Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-09-09
DEATH AND DESOhATION.
FAN TO THR LOrOF WAsHfN6TON
COURT house.

COURr house.
The City swept Away by Terrific u
clone A Night Of Horror and Distress
Searching for the Manglsd Bodies - win
at O,hcr Places.
From Morning Edition
The storm which passed over this city wit
much threatening and little rain had about
, all the regulation indications of a cyclone
The seers we're willing to stake all they ba
that it was playing havoc somewhere in tn
near vicinity. Their predictions proved onl,
too true, for about l0:45 the news reached
here that the neighboring city of Wash
ington Court House had been almost com
pletely swept from the face Of the earth by
terrible cyclone. II is almost impossible tc
get anything like an accurate account of the
catastrophe, as all the wires, both telegraph
and telephone, were carried away. The
GLoBE-REpUBLIc secured It's report by means
ofa telephone which had been attached to
the wire about two miles out of town, the
operator standing in a heavy rainstorm all
the while.
cloud seemed to appear in moment in the
northwest, and in another moment
1t had broken directly upon the
town, blowing at a terrible rate and carrying
everything before it. The body of the tor
nsdo struck at the northwestern part OF the
| town and went the whole length of Court
| street. the main business street OF the city.
The air became rs dark as pitch, relieved
every minute with brilliant flashes Of light
ming, when the air could be seen filed witt
bricks, boards, timber, signs, portions of
| roofing, and debris Of every shape and FORM
On every side building were tumblng,
people skuring through the streets
wildly, never thinking where they were going,
but rushing madly everywhere to escape the
fearful destruction that seemed to be tearing
up the very earth. The angry elements
ragged over the doomed city for fully ten min
utes, after which heavy rain set in, which Is
still in progress at this hour, IL o'clock. The
tornado seemed to turn at this point and take
an easterly direction, and has probably caused
great devastation throughout the eastern part
OF Fayette county.
As yet it is utterly impossible to learn the
extent OF the havoc or to give a detailed ac-
count of the wreck here. The only people I
positively known to be killed are two chl-
dren, little boy and girl, whose names the
informant did not know. The crushed and
mangled body of Hubbard, the night operator,
was rescued from the debris of the telephone
exchange. His injuries are unquestionably
fatal and be can only live few hours. Doubt
less, there are great many more killed
and injured, but no more have
yet been found, and as the people are scat
tered in every direction it is impossible to
learn all that has happened. Almost all the
business blocks on Court street--at least forty
or fifty Of the finest buildings-are in ruins,
and fully three-iourths Of the private resi-
dences are torn to pieces. The three finest
churches OF the city succumbed to tine fury
Of the storm and went to the ground. They
were the Baptist, the Presbyterian
and the Catholic churches, the last
named handsome and costly
structure just completed few weeks ago. 1t
met the common fate of the town and went
down in the general ruin. All the depots-
the Midland, the Narrow Guage and the Pan
Haudle-are blown galley west, and as every
bridge in the vicinity is carried away. ingress
or egress is almost impossible. Every wire
within a circle of two miles is down, and
communication with the outside world is al
most completely cut off. Word has been sent
to Cincinnati to have force of men sent
up at once to repair the wires. A few OF the
most noteworthy buildings tha, were de-
stroyed are Stetson's dry goods house and
large two-story brick building; Wright 4
Billiards. block, containing Wright 4 Bal
lard's hardware establishment and other
stores; Whitcombe h Bakers grocery house
Simpson Bros. l. Co.. wholesale house and
tour-story brick building; Barney Keleys
wholesale liquor house, and hosts of others
too numerous to mention. In all, it is thought
that not less than four hundred houses have
teen destroyed.
At . late hour this morning the GLOBE
REPUBLIC secured the following special from
the scene OF the catastrophe;
The condition of the people is appalling.
When the storm first struck the place, every
man, woman and child in It seemed to be
thrown in perfect frenzy. The first mo-
ment all was astOnishmeLt and horror. The
next instant the houses began tumbling, and
the terrified Inhabitants, some OF them half
dressed, began to rush from the falling
houses, grabbing up their children and scat
tering in every direction. Families became
separated and could not find each other in
the murky darkness.
The scene WIEN the cyclone struck the
town WAS terrifying in the extreme. The ap-
proach of the storm was sudden and the peo-
pie were taken entirely unaware. The whole
community became panic stricken aud fled
before the storm as they would from the
hosts OF an invading army. 1t is safe to say
there was not a cool head in the village
Men who ordinarily bore reputatitn for
GOODNESS and bravery under the most trying
circumstances, became trenzied with fear and
joined In the wild mad fight of the populace
from the impending danger. There were
few outcriss. The people appeared to be too
thoroughly frightened to cry out. II was