The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1886-04-22
AN APPALLING CALAMITY.
SECTIONS oFnuNNEsoTA LAID WASTE
BYASCYCLONls. =.

LeFeheu IN Ohe town--~The storm Else. |
where.
ST. PAUL, MINI, April 14.-St.
Cloud and Sauk Rapids, this State,
were swept by terribly destructive
cyclone about $3.50 o'clock this after
noon. The first knowledge Of the
disaster was contained i'm telegram
sent to Mayor Amcs FROM St. Cloud,
reporting tho disaster and asking that
a special be sent with physicians.
a similar dispatch was. received from |
Sauk Rapids Immediately upon re-
ceipt of these messages preparations |
were made to respond to the call for
help. A train for st. Cloud left at 6 |
o'clock. Information at hand is very
,neagre, and sensational reports are |
current that one hundred people were
killed. 1t is believed that at least
forty persons have been killed and
about seventy-tive wounded, but it is
impossible to get much information as
yet. All is excitement and the streets
are filled with men and frightened
women and children. The disaster Ia
certainly appalling. AS nearly as can
be learned scores of houses have been
entirely wrecked. Twelve physicians
were aboard the relief train which left
for st. Cloud.
ST. PAUL, April 14.-Privatc advccs
say the storm struck the railroad be-
tween the round house and depot, and
swept path 600 yards wide through
the city, levelling between $50 and 200
houses, IL. NJ. Clark, a wcll-known
lum0erman who lives in ST. Cloud,
says ninety persons were killed and
more than 100 injured, many very
seriously. Superintendent Wakcman
or the Manitoba Road says that be-
tween thirty and forty persons were
killed at Sauk Rapids, a few miles
southeast of St. Cloud, and nearly
double that number injured.
ST. PAUL, April H. Reports of the
cyclone at ST. Cloud, Sank Rapids,
Ryo Station and other poiuts in the
vicinity, last night and early this
morning, were not exaggerated. AT
O'Clock this morning in The places
named there were forty nine dead and
hearlj two hundred Injured, with
many still missing, whose bodies will
probably be recovered. just enough
houses arc left in Sank Rapids to form
& fringe around The village limits. The
debris is not piled in heaps, but scat
tered ar.and wide The sign "Saull
Rapids' on the Manitoba depot, and a
basket full of school books were found
IN Rye Station, fifteen miles distant.
This shows the terrible power of the
storm.
The revised estimates of the killed
ana wounded are: st. Cloud, Is killed
4o injured; Sauk Rapids, so. killed,
loo injured; Rye Station, % killed,
number Of wounded as vet unknown
ST. CLOUD, MINI, April I5. "A few
minutes aftcr4 o'clock Yesterday after
noon the skies became overcast with n
dark cloud, and a great black mass
rose over the hills southwest of the
city, and coming with terrible velocity
to the western outskirts in a direct line
10r the Manitoba freight v1T21S The
clouds hung low, and rpjIod ovor a,,1
over liko smoke over Kottlc fie,d omI
were accompanied bv q Innl rn"r;,'1 H,,o
sound, that resemblede ""u conaan"ot;nS ,u,,'in
in It's fury. The cloud wns fn"nel'
shaped, and the ryoint dragged alone
tde srouio IKE the tail of q huge :criaj
;tS S"o.' no., ,i@Tnihg everything that came in
ath into atoms. The citizens had
rdly time to flee to their cellars and
~ seek other points of refuge before q
Whlrlwind was on them and tho air
filled with flying boards, shingles,
bricks and other debris, that was
strVWn over the couhtry and piled in
promscuous heaps. 1t came from the
southeSt and moved i'm northerlv
direction until it reached the river,
where its course was diverted and fol-
lowed the river banks until it reached
Sauk Rapids, where it divcrgea TO the
lett, passing directly throught the cen
tire OF that town.
Tho utmaSt ox,;to,,o,4
Women and children fed from their
houses and rushed aimlessly about in
thr midst of the dark cloud of dust and
an avalance of boards and brick. Men
lost their presence Of mind and stood
IN silence and inactivity in the presence
OF the wind demon. 1t was hardly
noticed before 1t was on the city i'm all
lts 1ury, and the people were not
warned OF their danger before 1t was
upon them, and they fell like grain
stalks before the reaper's sickle.
The portion of st. Cloud struck bv
the cyclone was the southwestern sec
ton, and was the residence portion
occupied by the. laboring class of
people, the majo .ity of them bciug
foreigners employed ON the railroads.
Their dwellings, were light built
houses and became easy prey to the
monster tilat had so ViciOusly pounccd
upon them. They were like cookie
sheils in the grasp of the .whirlwiud,
and were picked up and tossed IN the
ar and rent into II thousand pieces.
The earth was plowcd up in the line of
the cyclone, and the path over which
1t passed, 10 width of nearly quar-
ter OF mile, looks as though it had
been upheaved br a terrible volcanic
eruption. 1t had hardly begun it's
terrible work before it was finished,
and the scene that greeted the eyes of
those who had escaped its fury was
one that caused the stoutest heart to
shudder. The cries and shricks of the
wounded rent the air, and the ground
was strewn with the bodies of the
ueSd' Among them were staIyyart
men, weak women, and weaker child
rem. The citizens almost to n man
rcahed to the demolished districts, and
summoning physicians began thei,
work OF rescuiDg those who were still
living from beneath the piles oS dirt