PIECES OF OUR PAST - THE WILD FREAKS OF THE BOREAS

 

    THE WILD FREAKS OF BOREAS - A correspondent of the Dublin Times called them the “Wild Freaks of Boreas.”  Boreas, in Greek mythology, was the personification of the north wind.  He carried off the beautiful Oreithyia, a daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens.  He was referring to a tornado  which struck Laurens County on May 15, 1881.  The cyclone began in the Buckeye area near the home of Dr. Hicks and moved southeasterly to J.M. Hutchinson’s place.  The cyclonic winds reeked holy havoc on the growing timber of Hutchinson and Dr. A.I. Haines.  Hicks suffered the greatest damage when his two-gin house was completely decimated.  A giant ancient oak in front of his home was split into and thrown in opposite directions.   All of his windows were siphoned into the stately home. In the strangest of occurrences, not a single window pane was even cracked.  A wax flower arrangement was lowered from its perch on the fireplace mantel down to the hearth without an injury.   The storm’s cyclonic winds reaped up the growing oats as if was an 150-yard wide scythe.   Accompanying the twister was a horrific hail storm on the old plantation of Dr. Nathan Tucker.   Dublin Post, May 25, 1881.