The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-04-23
Tempess md vghirl !,

An EVENING THAT SEVERAL KANSAS tToHNS
WILL NOT SOON FORGET.
Al correspondent writing frem Emporia,s
Kansas, says:
This town was visited on sunday evening.
BY terrific tbunde r-storns accompanied
! with bail and rain. such as was never before
known In Kansas. AboutS o'clock in the
afternoon q csoud OF inkg biackness came
mn in ti1e northeast. ItwSs not very large.
but xig-zag kees OF lightning played about
the lower edge OF tho cloud, followed
by peals Of thunder. Presently another
cloud OF peculiuc greenish color
came ND from the southwest. The two
met. There appeared to be a struggle,
then mfHXling; then the storm was upon
us. First came the winds. which took up
che plank sidewalks and sent them flying a
hundred feet into the airs the fences, sheds,
and out-ssuildings followed the sidewalks;
The wagons about the streets were Whiried
away; q number Of teams in the street
were stampeded, and went rushing madly
through the town to find shelter. Then
came the hail-not ordinary hail, but as
large as hens eggs-accompanied by tor
rents OF rain. In five minutes an amount
OF destruction was done which was APP
Mailing. "A large and substantially-bui
school-house was totally demolished !;
buildings without number We're un-
rooted. a aarge two-story house, in which
was family OF eight persons, was torn down,
not two Of the boards or timbers being left
together. Strange to say, the inmates es-
capped death, but they are all more or less In
3ured. Alarge furniture factory was .un-
rooted; also, fouring-mill; part OF the
latter building was blown down. GThirty.
five box-cars, standing on slde-track OF
the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe rail-
road, we've turned over and badly damaged.
A train OF twenty-three cars was just south
OF the town, coming in; every ear was
turned over. leaving the engine and tender
alone on the track. The conductor and
train-hands were in the caboose; they were
ali injured, but not fatally. One child was
killed in the village, and large number OF
persons are cut aud bruised. One man has
broken leg, and several have broken ribs.
Five miles southwest OF here is place
called the kirkendall neighborhood. There
the storm ragged with even greater severity.
Eighteen houses were blown down and sew
eral persons killed. A farmer named Os.
born suffered severely. His house was
blown completely to pieces; two OF his chill
Siren, aged two and four years, were killed
outright; his third child, q boy OF six, was
found, after the storm was over, blown into
q thorn hedge-alive, but terribly scratched
and bruised. Mrs. Osborn was found in q
gully, which was filed with water. When
her husband discovered her she was uncon-
scious, but was brought to life. Many
others were badly hurt, but have learned
of but enc other death in that neighbor-
hood. Eyewitness told me that the hail
stones were so large and came with such
force as to go through the clapboards Of the
houses.
Between Emporia and Kirkendall the
haaS f,,r str1,o
and every conceivable article Of household
goods. The storm covered space about
fhirty-five miles in width, but I have been
unable to find how far it reached. In this
section the wheat is not so far advanced as
TO have sustained any permanent injury,
but the fruit Is all gone. The nine churches
In this city are sight to behold. It is esti-
mated that fully one fourth OF the glass in
town has been destroyed.
took night freight train and went to
Cottonwood Station, twenty miles west Of
Emporia. all the way along the road were
evidences OF the severity Of the storm. at
the station I found q scene of desolation
and misery. The new hotel was a wreck.
Some Of the lower rooms are still in posi-
ton; but it must all be torn down. Oppo-
site the hotel three dwelling-houses were
swept away; nothing remains to show that
q house once stood there. A Mrs. Mil
Ter was killed and one OF her children
so badly hurt that it must die; an
other child has an arm broken in three
places. Mr.. Miller is badly injured. Mrs
Walters little boy, seven years old, will
die; fifteen others are injured, some of
them seriously. In this little village eleven
houses were totally destroyed and four bad
ly wrecked. Cottonwood Falls escaped with
the exception Of one house. Eleven loaded
cars standing on the track were upset.
The tornado struck Spring creek, formed |
q wnter-spopt, and then followed tue stream !
southwest taking all the water out OF the |
stream for miles This creek was eight feet i
deep and forty feet wide.