USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II > Part 39
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York, Baltimore, New Orleans or San Francisco, and on their arrival there are transferred to cars, under bond, and brought direct to St. Louis, where they are formally entered for consumption. After being duly appraised and the duties paid they are deliv- ered to the consignee. In the year 1896 for- eign goods to the value of $2,712,870 were thus entered at the St. Louis Customhouse, and duties to the amount of $1,020,159 paid on them. The leading articles imported were free goods, $432,301 ; cotton goods, $338,420; tobacco and cigars, $201,248 ; china and earth- enware, $156,147; chemicals, $151,318; win- dow glass, $163,398 ; woolen goods, $147,664 ; linen goods, $110,188; steel wire, $114,980; cutlery, $109,730; wines, $98,234; guns and fire-arms, $96,636; hops, $53,357; metal goods,$50,742; fancy goods, $48,970; spiritu- ous liquors, $39,642 ; cork and cork manufac- tures, $38,945 ; fish, $37,493 ; jewelry,$25,352; silk goods, $24,705 ; granulated rice, $27,234; seeds, $27,940 ; paper goods, $20,435 ; carpets, $13,770 ; anvils, $10,964 ; skins, dressed, $12,- 700; vegetables, $10,733; marble, $11,802; paints and oils, $6,955; iron manufactures, $9,280 ; rubber goods, $5,294 ; steel bars, $6,- 686; sugar, $5,167; leather goods, $3,081 ; musical instruments, $4,645; miscellaneous merchandise, $15,502.
D. M. GRISSOM.
Customs, Surveyor of. - A United States officer who has charge of the custom- house and collects the duties on imported goods.
Cyclones and Tornadoes .- Cyclones are storms in which the wind sweeps round in a cycle or circle enclosing an undisturbed area which is called the vortex or core. They are common at sea, particularly in the Indian Ocean, on the China coast, and be- tween Cape Hatteras and the West Indies. A cyclone may be a thousand miles in diameter. Hurricanes operate on a path averaging six hundred to eight hundred miles wide while tornadoes are much smaller, sometimes not more than a mile at the top and a few yards at the bottom. The word tornado, means "twisted," and the alarming and destructive storms that prevail in the Western and Southern States of this country, and which are commonly called cyclones are tornadoes. They usually come after a hot
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CYCLONES AND TORNADOES.
spell and are marked by features which are easily distinguishable and always inspire terror. There will be a darkening of the sky in the southwest, increasing to blackness, with low ominous mutterings; and then, a separate cloud, usually spoken of as funnel- shaped, but more frequently turnip shaped, with its round revolving body in the sky and a twisting pendant swaying below it and touching the earth. Sometimes the whole apparition will pass slowly over the earth, without touching-and in these cases, there will be only a sharp blow on the earth with no harm done. At times again, the cloud will descend till the pendant touches the ground and then everything is either lifted up in its twisting vortex, or torn to pieces in its path-houses, trees, growing crops, fences and even animals and human beings. Houses have been torn to pieces and blown clear from their foundations, and some members of the family overwhelmed and killed on the spot, while others were borne upward, carried off and dropped in places a hundred yards away. A fearful roaring and din is usually an accompaniment of the storm, lightning flashes and thunder roll from the vortex of the cloud, and sometimes deluging rains descend. In a few minutes the storm passes and all is over, but the path of the tornado, sometimes only a few hundred yards wide, and with the sides clearly defined, is marked by havoc and desolation. The lifting force of the tornado is enormous. Timbers of wrecked houses have been carried a mile in the air and dropped; horses have been caught up in one field and dropped in an- other ; clothing and papers have been carried off and deposited in other counties twenty miles distant; shingles have been driven, thin end foremost, into trees, to the depth of several inches; and in one case in Illinois, a heavy railway locomotive standing on the track was lifted up and dropped to the ground, twenty feet distant. Missouri has been visited by several of these storms which have generally been called cyclones in later years. A destructive tornado visited St. Louis on the 27th of June, 1833, which un- roofed and demolished many dwellings, uprooted shade trees and injured several per- sons, killing one. What was known as the North Ward Markethouse was entirely de- stroyed, a portion of the Methodist Church was carried away, and the cupola of the Epis-
