Taylorville, IL Tornado, Apr 1880 - The Cyclone of 1880

THE CYCLONE OF 1880

Near the hour of sunset of Saturday, April 24, 1880, the western part of Christian county was visited with a terrible cyclone, which swept everything in its path and was very destructive of life and property.

The storm entered Christian county about four or five miles northwest from Morrisonville and traveled in a northeasterly direction, crossing the south fork of the Sangamon river at Willowford bridge, and thence passing about two miles west of Taylorville to a point about five miles north of Taylorville, where it apparently lifted up and passed away.

In its course it passed over and destroyed many comfortable homes and much valuable property.

News of the storm was received at Taylorville, shortly afterward, and the excitement that prevailed among the inhabitants was simply wonderful. There was a great demand for horses and rigs of every kind and character to visit the scene and care for those who were injured, but owing to the darkness of the night and the downpour of rain, it was almost impossible to obtain any definite results until daylight on Sunday morning.

As soon as it was possible, the wounded and dead were cared for, and the scene of destruction was visited on Sunday by thousands of people, and with one accord it was acknowledged by all to be by far the greatest and most destructive storm that ever visited this section of the country.

The unsightly waste and evidences of the power of the cyclone made the stoutest hearts quail and wonder at the power of the destructive forces of nature.
After the storm reached the prairie, the cloud became more visible to those in and near its path than while in the heavy timber.

The writer has learned from Mr. E. A. Miller, who was in the path of the storm and watched it for some distance before it reached his place, many important facts observed by him with reference to this cyclone. He says he observed it first at a distance of two or three miles moving in a direct line of his premises; that it appeared to be a cloud of funnel shape and of the density of the darkest coal smoke, relieved by streaks of light which were taken to be electricity; it had a rotary motion as well as a forward motion, and while the rotary motion must have been exceedingly rapid, the forward motion did not exceed perhaps 30 miles an hour, and it apparently traveled in a straight course. There accompanied it a rumbling sound resembling somewhat that of a heavy train passing over a wooden bridge. As it reached Mr. Miller’s place it passed to the west of his residence and over a tenant house that was occupied by Mr. Andrew Oyler.

The rotary motion seemed to have covered the space of about 1/4 of a mile, and the cyclone moved from right to left, or from east to west, through- the north, the eastern side of the cyclone drawing the property and trees and human beings forward and towards the centre, the west side of the cyclone drawing the property backward and toward the centre. The house occupied by Andrew Oyler was on the west of the centre of the storm, was entirely destroyed, but a portion of the roof and the chimney of the house were carried backward the distance of about seventy-five yards, and there dropped in a pile in the wake of the storm as if they had been dumped from a wagon. At a hedge fence running east and west north of Mr. Miller’s residence in the track of the storm on the east side of the centre of the storm, the debris was deposited on the south side of the hedge and on the west side of the storm centre, the debris was deposited on the north side of the hedge, and the exact centre of the storm could be observed as it passed over fields by a light line of litter of husks, corn shucks and things of that character of the width of about three feet.
Mr. Miller had a beautiful maple grove through which the storm passed, and on the east side of the centre of the storm the trees were blown down and turned to the north and northwest, while on the west side of the centre the trees were blown down and twisted and turned to the south and south-east.

The well at the tenant house of Mr. Miller was curbed in two sections, the upper section being of the length of about 10 feet; this section was drawn from the well by the storm and utterly demolished.

There were standing in the barn at this tenant house occupied by Mr. Oyler, two horses; one was tied to the manger and the other to a post that was set in the ground: the barn was entirely destroyed and every vestige of it swept away except the one post at which the horse was tied. The horse tied at the manger was picked tip by the storm and carried the distance of about 30 rods northeast and badly crippled while the horse tied to the post remained there and was not injured. In the wake of the storm Mr. Miller found chickens, rattlesnakes, together with many other objects of interest, and he says the feathers were picked from the chickens as close as though they had been prepared for market, but it was a mystery where the rattlesnakes came from, evidently carried there from the timber.

A neighbor living north of him had cattle pastures upon the south side of a large hedge fence; some of these cattle were picked up and actually carried over the top of this hedge fence, a distance of many rods, and dropped upon the other side, many of them being killed, some badly injured.

Smith Oyler’s residence was completely torn down, and carried away; yet a cone shaped wood-pile cut into stove lengths and being within the same distance of the storm centre as the house was not disturbed. A new wagon upon the place of Mr. Miller was utterly demolished, the wagon spokes separated from the hub of one wheel, while the tire of this wheel was found wrapped around a tree further along in the line of the storm.

