The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1886-04-22
TERRIBLE CYCLONE.



Men. Women and Chiidrem Killed.
ST. CLOUD. Mimi, April ia few minutes
alter O'Clock yesterday afternoon the skies be-
came overcast and great black mass rose, com
ing with terrible velocity towards the western
outskirts OF the town. The clouds hung low
and rolled over and over, accompanied bya loud
roaring and cracking sound. People had hard.
ly time to seek refuge before the whlrlwind was
on them. The utmost excitement prevailed.
Women anu children fed from their houses, and
rushed amlessly about in dark cloud of dust
and an avalanche OF boards and bricks. Men
lost their presence OF mind. and stood in silence
and inactivity in The presence of the wind demon.
The earth was ploughcd up for nearly quarter
OF a mile. 1t had hardly begun its terrible work
before il was finished.
The scene was one that caused the StOutest
hearts to shudder. The cries and shrieks of the
wounded rent the air, and the ground was strcwn
with the bodies OF the dead. Among them were
sawart men, weak women and children. The
citizens rushed to the demolished districts and
summoning physicians, began the work of res
cuing those still living from beneath the piles of
dirt and fallen buildings. The scene deties de-
scriptiOn.
Down the whirlwind pounced on heavy cars,
lifted them from the tracks and cast them TO
pieces Iron rails were torn and twisted like
the smallest wires On the arrival of the train
with surgeons from st. Paul. Mimi, work was
at once begun to relieve the wounded. The
dead were taken to the Little Giant engine
houses The wounded were sent to st. Bene-
diets Hospital where they were promptly cared
for. Tweny-eght wounded were stretched on
cots in the various wards. The scene in the hos
pital was heartrending. Men, women and chill
drcn lay in broken shapes, bathed in their own
blood, and with faces backened and grimy, and
arms and legs broken, scalps torn and bodies
lacerated. The scene at the engine house was
even more horrible Eighteen lifeless bodies
were stretched draped in sheets and blankets.
The loss to this city is estimated ut from $125,-
900 to $150000
At Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, not single busi-
ness house is left standing on the main street.
Many residences were demolished. The court
house is a heap OF ruins, and several of the
county officers were killed. The Union school
house, the Presbyterian and Congregational
churches, the post office, flonr mill and large
machine shop were all converted into kindling
wood. What was the centre of town Is now
covered with all sorts OF debris timber, DOORS
pieces OF furniture, etc. The Northern Pacific
depot was literally blown away and large
number of freight cars were overturned upon
the tracks. twenty-five dead bodies were re-
covered from the ruins and large number of
people were injured
Bodies are laid out in the nearest houses left
standing, and several halt demolished buildings
are made to answer the purpose of morgue
The spectacle is sad one, the living being not
only deprived of friends but of all earthly pos
sessions at the same time. The total loss of
property is not less than $500 000 without a dol
lar of cyclone insurance. The town is well nigh
ruined.
ST. PAUL, MINI, April 15.-The revised est-
mates OF the killed and wounded by yesterdays
cyclone are: ST. Cloud, fifteen killed, forty in
jured; Sauk Rapids, thirty killed, one hundred
hurt; Rcc's Station, twenty-five killed and an
unknown number injured
ST. CLOUD, MINI, April 1S-There were
many sad as well as many curious incidents con-
nccted with the Northwest tornado One of the
saddest was the fatal ending of the wedding
party near Rice's Station. The party was as
sembled at the house of John Schulz farmer.
TO celebrate the wedding of his daughter Mamie,
and the ceremony was performed about one
O'Clock. The afternoon was spent in social en-
joyment, and at four O'Clock the party gathered
! ahnnt the wedding feast. 1t ,v,.,, ;,appy assem-
blage of nearly forty people. The tornado came.
and in five minutes the house was converted into
kindling wood and scattered all over the farm
Of the party ten are dead, and many others in
jured, several of whom will die. The BRIDE
groom was killed outright, but the bride was
only injured. Among the dead are the brides
mother and the clergyman who performed the
ceremony.
Farmers from the northwest part of the county
tell almost incredible stories of finding remnants
of buildings on their property twenty miles dis
tant from the city, and parts of organs and pia
uOo HdNC DCCh piChCu up uttctu tulleS from the
city and brought in as curiosities. The prairie
for miles northwest of the track of the tornado
is full of pieces of plank driven foot or more
into the ground. The sides of many of the
buildings are pierced with heavy splnters that
were driven through the thick walls. In the
walls of other buildings are holes that seem to
have been made by cannon balls. Panels have
been torn from the doors and the buildings 9TH
erwise left untouched. The walls of many of
the buildings have a backened appearance, as
though they had been fired and badly smoked
A box car was picked up from the track and
blown three blocks and dropped into a ravine
A child's bood-stained dress was found yester-
day afternoon in Buckman township, % miles
northwest of Sauk Rapids.
MINNEAPoLIs, MINI, April ia careful
appraisement of the damage to property by the
recent cyclone at st. Cloud makes total loss of
1885, OO0 At Sauk Rapids there were 1O9 build
ings destroyed, worth with their contents, $780,
600.
Up TO noon to-day nearly $50, 900 had been
contributed by Minnesota towns for the reliet of
the sufferers. There were three more deaths
yesterday, making total OF seventy seven. Not
more than one or two OF the wounded are ex-
pected to die. The work of rebuilding Sauk
Rapids is progressing rapidly.