copal Church was blown down. There is no authentic record of an earlier visitation of the same character, or of a storm which inflicted any serious damage on the place. April 27, 1852, a terrific hail and wind storm swept over the same city, which did much damage, but caused no loss of life. Carondelet suf- fered more severely than St. Louis from this storm, between twenty and thirty buildings being unroofed or otherwise injured in that place. March 8, 1871, East St. Louis and the eastern shore of the Mississippi River were practically devastated by a tornado which came from the southwest and swept along the river bank with an estimated velocity of sixty to seventy miles an hour. This storm demolished a grain elevator and wrecked the freight house of the Vandalia Railway and the St. Louis & Southwestern freight house and depot. A locomotive and train of ten cars were blown from the track, the depot and freight houses of the Chicago & Alton Railroad were greatly damaged, and three freight houses belonging to the Ohio & Mis- sissippi Railway Company were blown from their foundations. Many other buildings were wholly or partially destroyed, and the steamer "Mollie Able," the ferry boats "Ed- wardsville" and "Milwaukee," and the ram "Vindicator" were wrecked. The victims of this tornado were seven persons killed and more than fifty injured. On the night of January 12, 1890, a storm visited St. Louis in which four people were killed and fifteen injured and much property destroyed. May 27, 1896, St. Louis was struck by a tornado which occasioned an appalling loss of life and property. About five o'clock on the after- noon of that day the storm burst suddenly upon the city, coming from the southwest, and passing down the valley south of the railroad track, laid waste an area about two miles wide by three miles in length. The storm was severely felt in other portions of the city, near the river and north of its gen- eral course. In East St. Louis there was a frightful wreckage of buildings of all kinds, attended by great loss of life. A heavy rain storm accompanied the tornado, increasing the horrors of the situation and seriously im- peding the work of rescuing the wounded and caring for those who were without shelter. The devastated district was in darkness, all electric plants having been disabled and miles of poles and wires destroyed. In many places
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CYCLONES AND TORNADOES.
the gas was also cut off. Several fires oc- curred, which happily were extinguished by the rain. Every street railroad in the city was disabled and traffic completely suspended. The Olive Street Cable Line, however, escaped serious damage and was able to re- sume service later in the evening, but thou- sands of people were compelled to walk to their homes in the blinding rain. Railroad traffic was also entirely suspended, no trains leaving or entering the city during the night. The gloom that pervaded the city during that eventful night can better be imagined than described. When the morning broke the full force of the disaster was realized. As the business men gathered on 'Change the one prevailing thought was the desire to extend immediate help to those who had been rendered homeless. No attempt was made to transact business. At 12 o'clock President Spencer, of the Merchants' Exchange, called a meeting of the members and suggested that a subscription be at once started and com- mittees appointed to look after the unfor- tunate. Although the attendance was slight, many of the merchants being absent engaged in looking after their own homes or those of their friends who resided in the stricken district, the sum of $15,000 was subscribed in a few moments, and a general executive committee appointed to prosecute the good work. This committee met at once and ap- pointed subcommittees to solicit funds, and other committees to distribute relief, with full authority to take charge of the work, and appoint subcommittees. The St. Louis Provident Association, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Hebrew Relief Association, the Ladies' Emergency Aid Society, the South Broadway Merchants' Association, and others offered their services, and were placed in charge of subdistricts. Immediate relief in the shape of food, clothing, furniture and bedding were freely given, and at the end of two weeks every known sufferer by the storm had been fed, clothed and housed. Then the systematic work of investigation was taken up and relief extended to many who had not applied for aid in the various districts. As nearly as can be ascertained about 8,000 families, representing 40,000 persons, were assisted. The call of the committee for money to carry on the work of relief was responded to in a most liberal man- ner by the people of St. Louis, and generous
subscriptions were also received from outside the city. The amount received by the Mer- chants' Exchange Relief Committee and the Rebuilding Committee was $267,430.49. In addition $4,101.90 was collected from the public schools, $2,624.37 by the Broadway Merchants' Association, and a very large amount, estimated at over $100,000, was dis- tributed personally by friends and neighbors. A large quantity of clothing, bedding, etc., was also donated, some of which was dis- tributed by the general committee and the balance by individuals. So it is safe to say that aid to the amount of $400,000 was rendered to the tornado sufferers. The official report of killed and injured, as fur- nished by the health department, was as follows :
Killed .138
Drowned from boats. 2
..
Injured and treated from Health Department .. ..
