THE TORNADO IN ILLINOIS.

SEVERAL LIVES LOST -- FEARFUL FORCE OF THE WHIRLWIND.

Upper Sandusky, Ohio, June 9. -- The vicinity of the village of Quincy, Logan County, on the line of the Mad River Railroad, was visited last night by a destructive tornado, by which two children were killed, several other persons seriously injured, and a large number of buildings destroyed. The little village of Quincy, in Logan County, contains a population of about 400. A farmer, who lives about three miles west of the place, says the the whirlwind appeared, when he first saw it, in the shape of two inverted cones, 100 feet apart and, as they passed eastward with a terrible roar, they united together. The width of the wind-path would not vary much from 400 feet, and it passed through the centre of the little village. One of the first obstacles it met with was a house built of hewn logs, which it leveled with the ground. A woman escaping from the house to find refuge elsewhere was caught up and hurld[sic] through the air, and received injuries from which she is dying. Further on stood the Methodist and Baptist Churches[sic], both of which were torn instantly to pieces. A pair of houses attached to a carriage in the street were blown into a store, but not killed. A large cooper-shop, a cabinet shop, and scores of other shops and houses are prostrated. The town of Degraff, toward which the tornado tended, is three miles east of Quincy; it stands on a little hill, and a mile west there is a belt of timber. Through this timber the storm was seen advancing, and as its coarse shaped toward the village men ran up the street calling upon every one to run either north or south. It came on with deafening roar, first unroofing a large mill half a mile away, and lifting it partly from its foundations. Here it drew a large hickory tree, eighteen inches in diameter, from the ground, and carried it 100 feet. The passage of the tempest through the village of Degraff, which contains nearly 1,000 inhabitants, was but a repetition of the former scene. Its action was violent, while the destruction was perhaps greater. The Methodist Church was torn down, and nearly one-half of the town is destroyed. In several instances children were caught up in the air, and in one case a little girl testifies to seeing the houses under her feet. The strangest part of the terrible scene is the fact that but two persons were killed outright, the eldest a girl of fourteen. A number are wounded and will die. The tornado was seen advancing slowly, and the people escaped from its path. Through the forest great trees are twisted off as though they were but stalks of wheat. The devastation was terrible. The people are poor, and relief should be afforded them.

The New York Times New York 1872-06-10

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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!