The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1886-04-17
AN APPALLING CALAMITY.
SECTIONS OF FnIINNEsOTAL LAID WASTE
by A CYCLONE.

ST.. PAUL, MINI, April 14.-St.
Cloud and Sauk Rapids, this State,
were swept by terribly destructive
cyclone about $50 o'clock this after
noon. The first knowledge Of the
disaster was contained in telegram
sent to Mayor Ames from st. Cloud,
reporting the 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
wero made to respond to the call for
help. A train for St. Cloud left at 6
o'clock. Information at hand is very
meagro, and sensational reports are
current that ono hundred people wore
killed. It 10 believed that ut, least
forty persons have been killed and
about seventy-five wounded, but it is
impossible to get much information az
yet. All Is excitement and the streets
arc filled with men and frightened
women and children. The disaster Is
certainly appalling. AS nearly as can
be learned scores Of houses have been
entirely wrecked. Twelve physicians
wero aboard the relief train which left
for st. Cloud.
ST. PAUL, April 14.--Private advices
say tho storm struck the railroad be-.
tween tho round house and depot, and
swept path 600 yards wide through
the city, levelling between 150 and 200
houses. II. NJ. Clark, well-known
lumberman who lives In st. Cloud,
says ninety persons were killed and
moro than 100 injured, many very
seriously. Superintendent Wakomai,
Of 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 14.-Reports of the
cyclone at st. Cloud, Sank Rapids,
Rye Station and other points In the
vicinity, last night and early this
morning, were not exaggerated. Al
O'Clock this morning in tho places
named there were fortyn nine dead and
nearly two hundred injured, wit!
, many still missing, whose bodies viii
probably be recovered. just enough
,. houses arc left in Sank Rapids to form
e. fringe around tho village limits. Tb,
, debris is not piled in hcaps,.ntt scat.
! tered far and wide. ,aS sign "Sauk
= Rapids" ont Manitoba depot, and a
basE"ftll of school books were found
irliIsye Station, fifteen miles distant.
This shows the terrible power of the
storm.
Tho revised estimates of tho killed
and wounded are: St. CLOUD, 10 killed
40 injured, Sauk Rapids, 80 killed.
100 injured; Rye Station, 20 killed,
number of wounded as yet unknown.
ST. CLOUD, MINI, April l5.-A few
minutes after 4 O'Clock yesterday after
noon the skies became overcast with a
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 direct line
for the Manitoba freight yards. The
clouds hung low, and rolled over and
over liko smoke over battle field, and
were accompanied by loud roaring
sound, that reSembled q conflagration
in its fury. Tho cloud Wae flnnel.
StIaPods1 s1'S''ssta th6--poilt dragged along
the ground like the tail of hugo priai
beast, lashing everything that came in
its path into atoms. Tho citizens had
hardly time to flee to their cellars and
seek other points Of refuge before
whirlwind was Oh them aud the air
filled with flying boards, shingles,
bricks and other debris, that was
strvWn oycr the country and piled In
promlscuous heaps. 1t came from the
southest and moved in O northerly
direction until it reached the river,
where its course was diverted and fol-
lowed the river banks until it reached
Sauk Rapids, where it divcrged to tho
left, passing directly throught the cen-
trc of that town.
The utmost excitement prevailed.
Women and children fed from their
houses and rushed aimessly about in
thr midst Of the dark cloud of dust and
an avalance Of boards and brick. Men
lost their preepnnp of mind and stood
in silence and inactivity in the presence
OF the wind demon. It was hardly
noticed before 1t was on the city In all
its fury, and tho people we're not
warned of their danger before it was
upon them, and they foil like grain
stalks before the reapcr's sickle.
The portion of st. Cloud struck by
the cyclone was tho southwestern Sec
ton, and was the residence portion
occupied by tho laboring class of
people, the majo.ity of them beiug
foreigners employed on the railroads.
Their dwellings were light built
houses and became easy prey to the
monstor that had so viciously pounced |
upon them. They were like cookie |
shells In the graep of the whirlwind,
and were picked up and tossed in the
air and rent into thousand pieces.
The earth was plowed up in the line of |
the cyclone, and the path over which
it passed. to width Of nearly quar-
tor of mile, looks as though it had
been upheaved by a terrible volcanic
eruption. IT. had hardly begun it's
terrible work before it was finished.
and the scene that greeted the eyes Of
those who had escaped it's fury was
one that caused the stoutest heart to
shudder:. The cries and shrieks of the
wounded rent tho air, and tho ground
was strewn with the bodies of the
dead. Among them were stalwart
men, weak women, and weaker child
rcn. Phe citizens almost to q man
rushed to the demolished districts. and
physicians began their
work of rescuing those who were still
living from beneath tho piles of dirt
md fallen buildings.
SAUK RAPIDS, MINI, April 15..--The
Cyclone struck this city shortly after 1
o'clock yesterday afternoon, and in