92
The following statement shows the num- ber of houses damaged and gives an approxi- mate estimate of the property loss incurred :
Number of houses considerably damaged .. 7,263
Number of houses damaged (not to exceed $75). 1,249
Total 8,512
Loss on buildings. $7,487,200
Loss on personal property (household effects, etc.) .... 1,191,800
Loss on machinery, stocks of merchandise, and property not included in the above 1,560,000
'Total . $10,239,000
Buildings entirely destroyed. 321 Number of buildings that cost less than $3,000 each 2,651 Number of buildings tbat cost less than $1,500 each. 1,171
The damages included in the above esti- mate to overhead wire system, were $500,- 000; to churches, $400,000; to schools, $100,- 000 ; and to the shipping interests over $400,- 000.
In February, 1872, a tornado passed over the northern part of Pettis County descend- ing to the earth at Houstonia, wrecking a number of houses and causing a loss of $30,- 000. A number of persons were injured but none killed.
April 18, 1880, one entered the south- western corner of the State in McDonald County, passing over Barry, being joined ap- parently by another near Cassville, moving into Greene County, where the cloud divided, one branch passing to the southwest and disappearing without causing serious injury ; but the other branch swept over Webster
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CYRENE.
. County, touching the earth at Marshfield and inflicting great devastation. About one-half the town, which is the county seat of Web- ster County, was destroyed, eighty-seven persons were killed and fatally injured, many others less seriously injured and a property loss of $250,000 was inflicted on the place. The same tornado did great damage in some parts of Moniteau County, particularly in the vicinity of High Point and along the South Moreau. Many farm houses and buildings were demolished and several persons were killed and injured. Again in July, 1881, a heavy wind storm wrought much havoc in Linn Township, of Moniteau County.
April 27, 1899, Kirksville, the county seat of Adair County, a city of 7,000 inhabitants, ·was visited by a tornado, which swept over and through the place about five o'clock in the afternoon, making a track about four blocks in width and a mile in length, killing 45 persons, injuring 150, and destroying 200 houses. Theodore Brigham was found dead on the ground several hundred feet from his house, having been carried off by the wind. An infant was carried some distance and gently deposited in a field without being in- jured. The house of J. T. Coonfield was blown across a ditch and jammed into the side of a hill, all its inmates escaping without serious injury. A girl sixteen years old was found dead with a two by four inch scantling thrust through her body, and a child was taken from a heap of ruins with a limb of a
tree run through its neck. Newtown, with a population of 750, in Sullivan County, thirty- five miles northeast of Kirksville, was visited by the same tornado a few minutes later and half destroyed. The duration of the storm at this place was only two minutes but its work was shocking. Herman Despers' family of five persons, father, mother and three children, were all killed, William Hayes and his wife were blown with their house, a dis- tance of one hundred yards and killed. Laban Evans was blown 150 yards and his two daughters 200 yards and all killed. One of the Desper children was found after the storm flattened against a post, dead. One of the Hayes children, two years old, was found lodged in an apple tree, dead. Four children of Henry Barbee were found alive and but slightly injured under the ruins of Widow Pierce's house, their own house hav- ing blown off over their heads and the Pierce house blown from the other side of the street and deposited over them in such a way as to shelter them. Ten persons were killed and twenty-five injured at Newtown and the number of victims at the two places, New- town and Kirksville, was 55 killed and 175 injured.
Cyrene .- A hamlet in Pike County, six miles from Bowling Green, on the St. Louis & Hannibal Railroad. It has a saw and gristmill, two stores and a grain elevator. Population, 1899 (estimated), 125.
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DADE COUNTY.
