Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-08-30
THE ATTACK OF THE RESTSTLES
MONSTER

Full 800 feet in the air it rose, and
in its whirling mass were trees and
stones, animals and debris of every
conceivable description. The dome of
the court house melted from view.
though touched merely by the hem of
the wind. Trees snapped like cato
mne-talls, or stranger still were
twisted as corkscrews in the hands of
a Titan, and lifted bodily into the air
with tons of earth chnging to their
roots. Animals We're dashed against
stone walls, and their backs and bones
crushed to powder The roar of the
herce surge was like nothing ever
heard before. The atmosphere was
surcharged with electricity. and pei
lets of rain and hail were driven YER
tlcally as If shot from a rifle. FIT
teen minutes of this terror and
then a silence. By o'clock the stars
We're SHINING as peacefully as if CIV
clones were unknown; but the silence
was soon broken by the oroans of the
dying and the sorely wounded. The
northern part of the city. fortunately
not the larger or thickly settled por-
ton, had been changed from a habit
able place to maze of mangled matter
desert with signs of woe and terror
scattered everywhere. Not house
stood where 800 had been at z o'clock.
Most of the dwellings were of the
poorer class but many were pretty.
carefully tended and decorated houses.
The citizens on the South Side quickly
repaired in crowds to the scene of
direst diaster and went to work. All
night long by the fitful light of Ian
terms at first and later aided by the
moon they toiled.
SCORES OF BODIES,
mangled, cut, torn and bruised, some
breathing, some breathlesS, were taken
out By sunrise those of the dead or
wounded who had friends were speed
lily borne to private houses. The ma
Jority We're taken to Rommels hall, a
large building on Broadway. where
cots were hastily prepared for the
wounded. The dead were taken away
by friends, or to w. II. Stewards I'M
dertaking place on Broadway. PLY
sicians and nurses We're soon to the
fore, and everything possible done to
alleviate suffering. The wounded
were in a horrible plight, and walk
through the hall where they lie.
even now, makes one faint. The cuts
and bruises are generally about the
upper part Of the body, and childish
faces are seen with wounds on them
so CHASTITY that even the physician
shudders as he uses sponge and needle.
Into the cuts dirt and even powdered
stone were forced in many instances.
Cellars seemed of little or no protec-
ton, since, while some of the houses
above them blew away, those to the
west were crushed bodily into their
depths. Think of two mothers, as
late as noon to-day,
SEEKING FRANTICALLY FOR LOST
CHILDREN,
seeing three who corresponded in size
with those they sought, but all SO
marred by dirt and blood and wounds
that even maternal love could not tell
whether to say mine" or not. The
scenes around the demolished houses
were heartrending; men, women and
children crying bitterly and almost
bereft of reason. An absolute doubt
exists IN many cases as to where the
site of their home was; over the dread
full uncertainty and q haunting dread,
and through it all the breeze signing
gently, the moon smiling calmly and
men working bravely. The rising
sun showed the bitterness of the desc
lation. Queer freaks there were, of
course. Here stands wall, and on it
hangs an unbrOken loOking-glass,
while heavy stove, crushed into
fragments, lies on the floor near by.
There, swaying to and fro in the
breeze is the family rocking chair,
while few feet from it horse lies
MANGLED AND DEAD.
A feather bed yonder twisted like
rope, and touching its edge a students
lamp, with even the chimney intact.
Down near the river stands the large
Cole mill, with a cyclonic bite taken
from its western end To the south
of it is a train of eight loaded cars
turned and twisted as if of straw.
while In the race at the northern side
are two more cars blown bodily from
the track and into. the water. The
owner of the mill was lifted fifty feet
vertically and hurled against a bank
dIlOl hIIItu 4NOG 90 DOIIt LII Ills DOuy
was left unbroken Rochester. as
every one knows, was a beauti-
full city, and as much on &C
count of its trees as anything. A
score of years will not restore its pris-
tine loneliness in this direction. Some
of the streets in the best part OF the
city are impossible, and looking up
or down them one sees nothing but
tangled mass of trunks and foliage
iammed across the roadway. Scarce
ly residence-M Van Dusen's is
about the only one-that has not SUI
fered more or less; and in many cases
heavy chimneys were crashed through
the roofs and garrets into the floors
below. But description is utterly I'M
able to portray the results of a storm
which, in the worst of its path, abso
lutely
SWEPT PART OF THE EARTH AWAY,
leaving nothing of grass or tree, or