Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-05-12
A TERRIBLE CYCLONE.

A TERRIBLE CYCLONE.
Several Towns in Georgia. Misslssippi ana
Louisiana Almost Entirely Demolished
Between Fifty and Ono Hundred Peon,.
Killed and Many Others Injured.
New ORLEANS, April q.
The mcs-Dcmocrat's Wesson special
says: A frightful cyclone passed over
Wcsson and the town of Beauregard. a
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 il
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 tho
town the destruction was awful in 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 in the mean
time pouring in torrents. Reaching Peach
Orchard street, an Undesirable scene was
witnessed. This street was lined with a
large number of houses in which the opera
tives of the Mississippi Mills are domiciled,
and here the greatest destruction occurred.
People were seen on all sides sobbing, and
fh0 nj <In v,D,p,,lo o~-~AI A.
rims We're 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 wounds
cd.
1t is estimated that the number of killed
is twelve. Two or three children are miss
ing.
The number of people with broken limbs
is estimated by the physicians at seventy
tive. The wounded were removed as fast
as possible to houses which escaped injury,
Several dead lay out III the violent rain
for more than al hour after the cyclone
passed.
LATER AND FURTHER DETAILS.
NEW ORLEANS, April n.
The electric storm struck Beauregard
about three o'clock, and in less than one,
minute a prosperous town was a complete,
wreck, not one stone standing ON
another except in the suburbs. Large
and strongly-built brick stores and frame
shanties were ruined together. The
brick stores seemed to have collapsed in
wardly, and the heavy rain finished the de-
struction. What were neat and tasteful
houses are now a pile of splinters. The
sllrubbery was twisted up by the roots, and
the leaves scattered for miles. Churches,
school-houses and factories are a complete
wreck. The deatll-list was something
fearful, and is hourly being added to.
houses left in the suburbs. A reporter
visited one house and found four
corpses and seventeen wounded. One moth
CT, a widow, was badly hurt, and one child
killed. The mother lay OIL 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 darkies, playing
cards, got into a 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
large cotton and WOODEN factories. It struck
the western part, entirely occupied by op-
eratives. Twenty-four houses were de-
stroyed. Twelve are dead and seventy-fver
wounded. Several will die-probably ten
or twelve more. The loss is estimated at
twenty thousand dollars. Assistance has
poured in from adjacent towns. The
wounded are all cared for, and
undoubtedly relief for the homeless will
be sent. Reports of the storm in
dictate great destruction. At Georgetown a
Methodist church was destroyed. Rev. II.
C. Lewis received critical injuries. A 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 Tillgllman, on the NatcheZ & jackson
railroad, two persons were killed. There
VAS 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. 1t 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 ara
totally worthless.
The storm struck West Point, in CLAW
County, at 1880 O'Clock. The wind was.
terrific, blowing down or unroofing a large
number of houses and sweeping way the,
Trees. Among the buildings damaged were:
.lle Courthouse, Central Hotel, Henly~
t%louse, Cotton Exchange, and a number Of
The leading business offices, which
were unroofed and otherwise in.
iuled. Several smal buildings were blown
flat with the ground. In Osborne Countya
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
were negroes. Many houses were blown
down. At Caledonia, twelve miles north of
Columbus, three persons were killed. It is
very difficult to trace the exact course of the
cyclone, and it is probable there was more
than one. The principal one, however,
moved i'll a straight line from northeast d,
southwest, passing through Chattanooga at
one, Aberdeen lis, West Point 1:4O, and
WeSSOn and Beaurpuard at cou.