Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-07-18
[special Telegram to the Globe. !

yesterday afternoon black cloud was
seen approaching this city from the north
"a cloud of such intense blackness as to
shut out the light of day and create the
| impression that the pail of night was fall
ing upon the town before its due time.
Men, women and children were alright
ed, and experimenting severe storm all
Sc. about securing their portable proper
| ty out of doors A stiff breeze was blow
| ing from the south when the cloud first
made it's appearance, which at first gave
promise of averting the impending dan
ger. For half an hour the people were
kept between hope and fear-hope that
the storm cloud would not burst over the
city, and fear that if it did great disaster
would result. Shortly after 5 o'clock
THE STORM CLOUD BURST.
Its violence did not seem to proceed
from the direction from which it was
first seen approaching, but with the noise
of a raging torrent it burst upon the town
in the form of terrible hurricane from
the west. Darkness enveloped every
thing in it's sable mantle, and it was i'm
possible for one to distinguish his most
intimate. friends at distance of ten feet,
while the large brick buildings on the
opposite side of the street. upon which
your correspondent was located could
scarcely be outlined against the inky sky.
The first effects of the tornado were
felt in the northern part of the town,
anon @ the modest residences of the labor
ing portion of the community. These
were somewhat scattered, but within less
than two minutes were all either carried
off bodily or leveled to the ground. Over
a hundred dwellings, all of modest pre-
tensions, were absolutely swept away on
the wings of the wind, and
SEVERAL HUNDRED PERSONS RENDERED
HOMELESS
in the twinkling of an eye.
But the work of destruction was not
to be confined to the outskirts of the
town. On the ridge to the westward are
situated the German Methodist and the
German Lutheran churches, both
of them handsome edifces with
tall spires reaching towards heaven.
Both of these were hurled to the
ground in an instant of time, inficting
loss upon each congregation of about
$4,000. Scarcely vestige of the first
mentioned building remained to mark its
site; the latter was so badly wrecked as
to be absolutely worthless. The Catholic
church and the school building adjoining
are both almost irretrievably damaged.
The tower of the church, that contained
a chime of three bells, was completely
overturned. An addition TO the church,
recently completed, was entirely de-
stroyed.
After demolishing the structures on
| the ridge the tornado struck the business
| center of the town, and in few moments
the air was full of flying timbers and de-
bris of every description. Fence boards,
fragments of roofing, wagons, window
sash, doors, and all conceivable articles
were flying through the air, while
| ABOVE THE ROAR OF THE TEMPEST
could be heard the frantic shouts of men,
the piercing shrieks of women; and the
agonizing wailings of children. The
darkness was intense, and though some
rushed hither and thither in blind
frenzy, the more collected awaited their
fate with calmness or sought
refuge in the cellars of their buildings
The noise was deafening. Roof after
| roof was torn from its fastenings, and
was carried away by the wind or dashed
with deafening crash against the walls
| of some building on the opposite side of
the street. The crash of falling walls
was heard on every side, while ever and
anon the scene, one of terrible pic
| turesqueness, was lit up by lurid flashes
of lightning. For several minutes--it
| seemed almost an age-the play of the
| lightning was almost incessant, and
nearly a score of buildings were struck
and more or less injured by the electric
fluid.
| THE TERROR OF THE SCENE
could not be heightened by any appli-
ances conceived by the most vivid i'm
agination. 1t was hades of darkness
and lurid lightning flashes; babel of
confusion of sounds. The tornado roared
with terrible fury for the space of fifteen
minutes, when a lull came, and the peo-
/ pie of the doomed city drew a sigh of
relief. The cessation was of very brief
duration, however, for almost in
stantly a counter storm broke out,
coming from the east, and ragged
with undated fury for ten or
fifteen minutes, nearly completing the
work of ruin that had already progressed
so far Walls that had withstood the
first onslaught of the winds succumbed
to the later blasts. Huge timbers were
carried hither and thither, now crushing
through the front of stores, and anon
breaking in the roofs of houses or barns.
| Cattle, released from their corrals by the
action of the wind, ran believing through
the streets, and horses, tearing them
selves from their fastenings, rushed wild
" bither and thlther. Men seemed to
have lost their reason, and madly stamp
| eded for places of refuge. Women, with
| their children clinglng to them, vainly'
implored and prayed for aid, while above
| all was the crash of falling timbers and
| the bowling of the hurricane. 1t was an
occasion
NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN
by any that were present. Some of the
| more superstitious believed that the end
of the world had come of surety, and
their wailings were pitiful in the extreme.
Others had concern only for the material
losses they had sustained, and be-
| moaned their sad fate When, at last,
the storm passed away and the light
of the waning day fell upon the doomed
city there was feeling of relief, and men
and women Gained themselves suffi-
GENTLY to take view of the situation.
| SORRY SPECTACLE
presented itself. Where but an hour be-