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TERRIFIC TORNADO.
TOWNS WIPED OUT.
THOUSANDS OF VICTIMS.
The worst tornado that America has
trembled under for many years devasta-
ted her middle western districts on Sun-
day night, March 23, causing scores of
deaths and injuries to several thousand
persons, and inflicting damage estimated
at more than £1,000,000. The City of
Omaha, the largest town in the State of
Nebraska, was struck by the cyclone, and
a path several blocks wide and six miles
long was hewed through the residential
portion of the city. Official figures of the
casualties at Omaha itself place the num-
ber of dead at 170. and the injured at 360.
The figures for Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, and
Missouri are given as 300 dead and 1,100
injured. One hundred and fifty houses
were completely destroyed, together with
11 churches and 80 schools, while 250
houses were seriously damaged. Appall-
ing scenes were witnessed as women and
children were hurled from their beds into
the streets, and the horror of the situation
was intensied by the lightning, which set
fire to the debris, burning many of the
victims who were trying to extricate them-
selves.
—Cloudburst.—
Even then the stricken city's troubles
were not over, for the cyclone was fol-
lowed by a cloudburst, which, while it
effectually extinguished the fires which
sprang up in all parts of the devastated
area, only added to the misery of the sur-
vivors, and was responsible for the drown-
ing of many persons. Troops were soon
on the scene, patrolling the streets under
orders to shoot looters "on sight," there
having been several outbreaks of looting.
Relief trains were dispatched from Des
Moines, Iowa, and other big centres, but
the would-be rescuers were overwhelmed
with appeals for assistance from places
nearer at hand, and the relief work was
accordingly carried on under the greatest
difficulties. The telephone exchange was
one of the first buildings that caught the
full force of the storm, and it was prac-
tically levelled to the ground in a few
minutes, burying a score of the girls who
were on duty at the time. Whole blocks
were wiped out, and scores of people were
swept to death before they could leave
their beds. Every house that escaped
demolition was turned into a temporary
hospital, and first aid was given to the
injured, shelters being found for the home-
less, of whom there are nearly 3,000. The
Omaha houses wrecked included the resi-
dences of a number of millionaires, and of
these 2o were completely destroyed by
fire before the rain came. The authori-
ties acted with commendable promptitude
and troops were summoned for police duty
from the military stations near by.
—Chicago Struck.—
The towns of Berlin, Yutan, and Ash-
land, in Nebraska, also suffered, as did
Sioux City, Woodbine, Marshalltown,
Carroll, and Ackley, in the State of Iowa,
and Terre Haute, Indiana. In Terre Haute
30 bodies were recovered. In all, 150
houses were demolished. Fifteen people
were killed in Sioux City, Iowa, and
Prairietown, Indiana, was completely
wiped out, many being killed and injured.
Chicago was also struck by the cyclone,
four people being killed and 20 seriously
injured. The town of Flat Spring, Mis-
souri, suffered severely, a dozen people
being killed and nearly 200 houses de-
molished or damaged. Parts of Kansas,
notably the town of Abilene, were devasta-
ted, while a late message received from
Jacksonville, Florida, reports that the
town of Bonifay, near by, has been com-
pletely destroyed, with a loss of 10 lives
and 100 injured.
—Misery.—
The misery of the thousands of homeless
can be better imagined then described, and
despite the strenuous efforts of the Federal
and State authorities the havoc caused by
the storm prevents the rapid movement of
relief trains with provisions, medical, com-
forts, and clothing. Doctors were sent
from Kansas City, and from every State
doctors and nurses are being dispatched to
the largest centres for distribution in the
stricken area. The streets of Omaha were
filled with the wreckage of houses, and up-
rooted trees and tangled electric wires
make tram and other vehicular traffic im-
possible. The stretch of wreckage reaches
from the southern limits of the city
to the suburb of Florence, six
miles to the north of the point of origin
of the storm. The tornado swept the wes-
tern part of the city for its entire length,
following the west side of the valley ex-
tending along the Missouri River bluffs.
