River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1882-07-13
THE IOWA CYCLONE.
incidents OF the Great disaster.

Mrs. kruell, mother-ln-law OF Mr.
Meyers, and among the dead, was Sc
years of age.
Mrs. Mary Murray, one of the in
jured, near Malcolm, was poor old
female tramp. DIR. Hunter found her
IN crippled condition in an clubhouse.
The sight so familiar after cyclones,
and to which so little credence is given,
OF hens plucked of nearly every feather,
was one of the noticeable peculiarities
in Powe-hiek county.
A man named Rice and boy who's
he carried in his arms were blown out
of their houses and into a thirty-four
foot we'll and into four feet of water,
by the wind. Placing the lad on his
shoulders, the father seized the stock
o the pump and climbed to to the top.
This occurred about one.and- a. half
miles south of Malcolm.
One lady at Grinnell was blown dis
lance of ten rods from her house into
grove, and deposited on the ground
slightly injured.
A man at Grinnell was blown out OF
his house distance of thirty yards and
| deposited in the branches OF tree.
He declares that while so deposited he
could see numerous small balls of fire
running along the ground.
At Malcolm the Methodist Episcopal
and Presbyterian churches were both
leveled, the floor and pews being left
standing.
The Malcolm Gazette office and build
ing was completely demolished. The
editor also dealt in agricultural nipple
| ments, which are strewn in every di-
rection in broken woodwork and de-
tached iron and steel.
Mrs. Freeman Taylor, wife of a
groceryman of Grinneil, who was
among those who died Sunday after
noon, was blown out of her own house
and landed in the middle of the street
in the debris Of Graham's house. Her
own home was only slightly damaged.
Mrs. Griswold and her son, of Grinnell,
We're blown some distance in opposite
directions.
One of the saddest incidents Of the
whole terrible calamity is the case of
the family of Deacon Clements. 1t
would move pity to tears. Some three
weeks ago Mr.. Clements passed away
in death on bed of sickness, leaving a
wife and two children. Yesterday
the mangled remains of the children
lay side by side in the improvised
morgue, and the mother lay dying in
neighbours house. The whole family
thus passing from the land of life and
death to that of eternity within three
weeks.
Some say the hurricane lasted fifteen
and some twenty minutes. But most
say that 1t did not last over two or
three minutes. All heard il roaring
before it reached there. The fall of
water was powerful and drenching-
like from water-spout.' The water was
knee-deep on the college campus after
the rain was over.
Mr.. Donahue, four miles west of
Grinnell, not expected to live-wife and
two children also injured.
Mr.. Gilmore, six miles southeast of
Grinnell, and Mr., Foster, on the P, E..
Freeman farm, both had their houses
and barns destroyed. Mr.. Foster had
twenty-five cattle in his barn-yard,
that were taken up by the tornado,
carried sixty rods and dumped down in
a gully and all killed.
The home of J. B. Grinnell was not
injured, nor that of President Magoun.
although both had trees broken down
on all sides of them.
Scores of bird cages were seen.
trampled in the mud /; the canaries
where were they?
Nearly all the people who were kill
ed lived in houses without cellars.
Two sisters of Mr.. Dunlap, black
smith, corner Ninth and Walnut are
missing-both widows. Mrs. Cue and
Mrs. Williams, with 14-year old son
of Mrs. Cue, who has since died. were
blown out of the second-story window
rs or 100 feet into the middle of the
street where they were all found, seri-
ously injured.
1t would seem impossible that the
wind could whirl in opposite directions
at the same time, yet it one place a
huge tree had broken off about three
feet from the ground, and the upper
part had been wrapped around the
trunk in the direction followed by the
hands of watch, while not five feet
away was another tree broken off ard
wrapped about its stump in the same
way, but in precisely the opposite di-
rection.
A pathetic incident was that of a
man IN his shirt sleeves, who formed
the center of group, and who was de-
failing his chapter of horrors to some
friends. While in the midst of this
narration an acquaintance stepped up
and informed him that his coat had
been found. "My coat" exclaimed the
man, "well, let me 60 and get it; it is
all have in the world"
The time of the occurrence OF the
tornado is definitely settled, the watch
of one of the students who jumped
from the Central College building hav-
ing opped at precisely S:45.
A man named Pierce was carried by
the wind across a square and two streets
through front window in house, and
across the room in the house, without
injury.
The bodies of the dead could not be
recognized until washed, because of the
mud with which they were covered.
Fences and sides of houses left stand
ing in the psth of the storm were plas,
| tered with mud.
Three miles from Malcolm a man,
after putting his wife and three children
into the cellar, was standing on the top
step of the cellar stairs, when the house
was lifted bodily and scattered over the
| prairie, leaving himself and family I'M
harmed.
Mr.. Magoun, nephew of the College
President, had team standing in front
| of Rev. Chamberlain house when the
storm came. Going out 10 see it, he
was struck by the wind, when he grasp.
ed a tree and held on. The horses and
| buggy were taken up, carried some
distance, the buggy and one horse
dropped near the Central railroad
track; the other horse has not yet beer
found. Mr.. Magoun says that large
balls of fire were rolling along the
ground, which would explode and fl
the air with sparks.
A buggy was seen in the trees eigh,
or ten feet from the ground, wedged
ana driven with such force that it could
evidently only be removed by cutting
it in pieces, 1t was in cluster of smal
trees, and could only have been placed
in Its strange position when the trees
were driven apart by the wind.
One lady was found standing on hel
feet soon after the storm had passed
on, buried to the waist in brick, mortar
and other debris, with her clothing tori
almost to shreds, but, strange to say
wholly uninjured
| One gentleman states that the tornado