The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-08-24
THE BREATH OF DEATH.
PARTICULARS OF THE LATE STORM.
Great Many Lives Lost in the Mime
sofa Cyclone-Much Property Dc
,trnycd-The Blow Else
where

RoClIj.~ ..I.E, MIN. NEARL 1 ANNIHII ATED
ST. PAUL, Aug "a.
A thousand people in Rochester are
homeless and dependent upon the charity of
other Tor shelter and the necessities of life
The resources and sympathies of the
citizens are taxed to the very utmost,
and help is badly needed from abroad
An impromptu hospital has been made in
Romncls Hall About forty persons are
being cared for Ivy a volunteer corps of
nurses. The damage in the city can not be
less than $500 600 and in the surrounding
country an estimate is impossible. Fences
are all gone, cattle injured and at large
stacks Of hay and grain have totally diSap-
pGared, and crops of corn and potatoes are
beaten fat. The terrible list of
casualties in the city comprises
tHcnty-four persons killed and at least
have not yet all haen received. Tho
dead are not all identified The storm
swept through Dodge and 0msted Coun-
ties, causing greater destruction than the
cyclone Of one month ago The courthouse,
high-IChOOl building, Academy of LoUrdes,
elevators, depot, tGurng-miIlS ten bust
ness blocks, besides great many dwellings,
are uHruofed. The Methodist Church is
ruined, and the Congregational Church III
jurcd. More than two hundred dwellings
are utterly destroyed. Losses in the
county are very great. The condition of
things in the northern part of the city defes
description. 4 few splintered stumpS and
scattered boards remain to show where the
Third ward was. The buildings in this part
OF the city were mostly one-story frame
houses. many OF them without cellars, and
there was the greatest destruction OF life.
The mill and dwelling Of l.. FoXdre are
total loss, while the immense ZumbrOta
planing-mII, John NJ. Cole, proprietor,
is badly wrecked, huge pieces of
the building being torn out and
carried of Mr.. Cole, who was in the mill
when the cyclone reached it, thinking his
house a safer place, started for it, but had
not gone twenty feet before he was caught
up by the wind, carried a distance of eight
or ten rods, and dashed to the earth IA
mauglrd corpse. The residences south
of the railroad To Iumbrota street all SUI
fcrcd, losing roofs, windows and chimneyS
The shaded residence-streets are almost i'm
passabe from broken trees. pieces
of roofs, and debris of all sorts
Reports from outlying towns are coming
in slowly, and show that the damage is not
confined to the city. Pleasant Grove is re
ported aHnihlatel, two persons being killed
and ten wounded. The town of Salem lay
in the track OF the cyclone southeast OF here
and is said to be wiped out. The top story
of the courthouse is badly wrecked The
cupoIa was carried several rods and the
building left exposed TO the weather. The
tower of the school-house lies on the ground
and the roof is damaged The roof
of the Methodist Church was
| blown away and the walls are half
| crumbled down The steeple of the Con-
gregational Church was knocked off. A
! children's picnic, just returned from the
| country, had taken refuge IN the church, but
all escaped badly scared. Had some of the
! children been at home they must almost
certainly have been killed The railway
depot is unrOofcd and badly riddled, The
roof Of G. W. Nandusen Il Co.'S elevator
was carried away, and the warehouse
adjoining crushed. II. j. Horizons
| elevator lies across the railway track, and
the warehouse and office OF Written Il
Judge are a mass of ruins. The Rochester
harvester works are completely pulverlzed,
not two feet of the wall remaining standing.
All of the machinery Is total loss The
railway bridge is gone superintendent
SanbOn is here with force OF men, and
| railway communication will soon be secured
Whenever it was possible people took tc
their cellars, and in no case where that wa:
done was life lost. In the upper part OF The
city the darkness was at no time great, but
at the lower part Of town it grew dark a
night approached, filing every one witt
| terror.
The cyclone was first heard Of south o.
Dodge Centre, thence east, striking Ohm
Gted County, in Salem Township, where
Cyrus Halls barn and part of his houst
were destroyed Baxter Little's building
Oh his farm and Mr.. D0nOyan'
buildings were entirely destroyed anC
one child killed. Thomas McGovern1
buildings were swept away, and severa
families injured Much damage was don't
to farm property and live stock. The storm
then entered Rochester, taking northwest
eriy course through the city. Three hun
dred houses are destroyed, and fully tw'
hundred damaged. The Congregations
Church, where thirty give children had jus
returned from a picnic, had the Spire blow
off. No children were hurt. Mrs. Heller
Beck, of Ashland, Dodge County, wa
taken up by the storm while il
field and has not been heard from. OlsoI
and his wife and daughter, Of CaDistee
Dodge County, were killed. Mr.. Berg wa
killed and his farm buildings blown away
A young lady visiting Van Franche was ia
tally injured. In the town of St Charlie
thu cvclnne struck Job Th0rington's farm