Terrebonne County Louisiana Archives News.....Great Tornado October 11, 1855
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Savanna King savanna18king@gmail.com August 12, 2023, 9:54 pm

Houma Ceres October 11, 1855
On the morning of the 5th inst., a horrible tornado passed over the plantation 
of Mrs. Pierce, on the Bayou Terrebonne, in this Parish, sweeping everything 
before it, devastating the plantation, leaving it a dreary waste. We are pained 
to learn that some lives were lost, and among them, the only child of our 
esteemed fellow-townsman, Dr. W. Jennings, who with his lady and child, a son of 
about two years of age, were on a visit to Mrs. P. at the time of the dreadful 
disaster. We sincerely condole with Dr. J. and lady, in this, their sad 
bereavement. To have an object of attachment taken from us at any time, by the 
natural course of sickness, is a grief--terrible in itself; but to have such an 
object as a wildly worshipped and only son--an infant, upon which is centred all 
of the heart's best and purest affections, is a grief, too poignant for 
utterance. Good God! what anguish and bitter grief must have chilled the heart 
of that fond mother, as she gazed upon that ruined heap under which was buried 
her heart's dearest idol. Deep, poignant, and bitter must have been the grief of 
that devoted father, as he contemplated the ruined mass which covered the object 
of his tenderest affection--unable to render the assistance which might have 
saved his beloved boy from a death so awful. The child made no noise, and it is 
supposed to have died rather from suffocation, than from any injury sustained 
from the fall of the building; as but slight bruises were perceptible on its 
body, when found. Had it made an outcry, so as to have been heard by those who 
were in search, in all probability it might have been saved.

Mrs. Pierce's family all sustained more [illegible line] and at last ccounts, 
she was thought to be in a very critical situation. One of her sons had his 
collar bone broken and all the rest of the family are badly bruised. A female 
servant, about 14 years of age, belonging to Mrs. P., was killed by the fall of 
the house.

It appears that those who occupied the second story of the house, were less 
injured than those who occupied the first, or ground floor. Dr. Jennings and 
lady were occupying a room up-stairs, and when the roof fell in it, it crushed 
the head-posts of the bedstead on which they were sleeping, and rested on the 
foot-posts which shielded them from any injury. It is a wonder to us how anyone 
on the place escaped being killed.

Mrs. P.'s dwelling-house, sugar-house, out-houses, fences, cane; &c., were all 
prostrated, or so badly injured as to leave her plantation in awful condition. 
We did not learn the amount of her loss, but suppose it must be considerable, as 
her buildings were mostly new, and her plantation generally in fine repair. The 
beautiful grove around her dwelling, was entirely destroyed, and shrubbery which 
had taken years to bring to perfection, were torn up, or twisted off, and 
scattered to the four winds. Some orange trees were taken up by the roots, and 
lodged in the tops of the neighboring trees. Such havoc as was made of 
everything belonging to Mrs. P., is indeed deplorable. She seems to very 
unfortunate. Not quite a year ago, she had her sugar-house destroyed, together 
with a large amount of sugar, by fire. Just about the time she gets a new one, 
built on a more extensive scale, and is about ready to gather her new crop, a 
hurricane takes both house and crop, and not yet content, takes her dwelling, 
and, nearly, takes her life.

We also learn that Joseph Toupes, of Little Caillou, had his house blown down 
and two of his children killed, and his wife so severely injured that she has 
since died. One child was found about to arpents from the house, and when found, 
it was not yet dead, but died in the arms of the person who found it before he 
could reach the house. An infant was found about one hundred yards from the 
house, and, strange to say, it was entirely uninjured. This awful calamity has 
left Mr. T.'s possessions in a perfectly wrecked condition.

Altogether this has been one of the most awful occurrences that it has ever been 
our lot to chronicle, and may a long period elapse before we are called upon 
record another such melancholy disaster.

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