Banks County, GA Tornado, Feb 1889

THE GEORGIA TORNADO.

OVER TWENTY PERSONS KILLED AND INJURED. GREAT AMOUNT OF PROPERTY DESTROYED.

Atlanta, Ga., Feb. 26. -- Fuller reports from the tornado in Banks county reveal an amount of disaster to property and loss of life which would rival a western whirlwind. The tornado was extremely narrow, cutting a path only one hundred yards wide, but in that width it destroyed everything. Houses were blown down, fences wiped away, stock killed and over twenty persons injured and killed.
MRS. WILLIAM MEADOWS, whose large house was utterly blown away, is not expected to recover from her injuries. Her husband also now lies seriously hurt. THOMAS STEVENS was instantly killed, and his son WILLIAM was blown one hundred yards, and had both thighs broken. He died in a few hours and father and son now lie in one grave. MRS. STEVENS was blown fifty yards and is not expected to live. Others of the same household are seriously hurt. The track of the tornado extended seventeen miles, and books and papers of the STEVENS family were found ten miles away in a direct line as the crow flies.
A lady with a baby in her arms was blown twenty-five yards, and deposited on a mass of hay blown out of a barn. With the exception of a gash on her head, neither she nor the baby was injured.
The force of the wind was so great that a doctor's buggy and horse were lifted bodily in the air and blown into an adjoining field. Large trees were wrenched off two feet above the surface, and a cow was found with a piece of plank driven into her body. Such a violent storm is not remembered in that locality for the last fifty years. It lasted but twenty minutes, and was accompanied by a heavy electrical display.

The Marion Star Ohio 1889-02-26
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!