Harris Co., GA Tornado, Apr 1884

DESTRUCTIVE ELEMENTS.

THE TORNADO IN THE SOUTH.

Resulting in a Long Death List and Property Worth Many Hundred Thousand Dollars Destroyed – Fears of Damage by the Rising of the Rivers. Other Casualties.

ATLANTA, Ga., April 17. – The tornado which visited part of this state on Tuesday morning was first heard from in Harris county. It moved from southwest to northwest. Forty-six houses were completely blown away in the county. Among the dead are EDWARD APPLETON, MARY DIVINE, LEE ALFORD, Mrs. LANGFORD, CELINA LANGFORD, EDWARD LANGFORD and A. J. IRVINE. Mrs. Mary Davis was so badly injured that death must ensue. In Chipley several houses were demolished. In Merriweather county fully $200,000 worth of property was destroyed. The Powell place, one of the most noted in the state, was entirely swept away, and Mr. POWELL, sr., his grandson, BEN POWELL, and FOUR NEGROES were killed outright, while five other persons are so mangled that some of them will die. Several negro children were blown away and have not since been heard from. Further on it struck Peter Folson’s place, destroying everything but the dwelling. A negro girl was killed on Dr. Beasley’s farm, near Sandtown. Six colored people are known to have killed on one plantation, and four on another adjacent to Hogansville. Much property was destroyed.

From here the storm passed through Carroll and Paulding counties, across to Bartow and around by Clark county. The rainfall at Birmingham, Ala., was five inches in three hours. On the Louisville and Nashville railroad, near Blount Springs, the trestle was washed away, and a southbound freight train ran into the creek drowning Conductor BACCOM and severely injuring the engineer and firemen. All trains on the Alabama Great Southern and Louisville and Nashville going north and east are side tracked and cannon move for two days. The farmers have suffered great damage, corn just coming up being washed away and necessitating another planting. In Flowery Branch, on the Richmond and Danville road, a wealthy citizen was struck by lightning and instantly killed and his child fatally scorched. A negro was killed by lightning at a store six miles from Athens.

The New Haven Evening Register, New Haven CT 17 Apr 1884
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Transcribed by Jenni Lanham.