MONDAY MUSINGS: Many tornadoes have taken the same path through Tuscaloosa according to this 1880 anecdote

NOTE: This anecdote about storms in Alabama was written in March 1880.

Col. E. A. Powell, of Tuscaloosa, read by request, a very entertaining paper, which told of his experience and recollections of the Storms that have visited this portion of the State. Within his recollection, six of these cyclones have crossed the road leading from Fayette C. H., to Tuskaloosa. Two of them, with an interval of twenty years, passed in almost the identical track, and were of unusual violence, dealing death and destruction throughout their course.

Tornado image taken in 1913 (Library of Congress)

A notable feature of them all was, that they originated in Lowndes County, Miss., near the Tombigby river. Thrilling incidents of miraculous escapes from death of men and animals, together with the tragic fate of several families, were related.

The writer also exhibited how the humorous element of human nature is often brought out by the most thrilling and dangerous of our experiences. As for example, how, as his brother lawyers assert (by way of a joke) that an eminent Judge being found in close proximity to the track of one of those storms, and believing that his last moment was at hand, and whose only ready and praticed (sic) appeal to the Deity, had been taught him by his wife, while presiding at his own board, suddenly prostrated himself, and, amid the roar of the tempest, was heard to ejaculate, “Oh, Lord, we thank thee for these blessings which we are about to receive, for Christ sake – Amen.”

SOURCE

Transcribed from Alabama Historical Reporter, Vol. 1, No. 6. March 1880

ALABAMA FOOTPRINTS- Pioneers – A Collection of Lost and Forgotten Stories

Stories include:

The Yazoo land fraud;
Daily life as an Alabama pioneer;
The capture and arrest of Vice-president AaronBurr;
The early life of William Barrentt Travis in Alabama, hero of the Alamo;
Description of Native Americans of early Alabama including the visit by Tecumseh;
Treaties and building the first roads in Alabama.

About Donna R Causey

Donna R. Causey, resident of Alabama, was a teacher in the public school system for twenty years. When she retired, Donna found time to focus on her lifetime passion for historical writing. She developed the websites www.alabamapioneers and www.daysgoneby.me All her books can be purchased at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. She has authored numerous genealogy books. RIBBON OF LOVE: A Novel Of Colonial America (TAPESTRY OF LOVE) is her first novel in the Tapestry of Love about her family where she uses actual characters, facts, dates and places to create a story about life as it might have happened in colonial Virginia. Faith and Courage: Tapestry of Love (Volume 2) is the second book and the third FreeHearts: A Novel of Colonial America (Book 3 in the Tapestry of Love Series) Discordance: The Cottinghams (Volume 1) is the continuation of the story. . For a complete list of books, visit Donna R Causey