D
Dade County .- A county in the south- western part of the State, 130 miles south of Kansas City. It is bounded on the north by Cedar County, on the east by Polk and Greene Counties, on the south by Lawrence County, and on the west by Jasper and Bar- ton Counties. Its area is 500 square miles, fairly divided between timber and prairie, and the latter is well distributed throughout the county. The uplands bear a nourishing red loam, unsurpassed for wheat, corn and to- bacco, while the bottom lands are of exceed- ing fertility. In the vicinity of the streams the country is rolling, and in places breaks into hills and bluffs. The Ozark range has its summit in the southwest, whence streams flowing south find their way to the Arkansas River, and those proceeding in other direc- tions reach the Osage. The Big Sac and Turnback Creeks, coursing from south to north through the east and central regions, offer excellent water power for mill sites. Smaller streams are Son's Creek, in the cen- tral part, and Horse and Muddy Creeks in the west, the former two flowing north into Big Sac, and the latter into Spring Creek. Excellent fish have been taken from the larger water courses. There are many fine springs, and a chalybeate spring, six miles east of Greenfield, is of known hygienic prop- erties. Among fine expanses of prairie is that in the north, known as Pennsylvania,' named for Judge William Penn. Conner's Prairie, in the north also, bends and fringes the western border. In the southeast is Rock Prairie, and in the northeast Crisp's Prairie, the latter extending a length of twelve miles, with a width of three miles. The woods are principally hickory, oak, walnut and elm; along Son's Creek are numerous groves of cedar, but the trees are only ornamental. There is abundance of fine building limestone, which has been used extensively in the United States building at Fort Smith, Arkan- sas. The deposits of white and red pottery clay are apparently inexhaustible. Large quantities of earthenware and tiling are man- ufactured near Rock Prairie, in the south- eastern portion of the county. Zinc was discovered in 1874, north and east of Green-
field, and lead was found soon afterward. In 1875 the mining industry was at its height, and the deposits were found to be abundant and rich. The Dade Mining & Smelting Company was organized with local capital, and plants were established, out of which has grown the present mining town of Corry, northeast of Greenfield, and the bus- iness continues to be successfully prosecuted. Coal is abundant in the northwestern part of the county, and numerous small mines are profitably worked. Iron has been found in the northeastern part, but has not been de- veloped. The principal towns in the county are Greenfield, the county seat; Lockwood, South Greenfield, Dadeville and Everton.
Railways traversing the county are the Stockton & Mount Vernon, and the Lamar & Springfield branches of the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis roads. In 1898 the surplus products were: Cattle, 4,036 head ; hogs, 23,400 head; wheat, 114,583 bushels; oats, 29,078 bushels; flax seed, 10,720 bush- els ; hay, 3,723,300 pounds ; grass seed, 81,000 pounds; flour, 971,600 pounds; shipstuff, 2,004,000 pounds ; poultry, 3,365,360 pounds ; butter, 85,020 pounds ; game, 68,910 pounds ; lime, 50,720 barrels. In 1900 the population of the county was 18,125.
Dade County was created January 29, 1841, formed from Greene County, and was named for Major Dade, of Seminole massacre fame. Its northern boundary was ten miles within the present county of Cedar, and its southern boundary was nine miles within the present county of Lawrence; it was reduced to its present dimensions March 28, 1845. It was provided in the organic act that the courts should temporarily hold at the house of Wil- liam Penn, until the commissioners ap- pointed, Josiah McCrary, of Barry County ; William Caulfield, of Greene County, and Winfrey Owens, of Polk County, should select a permanent county seat. Those in- strumental in the formation of the county expected to locate the county seat on Penn- sylvania Prairie, but a supplemental act of the General Assembly required that it be established within four miles of the center of the county. The commissioners selected the
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DADE COUNTY.
present site, taking for the purpose a tract of fifty-one acres donated by Matthias H. Allison. A courthouse was erected by R. S. Jacobs and Joseph Griggs; it was a frame building, of one and one-half stories. In 1850 a brick building, two stories high, was erected by Dozier C. Gill. In 1863 it was burned down by Shelby's forces, the records being previously removed to the residence of Judge Nelson McDowell. In 1868 the pres- ent courthouse and jail combined, a two-story structure, on a stone foundation, was erected. The first jail was of hewed timbers; it was burned during the war period. Courts were held at the house of Matthias H. Allison from the organization of the county until June, 1842, when the courthouse was occupied. The first county judges, sitting in 1841, were Nelson McDowell, William Penn and David Hunter, with Asa G. Smith as. sheriff, these serving by appointment by the Governor. The court appointed Joseph Allen as clerk. The first transactions were the creation of townships, and the appointment of justices. Successors of the judges named, by election, were Eshan A. Brown, P. T. Andrews, Isaac Routh and D. S. Clarkson. Joseph Allen served as county and circuit clerk until 1845. Asa G. Smith, sheriff, absconded with the public funds in 1842, and was succeeded by William G. Blake, and he by M. H. Alli- son. B. F. Walker was surveyor from 1841 to 1846. Peter Hoyle was probate judge from 1845 to 1847, and was succeeded by Matthias H. Allison. In 1873, under the township organization law, the county was divided into four districts, with R. A. Clark as presiding judge, and Robert Cowan, Sam- uel B. Shaw, Thomas J. Carson and A. D. Hudspeth as district judges. In 1875 town- ship organization was abandoned, when J. M. Stookey became the first judge, and was suc- ceeded by John N. Landers. In 1877 the county was divided into two districts, with Samuel E. Shaw as presiding justice, and James McClelland and George W. White- sides as associate justices. The first circuit court of which there is record, was held by Judge Charles S. Yancey, in October, 1845. Two executions for murder have taken place, and one of these for crime committed else- where. In 1843 Peter Douglass, a slave, was hung for killing his wife and two children; he attempted suicide after the commission of the crime. In 1879, on change of venue from
Cedar County, Thomas B. Hopper was con- victed of the murder of Samuel C. Ham, and was hung June 25, 1885. In 1881 Taylor Underwood killed Donald McElrath, in Greenfield. On change of venue to Barton County he was convicted of murder, and sen- tenced to be hung. The Supreme Court granted a new trial, when he plead guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to the pen- itentiary for life. July 3, 1881, William Un- derwood, Frank Craft and James Butler, Jr., imprisoned under a charge of horse-stealing, and suspected of belonging to an organized band of marauders, were taken from the Greenfield jail and hung from trees in the courthouse yard.
