Tornado in 1884The following appeared in the Rock County Weekly on July 25, 1884:(Continuing from last week:)THE INJUREDA carpenter whose name we can not learn was injured in the ruins of the Norwegian church in Martin township. James Barry’s father-in-law, living a few miles north of Adrian, was carried 80 rods by the wind and very seriously injured. The only person in anywise seriously injured in Luverne was Gus. Nelson. His face was badly cut by glass from the broken store front, and pieces of glass penetrated his eyes.Mr. A.A. Noble was out in the storm and was slightly injured by hail stones. Emmet Raymond, of Springwater township, was badly injured by the timbers of a falling barn. His head was seriously cut and it was found necessary to remove a portion of his jaw. Dr. Killgore was called to treat the case. Ed. Ross, a carpenter engaged on a new house four miles north of Rock Rapids, had his cheek bone broken.OUR TURN AT LASTThe prediction most of us have made that this section must some time come in for a share of the destruction which terrible storms have so frequently visited upon many portions of the country, was fulfilled to the letter yesterday afternoon. The means by which the elements saw fit to vent their wrath upon us had nothing, very fortunately, of the character of a cyclone, but even in its less destructive form the tempest was terrific and left in its course a scene of wreck, devastation and disaster unparalleled in the history of the county. THE TEMPESTEarly in the morning indications of unusual commotion in the elements were noticeable, and later in the day the excessive heat, coupled with the appearance of heavy banks of lowering clouds which darkened the west and north-western horizon, presaged the proximity of a violent storm. Toward four o’clock in the afternoon the outlines of the approaching tempest became clearly defined in the northwest, and very soon after a huge mass of over-hanging clouds, plainly indicating the approach of a strong wind, rolled toward the town with startling rapidity. The appearance of the storm, though unusually threatening, was not such as to occasion serious alarm, and after the first vigorous gust the impression prevailed that the worst was over. In this the appearances were STRANGELY DECEPTIVE. After a brief cessation of the first violent outbreak, the rain began to fall in torrents and the wind gathered strength. A moment later and the wild tempest began its work in real earnest. The rain was driven before the wind in vast sheets, with appalling force, and the tempest steadily increased its fury. By this time, under ordinary circumstances, when a cessation of the storm might have been expected, the force of the now thoroughly maddened elements had developed into frightful violence, and each moment the terrors of the tempest grew fiercer. There was now good cause for genuine alarm. The spire of the Baptist church was hurled to the ground, the strongest structures trembled to their foundations, others RACKED AND SWAYED in momentary danger of destruction, while others less substantial or more directly exposed to the wind, were blown into a thousand pieces. Tin roofs, shingles, and cornices were torn from the business buildings, signs were wrenched from their fastenings, and dashed into store fronts, and broken boards and windows were driven through the air in wild confusion. The tempest raged thus furiously for over half an hour and the scene during the time was indescribably appalling. For a time it seemed that destruction would be general, but the force of the tempest finally diminished and toward five o’clock completely subsided. (To be continued next week).