Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1882-06-28
The Iowa TOraddO.
A PITEoUs AND ERNEST APPEAL FOR
AID FOR THE sUFFERERS-AN
EYE-w ITNESSES
TALE OF HOR-
ROR.

TALE OF HOh-
RoR.
DEs MONIES, June 20.--An appeal
for aid signed by j. s. Clarkson, editor
of the Des Mones Register, 10 furnished
on behalf of the stricken communities
In Iowa, with the request that all pa
pers publish it. 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 haying
reports from scores Of reporters Of the
Register and Associated Press sent 10
all parts OF it, 1 fnd the condition OF
the stricken people SO piteous and 30
needful of instant and generous help
that l send thi, appeal 10 the people OF
the United States in their behalf. The
tornado made destructive sweep
through the thickly-settleG portion Of
Iowa, some $50 miles IN length and on
an average half a mile wide, extending
from points south of Ames, in the GEN.
tire Of the State, in the shape OF a
crescent, TO South English, in Keokuk
county. From the southeastern part
of the State we have the names now oil
sixty-nine dead and 500 wounded, half
of the latter grevously hurt. and pro-
badly fifth of them fatally. Over
three hundred families have had their
homes totally destroyed, aud there are
now at least fifteen hundred persons
homeless and IN want. The loss in
property will exceed s2,000,000, and
may reach s3,000,000. In the town of
Grinnell alsne over 100000 in pro
perty was destroyed, Oh none Of which
was there cent of insurance, as in the
case of fires. 1t will take at least
$500, 900 to put The people there beyond
need and distress. 1t will take $780,
900 at once to put the wounded people
in condition to be cared for. II will
take 81 100000 at the lowest TO keep
the sufferers from want and to help
them 10 put the humblest of roofs oyer
their heads. People Of Des Moines,
Ia, are responding generously. Citi-
zeus of this city have subscribed sS,-
900 this morning, and will make II
500, 900 before night in 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 fatality. All that the people of
Iowa can do will be done 10 alleviate
the condition and repair in part the
losses of the sufferers, but it Will take
81, 900, 900 10 do it even in halt a way,
and the people oil the Slate VINO have
always borne their share and done
their part in all local calamities may
FIRE ely ask people Of other communities
to help them IN this hour Of great
calamity to many of The wor.hiest OF
its people, and 10 this end ask my
fellows oi the press through the United
States to place the facts before thsir
readers and give their timely help to Its
sufficient purpose of rising aud provid-
ing aid at the earliest moment possible.
Every condition Of woe exists that
most tenderly appeals TO the pity ofthe
human neaH. Wounds in nicted by
debris that filled the air like chaos by
electric belts of fire, that seemed 10
traverse every inch OF space, that ex-
ploded with feariully fatal effects, will
many Of them defy all skill and nurs-
ing. 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 1t
took up in lis great sprals or tunnels
houses a thousand feet into the air, and
took up and carried large droves OF
cattle through the air for thousands oil
feet, and dashed them dead in heaps.
MANY thousands of cattle. horses, hogs,
and other animals, now lie in the track
of the tornado, and are already rotting
and adding TO the horror the foul odors
of putreiaction, The horrors of the
storm are unspeakable. The crueltles
il inflicted aud the pitlless woe OF Its
coming IN The night when the dead
wele not known and the wounded
could not be found, the sad state IN
which it has left hundreds Of families
before prosperous, may no. be descrlo'
ed in words but once known to gen.
erous hearts, it must command the in
slant sympathy of the liberal, and
: bring immediate help. Remittances
NAV be made 10 Hon. J. B. Grnnell at
Griupell. or 10 the Mayor Of Grlnnell.
wrl,e from The knowledge oftwo whole
days and nights spent at the scene Of
desolatiol and among the dead and
wounded, and tell facts and the multi
tude Of horrors simply as they are,
feeling that they will themselves best
appeal to the country, and most efec'
tually aid the sufferers"