Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-07-19
Half a Years Horrors.
Pioneer Press.

hllSuG 1tN0 Won 1OE HIMSELF q IaSUlng
reputation, had hepossessed the hardi-
hood necessary to predict six months
ago that this would be a year marked
by dire and diverse calamity. Human
carelessness and human liability to
panic have united with the wrath of
the elemental forces to produce list
of disasters in the half of the wear
now passed into history which would
be a record remarkable enough for
the last day of December instead of
the first week in July. 1t there has
been a dearth of political news and
lull IN political activity, the public
chrOniclers of events have been kept
unhappily busy in collecting the de
tails of events each of which was
| bound up with the sacrifice of scores
of human lives The month of Janu-
ary was especially prolific of horrors
of the first magnitude Two ocean
steamers, the City of Brussels and the
Clmbrla, were sunk, and carried a
host of victims with them down to
death. Besides these disasters, the
capslzlng Of a vessel upon a river in
North Carolina and the drowning of
thirty cOnvicts shows less terrible and
grim than it would have done had not
the public mind had been occupied bv
greater terrOrs. And a horrible disaS-
ter in Russian Poland seemed too
vague and distant to awaken sympa-
thy while hundreds were mourning
for the victims of the Newhall house
tire-the OvershadOWing event of this
chapter of the new years woes. The
next group of events which were cost
ly in sacrifice of human life includ-
ed the work of implacable natural
agencies, as well as that of man Feb
ruary was a month of Wide-spreadSuf-
fering in the West In the North the
blizzards Obstructed travel, caused
enormous losses to corporations and
to Individuals and was fatal to few
lncautiOus travellers. In the South
the memorable floods in Ohio, India
na and Illinois were productive of
losses which can be reckoned only by
the millions. The flooding of a mine
in Illinois, with the death of large
number of WOrkmen, and few rail
road accidents, too mild in their de
structlOn to compete for nOtOriety
with the great horrors of the time,
filled out the chapter Of the second
month
A temporary lull IN the unkindness
of nature seemed but preparation
for the more deadly assault of the lib
Grated powers of the air. With the
opening of spring the cyclone appear
ed upon the scene; and never since 1T
has been possible to keep a record of
the work of storms over a wide area,
was there such a succession of aerial
conflicts at this early period of the
year, attended by such loss of proper
ty and life. 1t is true that the popu-
lar Imagination, which has been fed
upon accounts of the aerial terror of
the plains, is apt to magnify the work
Of any violent storm, and to report a
true cyclone wherever there has been
gale of wind But leaving out of
the record the hundreds of local dis
turbances which have been noticed in
ftelegraphic brevities, the real cyclone
made its unwelcOme advent III Arkan
sas, in Mississippi, in more than one
part of Missouri, in Wisconsin, among
the Black Hills, and in Illinois. The
ories of any definite storm belt were
put to flight; and before the time
when the appearance of the cyclone
is usually to be apprehended, the peo-
pie of every section were trembling
with alarm at the appearance of Il
threatening cloud above the horizon.
Here is also to be mentioned the aerial
spark by which the great reservoirs of
the Standard Oil company were fired,
and millions of dollars worth of the
product of labor passed out of exist
ence through the flames Next comes
triplet of disasters which are to be
separated from all others, because they
owe their origin not to the severity of
nature nor directly to the neglect of
man, but to that strange defect Of the
human mind which makes it liable to
wild unreasOning panic. Three
times the cOntagin of fear has spread
among a multitude until they trampl
ed each other in blind eagerness to
escape from danger that had no eX-
istence. The first and the latest in
stances panic in a New York
school building and the more Gala
mitous one in Sunderland-are less
unaccountable because the actors were
frightened children. The other-the
memorable rush of maddened men
and women upon the great Brooklyn
bridge-stands out alone in unique
horror among the death-dealing events
of the year The floods that have
recently been devastating the valley of
the Mississippi, leaving even greater
evidences of destruction behind them
than those of the Ohio, fill out the
chapter of notable casualties for the
past six months It has been half
year of fear and Of mourning for many
people Its record is such as has
seldom been known, and as none
would care to see replaced. In gener
al, the increase of reported accidents is
accounted for by the increase of tele
graphic facilities and the greater ac-
tivity of news-gathering enterprise.
But while this explanation would
suffice for the thousands of minor
fatalities which have filed the calen-
dar, it cannot bring down to the
1o-o1 of Tho SIIol1 q