In the track of the storm for some distance upon each sidle of the centre the ground was in most places swept perfectly clean, in places had the appearance of a swept street; where it passed through the wheat field of Andrew Oyler, the wheat which was about eight inches high was cut and cleaned up so that you could scarcely observe that anything had ever been planted there.

At the home of Mr. T. J. Langley, who resided near the timber, the family sought protection by running to the orchard, lying down upon the ground and taking hold of trees: one of his sons, a boy of the age of about seven years, was picked up by the storm and carried out over the trees the distance of about 200 feet, and there dropped in a wheat field: the boy was crippled, but not killed, and he says that as he was being carried away he observed by the streaks of light in the storm cloud the trees below him as he passed along: the mother of the boy, Mrs. Langley, was killed, and Mr. Langley and the other son were badly crippled, and Mr. T. W. Brents, our present sheriff, was there at the time and was also injured. His head was badly cut and hand broken.

Mr. Langley says they were all of them literally covered and plastered with mud, so much so that they could scarcely open their eyes after the storm had passed by, and Mr. Brents and Mr. Langley both describe the storm passing over them as if there was a terrible weight resting upon them.

At Mr. Cutler’s, two children were killed, and Mrs. Cutler badly crippled; at Frank Peters’, the family took refuge under a manger in a log stable, and the storm blew down this log stable even with the top of the manger and the family miraculously escaped. The storm swept over and destroyed the home of Mr. Thomas Smith by lifting his house from the foundation and partially turning it around; the home of Mr. S. W. Hawkins, a little further north in the course of the storm, was badly wrecked and almost entirely demolished, but the family, having gathered in a southeast room, miraculously escaped injury.

The home of the widow Carlton was not disturbed, except the roof was blown away. It seems that as the storm passed along it would raise and lower at places.

The residence of Mr. Edward Leigh was entirely swept away, together with much property, but the family escaped by seeking refuge in the cellar; likewise the house of Mr. John Gessner, but the family was preserved by having gone to the cellar for safety. The home, barn, orchard and everything surrounding the home of Mr. T. J. Langley were totally destroyed, and the family injured as above described.

It is said that Mr. A. Elliot had several ribs broken, and that Mrs. Elliot, with a mother’s devotion, sought to shield her offspring from harm by clasping the children under each arm, and with another in her lap waited the onset; that the children were unhurt, and that Mrs. Elliot was severely wounded.

The escape of Rinaldo Canton and his wife, was simply miraculous; they attempted to hold the door from being blown open by the storm, but being unable to do so, rushed out into the storm and the house was entirely destroyed. Fortunately they received only slight injuries.

The Willowford bridge was totally wrecked and many of the heavy timbers caught up and carried a distance of a mile. At the residence of Mr. J. J. Williams he and his family sought refuge in a cave and avoided injury, but the house and buildings were entirely destroyed.

Mr. J. J. Cutler lived a quarter of a mile north of Mr. Williams, and at the time of the approach of the storm attempted to reach his home, but was overtaken by the hurricane, and found himself amidst flying rails, boards and timbers, and on nearing his home he saw the tornado lift the house from the ground, and the form of his little daughter carried away high above the tree tops. The body was found the next morning quite a distance from the house in a brush pile with the upper part of the head gone and the skull crushed, and his little son was found a short distance from the house horribly mutilated and dead.

Frank Peters and his family were saved by taking refuge in a log stable. The home was entirely destroyed.

At the home of John Hayes the house was lifted from over the heads of himself and family, leaving them on the floor; no one was seriously injured, except Mr. Hayes, who received a fracture of the skull; also at the home of William Welsh the roof was taken off the house, but the family was uninjured.

Mr. and Mrs. George Higgins were found a few hours after the storm had subsided, a quarter of a mile away from where their house had stood, locked in each other’s arms, covered with mud,. insensible, bleeding and horribly mutilated.

James Watts and wife were both seriously injured, and their home and effects entirely destroyed; the borne of Mrs. Holfner was also destroyed, and she, with her five children, were caught in the falling building. Mrs. Holfner and two of the children were seriously injured.

At Frank Harket’s, one end of the house was blown out and the roof lifted, leaving the other end of the house and the occupants uninjured.

Buildings were also destroyed and the farms of Mr. Miller, Mr. Oyler, Mr. Jonas Kemmerer and Mr. Perkins, also the school house known as the Perkins’ school house was completely demolished, and here near the Perkins home is where the storm seems to have lifted tip and sailed away, and so far as the writer has been able to ascertain, no other damage was inflicted by this storm.

Past and present of Christian County, Illinois Chicago, 1904, pages 79-83

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