Morning journal and courier., 1886-05-28
NO. 12s.

room with knew better and commenced to get ready for the storm. She went over to the schoolhouse Gathrop schooD and got her two little girls When she got back she closed every window and blind in the house and she and the rest of the women folks went down into the cellar, five in all. I was the only man in the house and they wanted me to go with them, but I thought it was only their nervousness that made them afraid, and I told them that would stay up stairs and take care of that. I went in my room and took up paper and commenced to read the first warning I had that the storm was upon us was to have both of the windows blown in and have big piece of hail the size of a hens egg strike me on the leg. When 1 felt that and seeing the glass flying around the room, very quickly came to the conclusion that my boudoir was not the most desirable place in the world and, as a Buffalo boy would say, made my sneak. From there went into the parlor. thought the windows in there would blow in, but they had outside shutters on and that saved them from the hail. If you think that was fooling when said the size of hens egg you are mistaken; you may know the size and the terrible force they had when I tell you that one of them struck man on the head and killed him. I mailed you people couple of papers, but they have not got one third of the casualties in them; they were printed the same day that it happened, and the reporters could not find out one-haf the accidents that happened. There were hun dreds of houses that did not have any roof on, or minus 8 wall after the storm was over. You do not find any account of them in the paper, so you cannot imagine the personal loss until you have been over the ground yourself.
 During the height of the storm I saw a horse and buggy coming up the street. all of a sudden the horse broke loose from the bug gy; he went up one way in the air and the buggy went the other way; why, the wind would take you right up in the air and carry you couple of hundred feet and then drop you. A good many people had their arms broken from being carried up in the air and thrown against building.
 All of a sudden the wind stopped and I went to see the result of the storm. I had no sooner got out when it commenced again; the streets had about two feet of water in them, and 8 young woman who was about two blocks from me was blown down and baby she had in her arms was drowned. All of a sudden I heard an awful crash, and turning around I saw that the Lathrop school had blown down. It was a large, fine choking building, about the size of school sixteen in Buffalo. In the mean time number of other buildings, inclu- ding the large court house, had blown down and all the irsmen and police were working on them, and there was no one to get the children out. After the wind had stopped blowing large crowd gathered around the building. About ten of us, mostly young fellows, volunteered to go in the ruins and get all out that we could. We got a lot of candles and saws and hatchets and crawled in under the stair way. When we got in the first thing I saw was a little hand sticking through the plaster. I crawled up to it and felt it's pulse and found that it was dead. We let that go and hunted for the living; the air was full of moans and cries, but we could not see anyone and we did not know where to commence; it was pretty hard work. We could not stand up straight, and every time we took hold of anything about ton of lime would come down on us. had on my rubber overeoat and pair of boots and they saved my clothes. The first one we took out was little girl about ten years old she had an arm broken. The first thing she asked for was her mother. When we once got started we took them out pretty fast. Out of one room we took thirty-nine wounded ones and seventeen dead ones. I took out three dead ones. As fast we found them we passed them through the cellar window, where there were plenty of willing hands ready to take them. We handed one little girl to e man that was standing by the win dow; she had biz hole in her head and the blood was running from it in perfect tor rents. He took her up in his arms and started off with her; when he had gone about twenty feet he looked down into her face; with the words, "Oh, my Godl' he dropped down, with his awful-buroeH in his arms, into dead faint The child he was carrying was his own little girl, and he did not know it until he had looked into her face. The shock was too much for him.
 There was only one that I took out that made me sick; it was little girl and she had both her eyes out and her nose cut off; she died in my arms and got my hands all blood. I felt pretty faint for moment.