, 1874:
The Tornado.
The tornado that passed over this country a short time ago was more destructive than at first published. Up to this writing sixty dead bodies have been found, and millions of dollars worth of property destroyed. At Montevallo, Ala., it dashed upon the people from mid-air, killing two persons, and leveling 30 of the finest and most substantial buildings in the place. All along its course, from Miss., to Ontario, it left death and destruction in its path. “Man’s life is but a shadow,” how grateful we should be to Him, for protection, who plants His foot-steps on the seas and rides upon the storm! But the object of this second notice is to inform the citizens of Moulton that our Tuscumbia neighbors are in distress and need assistance. Let us give of our means, to alleviate the pains and sufferings of our unfortunate brethren who have been stripped of all earthly possessions. Many of the sufferers are poor women whose husbands have preceded them to that unknown world, and are left homeless with large families. We cannot feast on the luxuries of life and see our friends starve and freeze! We are poor, it is true, but something can be done – let us contribute freely. Humanity prompts these sentiments. Americans are feeling people -while feeling, let us feel into our pockets and smoke-houses, and manifest our sympathy by deeds and not by long groans. Other places have responded nobly and promptly – let not Moulton prove recreant to her duty. All can give something. Bed-clothing, meat and wearing apparel will be thankfully received. Money is needed to build houses. $5, $10, $20, or any amount from a few of our well to do neighbors will help wonderfully, and will be returned to the donors, in due season, an hundred fold. We shall call on our people in a few days, and hope they will respond according to their means. Those in the country who feel like contributing, can call at the Advertiser office and their gifts will be forwarded to the unfortunate Tuscumbians. Remember, the Lord loves a cheerful giver.
From Birmingham Iron Age, December 3, 1874, pg. 1:
Tuscumbia.
Sunday’s Cyclone and Its Work of Destruction and Death.
Eleven Persons Killed and a Large Number Injured.
More Than Fifty Houses Wholly and Partly Destroyed.
Union and American, November 27.
On receipt of the Associated Press dispatch published yesterday, referring to the disastrous tornado in Northwestern Alabama, a member of our local corps was instructed to proceed to the scene of the horrible visitation in order to ascertain the loss of life and property and the condition in which the people were left. Leaving by the 8:40 P.M. train on the Decatur road he reached Tuscumbia about 2:45 yesterday morning, from which place we get the following dispatch:
The Place.
Tuscumbia has a population of about 1,500, and is known as the residence of several of the first families in the State. Once the home of wealth and luxury, it is still noted for culture and hospitality, though utterly shorn of its affluence by the war. It is scattered over an elevated and rolling area, and is divided about in the middle, from east to west, by the Memphis and Charleston Railroad – a fact which will aid in understanding the effects of
The Storm.
The first mark of its havoc I noticed, after getting up this morning, was that a part of the roof of the hotel in which I had slept; was gone and the interior badly damaged by water. This was at the southern limit of the storm’s wake, which comprehends all that part of the town lying north of the railroad. Here the real destruction appears, over fifty residences being either partially or totally destroyed, including some of the finest and most substantial bricks in the place. All the enclosures are blown down and away. The trees planted in yards and along the streets are blown down or twisted off, one after another. Some of the houses are just unroofed, some without chimneys, others partly blown down, or without a wall, but many are utterly demolished. The ground throughout the area of the tornado is literally covered with the fragments of buildings and furniture, and to the northeast of the town, almost as far as the eye can see, the fields are strewn with tin roofing and the lighter contents of the houses. Yet even in the roaring of the hardest wind a number of houses are left standing, showing that the storm was not incessant in its contact with the earth. The trees are felled in every direction, and it seems to have been more a
Bounding Cyclone
Than a hurricane. It was confined to a small section of country, too, when it is considered that a strong gale was prevailing about the same time at Nashville, Memphis, and even as low down as Calera. From all the information gathered here, it is supposed it first touched the earth about five miles southwest of here, and finally left it in the vicinity of Brickville, which is about eighteen miles northeast. It rose and came down at numerous points between, but descended with greatest fury here and in the timber along Pond Creek.
The Casualties.
So far as heard from, eleven persons were killed outright, one (it is thought) mortally wounded and many slightly bruised. A hundred would probably be a low estimate of the number of miraculous escapes.
About four miles southwest of town the dwelling of Jno. Sherrod, a farmer, was blown down and his daughter Bettie, about seventeen years old, killed. A number of other houses on that side were destroyed, but no other life lost.
