The Iola register., 1881-07-29
THE STORM.KING.

THE STORM.KING.
= CycIone-Wess Newton and Weninxtea
Also Devastated by the 6torm-Nany
Lives Lost.
ST. PAUL, Minn., July 18.
The Town Of New Ulm was wrecked by o
cyclone late yesterday afternoon. 1t seems
that two currents Of air swept the valley
simultaneously, coming from different di-
rections. The scene was appalling. Stone
and brick buildings were RACED to their
foundations, and the air was full of debris.
ruins. West Newton, in the neighboring
County of Nicollet, was also visited by the
storm.
July Il.
Eye-witnesses give many strange and
graphic accounts.
A child of Fritz Dickmyer was carried
over half mile and is still alive. Martin
Frank, of West Newton, was found dead q
mile from his house, but not q piece of his
house or its contents has been found since
the storm. OF the family Of seven Of Mat
thew Finley, Of West Newton, but one re.
mains alive, an infant, which was badly
injured.
A family OF five was buried in the ruins Of
q house near Fort Ridgley. Miss Anna
Leach was carried out of the house. Her
mother ran out after her, and she said.
"Oh, mother, must die, }" and immediate
" expired. Mrs. Leach was badly injured.
One horse had q scantling driven clear
through him. One man was standing talk.
ing to his wife, and the first thing he knew
his wife was gone and he was in the air him
self. His house was carried away. He
found his wife several blocks distant when
the storm was over.
A gentleman who was in New Ulm gives
the following graphic description Of the ter
rible scene: "About 4:45 yesterday after
noon black cloud was seen approaching
this city from the north-a cloud of such in
tense blackness as to shut out the light of
day, and create the impression that the pail
of night was falling upon the town before
were affrighted, and, apprehending severe
storm, all set about securing their portable
property out of doors. Shortly after five
o'clock the storm-cloud burst, and, with
the noise of a raging torrent, it burst upon
the town in the form Of a terrible hurricane
from the west. Darkness envelOped every
thing in its sable mantle, and was impossi-
BILE 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, among the modest residences of
the laboring portion Of the community.
These were somewhat scattered. but in less
than two minutes were all carried off bodily
or leveled to the ground. Over hundred
dwellings 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 were situated the Ger
man Methodist and the German Lutheran
Churches, both of which were hurled to the
ground in an instant of time. Scarcely
vestige of the first mentioned building re-
NAMED to mark its site. The latter was SO
badly wrecked as to be absolutely worthless.
After demolisbing the structures on the
ridge, the tornado struck the business GEN.
ter Of the town, and in few moments the
air was full of flying timbers and debris 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 tenn
pest could be heard the frantic shouts
of men, the piercing shrieks of women,
and the agonizing wall of children. The
darkness was intense, and, though some
rushed hither and thithcr 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 with q
deafening crash against the wall 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 picturesqueness,
was lit up by lurid flashes of lightning for
several minutes-it seemed almost an age.
The play of the lightning was almost inces-
SAINT, and nearly 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 appliances con-
ceived by the most vivid Imagination. It
was hades Of darkness and lurid lightning
fashes-a babel of confusion of sounds. The
tornado roared with terrible fury for tho
space of fifteen minutes, when lull came,
and the people Of the doomed city drew q
sigh of relief. The cessation was of very
brief duration, however, for almost instantly
q counter storm broke out, coming from the
east, and ragged with unabated fury for ten
or fifteen minutes, nearly completing the
work of ruin that had already progressed 80
far. Walls that had withstoOd the first on
slaught Of the wind succumbed to the latter
blast. Huge timbers were carried hither
and thither, now crushing through the
fronts of stores, and anon breaking
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 themselves
from their fastenings. rushed wildly hither
and thither. Men seemed to have lost their
reason. and madly stampeded for places Of
| refuge. Women with their children cling