Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-06-22
in Behalf of the Sufferers.


DEs MONIES, Iowa, June 2O.-An ap-
peal for aid, signed by j. S. Clark
son, editor of the Des Moines Regis
ter, is furnished on behalf of the
stricken communities in Iowa, with a
request that all newspapers publish
it. Mr.. Clarkson says: After two
days and nights spent in traversing
the track of the tornado that swept
over this State with such fearful
havoc last Saturday night, and
having reports flon scores of re-
porters of the Register and Assocla-
ted Press sent TO ali parts of it, l
find the condition of the stricken
people SO piteous and so needful of
instant and gene GUS help that sent
this appeal to the people of the
United S. ates in their behalf. The
tornado made destructive sweep
tb, ough the thickly settled por~
tion of Iowa, son fifteen
miles in length and on an average of
half a mile wide, extending from
points south of Ames, in the cen Ter
of the State, and in the shape Of
crescent to South English, IN
Keokuk County. From the south
eastern part of the State we have
names now of SO dead, and 500
wounded, half of the latter griev>
ously hurt, and probably a fifth Of
them fatally. Over 800 families
have had their homes totally de.
stroyed, and there are now at least
1,500 persons homeless and in want
The loss in property will exceed 81
000,00O, and may reach S3,000,000
In the town of Grinnell alone over
100000 i'll property was destroyed,
on none Of which was there cent of
insurance, as in case of fires. It will
take at least 100000 to put the
people there beyond need and dis
tress. 1t will take 100000 at once
to put the wounded people in a
condition to be cared for. It will
take S1,000,000 at the lowest, to keep
the sufferers from want and to help
them to put the humblest of roofs
over their heads. The people of
Des Moines and Iowa are responding
generously. The citizens of this
city have subscribed $4,000 of this
money, and will make it $4,000
before night, i'll money, and are also
sending provisions and clothing
1t will take the help of
every humane city and town
in the West, and of every liberal city
and town in the East to put comfort
and safety between these stricken
people and further suffering and fa-
taIity- Ali the people of Iowa can
do will be done to alleviate the con-
dition, and repair in part, the losses
Of the sufferers, but it VIII take one
mollion dollars to do it, even in half-
way comfort and recompense, and the
people of the State, who have always
borne their share and done their part
IN all national calamities, may fifty
ask people of other communities to
help them in this hour of great cas
lamity to many of the worthiest
OF is people; and to this end I ask
my fellows of the press, through the
United States, to place the facts be
fore their readers and give them
timely help to its sufficient pur
poses of raising and providing aid at
the earliest moment possible. Every
condition of woe exists that most
tenderly appeals to The pity Of. the
human heart. The wounds inflicted
by the debris that filled the air like
choas: by electric balls of fire that
seemed to traverse every inch of
space, and that exploded with
fearfully fatal effect, will many of
them defy all the skill and nursing,
even with the tenderest care. The
fury of the storm, which was clearly
of electric origin, and which indeed
may be described as having been
electricity itself, may be understood
from the statement that at various
places it took up in it's great spirals,
or tunnels, houses thousand feet
into the air, and took up and carried
large droves of cattle through the
aIr for thousands of feet and dashed
them dead in heaps. Many thou
sands of cattle, horses, hogs and
other animals now lie in the track
of the tornado, and are already rot
ting and adding to the hor-
ror foul odors of putrifaction.
The horrors of the storm, the un~
speakable cruelties it inflicted, and
the pitiless woe Of it's coming in the
night, when the dead were not
known and the wounded could not
be found; the sad state IN which it
has left hundreds of families before
prosperous, may not be described iii
words, but once known to generous
hearts, it must command instant
sympathy of liberal and i'm
mediate help, Remittances may
be made to Hon. J. B. Grinnell,
at Grinnell, or to the mayer of Grin
nell. I write from a knowledge OF
two whole days and nights spent at
the scene of desolatior among the
dead and wounded, and tell facts OF
a multitude of horrors, simply as
they are, feeling that they will them
selves best appeal to the country, and
most effectually aid the sufferers,
DIARRHGA AND DYsENTERI are perhaps
the most common of our every day ills, and