an object
was carried up in the whirl, it was often thrown off, laterally for a
great distance. A remarkable feature in connection with the tornado
is the preservation of buildings in the track of the storm. Property
on both sides of a house was sometimes destroyed, and yet the building
itself was scarcely injured. This gap in the storm must have occurred
from local causes, and from the gradual elevation and descent of the
progressive movement of the cloud, thus carrying it over and beyond
some of the objects in its track. Some cases of this character will be
mentioned in the subsequent pages of this book.

The color and appearance of the storm cloud is worthy of
consideration. By some who viewed it as it passed along, it is
represented as being an immense balloon, extending to the height of
several hundred feet, spreading out at the top, forming a funnel. It
moved along at times with great rapidity, and at other times it seemed
to halt, as if gathering strength for another effort. The color was
variegated, the whole presenting rather a luminous appearance.
Missiles of every kind could be distinctly seen in and through the
body of the cloud. At first sight it seemed to be a barn on fire--the
burning embers flying in every direction; but a closer inspection
proved it not to be fire, but dirt and hay and timbers, intermingled
with leaves and other light substances, giving it the appearance of an
immense wind storm, which was the correct conclusion. Those who had a
side view of the cloud state that it was quite light in appearance as
it passed over grass fields and timber tracts, but when it reached a
plowed field or a potato patch, it gathered up the dirt and loose
material and became a very dark mass of matter, and presented a
frightful appearance as it traveled forward with a velocity of a mile
in four or five minutes. Such was its character as it approached the
village of Ercildoun.

Jos. Brinton, who resides at Newlin's station, on the Penn'a and
Delaware Rail Road, states that he observed the storm carefully as it
came from the west. He was standing on his barn bridge at the time,
and on looking over the high hill at the west of his residence his
eyes were directed to a point just above the funnel of the cloud. He
saw the clouds rise up at the circumference to a great height, and
then pour over into the central cavity from all sides; this continued
for some time. The funnel next appeared in full view, after the sp