St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1883-05-05
A TERRIBLE CYCLONE.


The Times Democrats Wesson special
says: A frightful cyclone passed over
Wesson and the town of Beauregard
mile above, about four o'clock Sunday
afternoon The wind during the past three
days had been blowing a gale, and
lowering clouds indicated a storm.
Its approach was known for some
minutes by deep, rumbling sounds,
and the windows in dwellings shaking
with violence, and many persons thought it
an earthquake. Thunder roared and light
ming flashed with alarming force and vivid
ness Fences were torn down, trees up
rooted and cast a hundred yards away. East
of the railroad in Wesson the damage was.
light, but in the remaining portion OF the
town the destruction was awful III its char
acter.
AS soon as the storm had somewhat abated,
and the people began to look around, loud
peals of the church-bells rang out. The peo-
| pie were seen running from all directions,
toward West Wesson, the rain III the mean
time pouring in torrents Reaching Peach
Orchard street, an indescribable scene was
witnessed. This street was lined with a.
large number of houses in which the opera
tives of the Mississippi Mills are domieiled,
and here the greatest destruction occurred.
People were seen on all sides sobblng, and
the groans of the wounded beneath the:
ruins were perfectly appalling. Dwellings
were torn to atoms. The pine forest just
beyond was blown out of existence. The
work of removing the dead and eXtricating
the wounded from the ruins then began.
Calvin Reed, living in the vicinity, died
from excitement.
Doctors Sexton, Rease and Butler were
soon upon the scene and did all in their
power to relieve the sufferings of the wound
ed
The number of people with broken limbs.
is estimated by the physicians at seventy
FIVE. The wounded were removed as fast.
as possible to houses which escaped injury.
Several dead lay out in the violent rain
for more than an hour after the cyclone
passed.
LATER AND FURTHER DETAILS.
NEW ORLEANS, April a.
The electric storm struck Beauregard
about three o'clock, and in less than one
minute prosperous town was a complete
wreck, not one stone standing on
another except in the suburbs. Large
and strongIy-bnilt brick stores and frame
sllanties were ruined together. The
brick stores seemed to have collapsed in
wardly, and the heavy rain finished the de-
houses are now a pile of splinters. The,
shrubbery was twisted up by the roots, and
the leaves scattered for miles. Churches,
school-houses and factories are complete
wreck. The deatll-list was something
fearful, and is hourly being added to.
The wounded were carried to the few
houses left in the suburbs. A reporter
visited one house and found four
corpses and seventeen wounded One moth
.l,sG III
killed. The mother lay on a mattress, her
husband dead one child dead, and two very
badly injured. Her arm had Just been am
putated. Her condition is very critical. A
freight car was carried across the town and
landed in the street Five darlies, playing
cards, got into car to escape from the
storm, and four were killed.
At Wesson, two miles below, the storm
missed the business part of the city and the. i,
large cotton and WOODEN factories. 1t struck
the western part, entirely occupied by OPP
eratives. Twenty-fo,r houses were de-
stroyed. Twelve are dead and seyenty-fve
wounded Several will die-probably ten
or twelve more. The loss is estimated at
twenty thousand dollars. Assistance has
poured i'll from adjacent towns. The
wounded are all cared for, and
| undoubtedly relief for the homeless will
be sent. Reports of the storm ill-
dictate great destruction. At Georgetown a.
Methodist church was destroyed. Rev. II.
C. Lewis received critical injuries. 4 young.
man named Savage was killed; also j. w.
Crawford, his wife, married daughter and
two children. Mrs. Ford and friends were,
on their way home from church when the.
carriage was struck by a falling tree and
the occupants all killed. The colored
| church was destroyed and many injured.
! At Tillghman, on the Natchez d Jackson
| Railroad, two persons We're killed. There
| was great damage to farms in the track of
| the storm. Reports come in of killed and
/ wounded both east and west. Four tor
nadoes have passed over nearly the same,
| spot in ten years. It is very doubtful if any
attempt will be made to rebuild the town.
| The salvage on the stock of goods can't be,
over fifteen per cent. Most of the goods are
/ totally worthless.
The storm struck West Point, in Clay
| County, at 1880 O'clock The wind was.
terrific, blowing down or unrooiing large,
number of houses and sweeping away the
trees. Among the buildings damaged were
the Courthouse, Central Hotel, Henly
House, Cotton Exchange, and a number Of
the leading business Offices which
were unroofed and otherwise in
jured. Several small buildings were blown, !,
| fiat with the ground. lii Osborne County a. !
\ great deal Of destruction was caused by the
storm, many houses, cabins, trees and fences,
| being blown down. At Aberdeen. !,
\ about eight or ten lives were lost.
and about fifty persons injured, some
| of whom will die. Most of the sufferers,
| We're negroes. Many houses were blown
| down. AT Caledonia, twelve miles north of
Columbus, three persons were killed. 1t is,
very difficult to trace the exact course of the.
! cyclone, and it is probable there was more,
than one. The principal one, however,
4 moved in straight line from northeast to,