The eastern part of the city, comprising
most of the business blocks, also suffered
severely, but the damage done there was
almost entirely of minor consequence, as
compared with the devastation in the wes-
tern part, the section to the west of
Twenty-fourth street, which bisects the city
in a line running from north to south.
—A Train's Adventure.—
The suburbs suffered heavily. The vil-
lages of Bonson, Dundee, and Florence
were wiped out, and Ralston was also
razed to the ground. The only point
where the full fury of the storm struck
the business portion of Omaha was at
Twenty-fourth and Lake streets, where
the Diamond Theatre, a moving picture
house, was wrecked. According to the
best available figures, at least 30 of the
patrons were killed. Between 40 and 50
more were killed in the wreck of a pool-
hall nearby, which was patronised by ne-
groes. A thrilling story of adventure is
told by Mr. William Coon, President of an
automobile company, who was one of the
passengers in a train which entered Omaha
shortly before the storm struck the city.
"For miles," he said, "it seemed as if the
train was being pursued by the storm. We
were approaching Ralston when I first no-
ticed a strange copper-coloured cloud,
which grew rapidly, travelling at an im-
mense speed. "It gradually assumed the
form of a funnel, and the air be-
came filled with a curious noise, very
piercing. Then the funnel seemed
to grow black and smaller, the part near
the ground appearing to be about half a
mile in diameter. It swished across the
railroad lines, and made towards a little
town. Then it struck the town, and the
houses collapsed as if made of paper. The
roofs went sailing away, and the sides fell
in. The passengers sat as though glued
to their seats, but when the cloud struck
the houses, and when they comprehended
what had happened, a cry of horror went
up from every one. The driver brought
the engine to a stop. The passengers ran
over to the wreckage of the houses. We
could hear the groans of the dying and
the wails and shrieks of the injured.
—Dreadful Scenes.—
"I entered a house, or rather what had
been a house. A woman lay dead. We
got out all the injured from the ruins, and
brought them to the train. There had
been a big threshing machine near one
of the houses, when the cloud struck the
place. It shot straight up into the air,
and was carried a distance of 40 rods. A
house went rolling and tumbling along the
ground for a quarter of a mile, when it
split open, and six or seven men dropped
out. The next station that the train
passed through was Benson, where the
destruction was even more appalling. We
picked up a lot of injured people. I don't
know how many. The dead we left. We
put the injured on the plush seats of the
cars, and carried them into Omaha."
—Torrents Followed.—
Torrential rains followed the cyclone,
and, lasting throughout Monday and Tues-
day, added to the tale of destruction by
flooding every river in Ohio, Indiana, and
Western Pennsylvania. The swollen rivers
burst their banks and swept over the coun-
tryside, doing enormous damage to crops
and property. The city of Dayton, Ohio,
was flooded to a depth of 5 ft. by the
bursting of an embankment, and in In-
diana thousands of people were driven from
their homes and had to seek shelter in the
trees. The big Miami river was a mile
wide at Middletown, Ohio, and scores of
houses were to be seen floating down the
stream. Twelve persons were drowned as
the result of a cloudburst at Delaware, and
200 houses were swept away. Wild sto-
ries of the shooting of looters in the streets
of Dayton were told by refugees. A mes-
sage from Columbus, Ohio, relates a story
of a plucky telephone girl. Mr. Cox, the
Governor of Ohio, who resides at Colum-
bus, communicated directly with Dayton,
and a young woman telephone operator
there told him that she was the last per-
son left in the Exchange. She added that
as she was speaking the Leonard building
opposite the City Hall collapsed before her
eyes, with many of the townspeople who
had taken refuge on the roof. Several
other buildings were a mass of ruins; while
according to reports, the main street
bridge, a steel and concrete structure, had
already been swept away. Great and de-
structive fires followed, and razed many
business blocks of the Ohio city to the
ground.
"Yes," said a shipwrecked mariner, in
relating his experiences, "at one time we
were within an inch of freezing to death.
Luckily, however, we had the presence of
mind to fall into a heated discussion."
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