The first property struck in the corporate limits was the fair ground buildings, which were blown down. Hindman’s grist and flouring mills, on Spring street, were the next, and these, with a large quantity of grain, were blown away.
The Memphis and Charleston Railroad bridge across Spring creek was next in the sweep. This was a strong structure of a single span, and about fifty feet above the water. The timbers were blown loose from the rails, and scattered, and the rails themselves were blown some distance, and bent as if they had been wax. The telegraph wires were torn from the posts, and now lie on the ground, one hundred feet from the road, for about a quarter of a mile, the width of the ruined district.
Workmen are now engaged in removing the wrecked passenger train which plunged into the gorge only a short time after the whirlwind swept by. The rain was falling in such torrents as to blind the engineer, or else this accident would have been avoided. The train was moving slowly, however, and did not go entirely in the creek. It now lies there partially buried in the mud, the postal car lying crosswise and bottom upward just above. The engineer and fireman were both caught between this car and the engine, and the wonder is that a way was cut for them to be rescued before getting scalded to death or burnt to a crisp.
A train from Florence toward Tuscumbia, on the branch road, ran into a tree that had been felled across the track, but with no other damage than breaking the pilot of the engine off.
Passing on in the waste, the dwelling of Mrs. Hart, a widow lady, occupied by herself and family, was blown to atoms, and the occupants left clinging to each other in a huddle, unhurt. A house occupied by Mrs. Bennett and family was blown to pieces, with only a slight bruised to one of the inmates. These are mentioned as specimens of numerous instances of narrow escapes.
The dwelling of Martin Patterson, who, with a little child, was the only person in the house at the time, was literally blown away. Mr. Patterson received injuries in the back and spine from falling timbers, from which it is feared he cannot recover. The little child was picked up in a drowning condition afterward, on the opposite side of the street from where the house stood.
The Fated Family.
The dwelling of F.D. Hodgkins, editor of the Chronicle, was a frame, and stood in the center of the whirlwind’s path. It was almost levelled with the ground and partly blown away. The bodies of Mr. Hodgkins, his wife and four little children, the oldest aged five years, were all found in a room, close together. Severe bruises are visible about the heads of the father and mother, but no marks can be seen on the bodies of some of the children, and it is supposed that fright and strangling, or smothering, had much to do with their taking off. A brother of Mr. Hodgkins was in the house at the time, and was picked up afterward in an unconscious state, but was found not to be very seriously hurt.
The deceased was a prominent member of the Episcopal Church, an officer in the State Grand Commandery of Masons, and was formerly editor of the North Alabamian and Times. The loss of himself and family is deeply felt in the community.
The Catholic Church was a new frame building, having cost about $3,000. It was levelled with the ground.
The Deshler Female Institute was a new three-story brick, a very handsome piece of architecture, costing between $12,000 and $15,000. The two upper stories were blown off and one wall of the lower one blown in. No one was in it at the time, it having been used only as a place of instruction in the day. A dwelling on the same lot, being a part of the Institute property, was occupied by the Principal of the school, Rev. Mr. Custar, his wife, several teachers and a number of young ladies and children. The roof of this was taken off, and the trees around it blown down, but no one was hurt.
All this property was devised for school purposes by Mr. Deshler, father of Gen. Deshler, who fell at Chicamauga.
Ex-Governor Lindsey’s dwelling was unroofed and in other ways damaged. It was occupied by the ex-Governor and his family and all escaped unhurt.
The brick residence of Hon. J.B. Moore stood on an eminence and was struck by the storm with greater fury probably than any other. It went to pieces from the roof to the ground, killing Mrs. Moore and two children, little girls, aged seven and two and a half years, respectively. Two other daughters were taken from the pile afterwards, badly bruised but not fatally injured. Another little girl, Lillie Elliott, a niece of Mrs. Moore, was in the house, but after the crash succeeded in getting out, when she ran directly to a neighbor’s house, a short distance away. A negro woman also came out of this wreck alive.
Mrs. Moore was one of the idols of Tuscumbia society – an accomplished, vivacious and high-toned woman.
Mr. Moore is one of the first lawyers of the Tuscumbia bar. The Senatorship, to which he has just been elected, is the first office he has ever held. Devoted to his family, he was never separated from them for any length of time. His is a cup of grief rarely pressed to mortal lips.
The step-mother of ex-Gov. Winston was also the mother-in-law of ex-Gov. Lindsey. The house in which she was killed was a large, square two-story brick, built at a cost of $20,000 in gold before the war, and located in a rich grove of transplanted trees. The roof was blown off, and a large portion of the walls blown down. The trees nearly all fell, and lie in an immense heap around the house.