The first settlers found evidences of previous occupation by white men. Seven miles northwest of Greenfield were the re- mains of a fortification and furnaces; it is conjectured that these were constructed by Spanish explorers. The pioneers came late in 1833 and early in 1834. The Crisps, Wil- liam, Redden and John, located near the prairie which bears their name, and William Penn on Pennsylvania prairie, named for him. The Allisons, Joseph, and his sons, Matthias H. and James, the latter a soldier in the War of 1812, R. D. and William McMillan, George Davidson, William Hampton, John Lack, John M. Rankin and Peter Hoyle all settled near the present Greenfield, and Matthias H. Allison upon its immediate site. William Downing located just above the mouth of Turnback Creek, and William and John An- derson, James Jennings and Jacob Yocum farther up the stream. Silas Hobbs and J. M. Leemaster settled on Sac River. Most of those named were from Tennessee or Virginia. In 1839-40 came Alexander M. Long and family, who settled on the Yocum place; Nelson McDowell and Samuel La Force and Jesse Findlay, on Crisp prairie ; and Samuel Weir, a Cumberland Presbyte- rian preacher ; Aaron Finch, Jonathan Parris and John C. Wetzel at, or near, Greenfield. In 1841 Jefferson D. Montgomery, a Cum- berland Presbyterian preacher, located and married a daughter of Samuel Weir, and this was probably the first marriage in the county. About the same time came William K. Lathim, who had recently married Alvira Bush, in Polk County ; they located in or near Greenfield. For many years the settlers were obliged to depend for their milling upon
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DADEVILLE.
Madison Campbell's mill on the Little Sac, in Polk County; Campbell afterward built a mill seven miles northeast of Greenfield on the site of the later Engelman mill.
The county is rich in church history. Sev- eral religious organizations were formed be- fore the establishment of the county. In 1838 the Christian Church of Dadeville had its beginning under Elder Hazleton, with James Hambree and wife, and Matilda and Nancy Hambree as members. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church, of Greenfield, was founded in 1839 by the Rev. J. D. Montgom- ery, with Mrs. Montgomery, the Rev. J. Weir and his wife, J. L. Allison and wife, M. H. Allison and wife, A. M. Long and wife, Joseph Leemaster and wife, and Leann Dycus as members. The membership was dispersed in war days, but in 1866 those remaining re- organized the church, and erected a substan- tial house of worship. In 1842 Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, of Greenfield, was organized. In 1847, Elder Thomas J. Kelley organized the Sinking Creek United Baptist Church. In 1848 Elders David Stiles and S. L. Beckley organized the Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church, and Elder Beck- ley formed the Limestone Church in the year following. Numerous other missionary Bap- tist churches were formed in various parts of the county both before and after the war. In 1864 a Methodist Episcopal Church was founded at Greenfield by the Rev. William Denby. All churches now existing are united and prosperous. During the Mexican War the county furnished a company, commanded by Captain J. J. Clarkson. At the beginning of the Civil War public sentiment was about equally divided; the people in the southern half of the county were generally Southern sympathizers, while those of the northern half were mostly Unionists. John T. Coffee en- listed a number of men for the Confederate Army, and a large number attached them- selves to Price's army when it moved south. The county furnished almost the entire mem- bership of Companies A and D of the Sixth Missouri Cavalry Regiment ; Clark Wright became colonel of the regiment, and Thomas A. Switzler succeeded him as captain of Com- pany A. Company D was commanded by Captain William H. Crockett. The county furnished to the same regiment one-half of the men of Company E, commanded by Cap- tain Austin Hubbard, and one-third of the
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