An Epidemic of Tornadoes.
Years ago our tornado season came in the latter part of summer. Almost all times of year seem to be propitious these days. The last of April was marked by what the newspapers call an epidemic of tornadoes. Cyclones, blizzards, and hurricanes swept the whole East from the Rockies to the Alleghanies, and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf. One paper gives the record of death at 140; another at 178. Three towns were wiped out in Tennessee, six villages in ruins in Arkansas, two towns wrecked in Alabama, two in Missouri, tidal wave on Lake Michigan doing great damage, fearful hailstorms sweeping through Illinois ruining crops, fruit crops of Colorado ruined, tornado in Ohio that swept three counties. Throughout the South we are told that there are hundreds of mangled bodies and a general devastation of property worth many millions, and in the section around Memphis there are at least one hundred dead. It will take days before anything like a correct estimate can be made. Definite news seems to indicate that in Centerville, Tenn., 20 are killed, 20 in Chicago, 11 in Golden, Mo., 12 in Hornlake, Tenn., 20 in Pulaski, Tenn. Dead are recorded in 19 different places. These increasing calamities are among the many indications of the aging earth.