Mrs. Winston was occupying an upper room, and becoming uneasy, evidently, at the near approach of the storm, started downstairs, when she received the fatal blow about the head from a falling beam, from the effects of which she died in the course of twenty minutes. Her son-in-law, John A. Stule, and family, were on the lower floor, but all escaped the flying brick and timber.
The Scenes Of Sunday Night.
The approach of the storm Sunday evening is described to me as resembling the noise of a running train, as many supposed it was. It was preceded for some time by continual flashes of lightning, that kept up an incessant glare over the heavens. There was little or no thunder. When the violent and destroying gush came, it lasted, it is said, no longer than a minute and a half. Then followed such torrents of rain as are rarely ever seen, and but little time elapsed till almost the entire population the town was on the streets. Fright, confusion, consternation and wailing! There was no sleep in Tuscumbia that night, save the sleep of death.
Extent Of The Loss.
My sketch, necessarily hasty and desultory, has given no adequate idea of the loss or of the suffering which would follow but for the generosity of sympathizing communities, whose contributions have already begun to arrive.
The poor and the well-to-do have lost by this disaster, but the poor are in this respect in the majority, and their effects having all vanished at the beginning of winter they have nothing to depend upon in future of need. I find the town and country in a very poor condition, and on this account, I think the more aid will have to come from abroad. Money, especially, is required to build for winter, though provisions and clothing are needed as well. It is an exceedingly moderate estimate to say that the loss to property, real and personal, could not be repaired with less than $250,000.
From Tuscaloosa Weekly Times, November 25, 1874, pg. 3:
Terrible Hurricane At Tuscumbia – Many Persons Killed!
From Montgomery News, November 23rd.
At 10 o’clock last night while one of the editors of this paper was conversing with Governor McEnery, of Louisiana, on the balcony of the Exchange Hotel, the following startling dispatch addressed to Hon. J. Burns Moore, of Tuscumbia, the newly elected Senator from the Second Senatorial District was received:
Tuscumbia, Ala., Nov. 22. – 9:35 p.m., Hon. J.B. Moore – Montgomery:
Terrible hurricane here to-night. – Many people killed – amongst them your wife and two youngest children. Balance safe. John D. Rather
The contents of this dispatch were imparted to Mr. Beall, the clerk, before the telegram was delivered to Mr. Moore, so that he could break this terrible news to the sorely afflicted husband and father. Mr. Beall requested Gen. O’Neal, of Florence, to deliver the dispatch, and this request was complied with, though, as we suppose, quite reluctantly, considering the circumstances.
Gentlemen who were present when Mr. Moore received the news of the sudden death of his wife and two youngest children, whom he had left a few days ago in the enjoyment of good health, describes the scene as perfectly heartrending.
The news of the terrible calamity spread rapidly among the guests in the hotel, and there was not a cheek that did not blanch at the contemplation of the horrors of its disaster, and not a heart that did not throb in sympathy for the bereaved father and husband and the other sufferers by the calamity.
Dispatches were immediately sent to Tuscumbia to obtain particulars of the disaster, but the operator at Chattanooga reported the Tuscumbia operator not in, and the only news that could be obtained at half past ten o’clock was that the hurricane did not reach as far as Florence, which is the home of Gen. O’Neal and five miles distant from Tuscumbia. From this we infer that the hurricane was confined to a comparatively small territory.
The atmosphere here in Montgomery yesterday afternoon and last night was as heavy and sultry as if on a night in August, and there was some indication of an approaching storm.
At about midnight, the operator at Chattanooga reported the Tuscumbia operator at his post, and in order to lay all the details that could be had before our readers, we immediately ordered a detailed statement to be transmitted by telegraph to the Morning News. At three o’clock this morning the operator of the Western Union Telegraph Company sent us the following note:
“There will be no special to-night. – Wires are all working bad, and I see no chance of getting it.”
The storm traveled on its track Southward, and at three o’clock this morning burst loose here. The air was heavily charged with electricity, and the lightning was almost incessant. The storm was accompanied by a heavy rain.
We regret that owing to the inclement weather, which affected the wires, we cannot, as we contemplated, furnish our readers with full particulars. The dispatch addressed to Mr. Moore will, however, give an idea of the terrible calamity that has been visited upon the citizens of Tuscumbia. Our hearts go out to them in their severe affliction, and Senator Moore especially has our sincere sympathy in his sad bereavement.