Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1886-04-21
DEATH IN THE WIND.
A Terrible Cyclone at st. Cloud and Sank
Rapids, Minn.-Over 100 Persons Re-
ported Killed and Many More Severely
IDjured-Two Hundred Houses De-
strOYed.

About 5 o'clock on the afternoon OF
the 18th dispatches were received at
| Minneapolis from ST. Cloud and Sank
| Rapids, Mimi, asking for q special
train with surgeons and physicians to
aid the citizens in caring for people in
iured by terrible cyclone which had
just devastated those places. The cy-
| clone began about 3 o'clock in the
basin of the Masonic Cemetery, ut St.
Cloud, forming whirlwind about l.
900 feet in diamet er. It took almost
every tree in circle from the ground
or twisted it off at the trunk. Great
stones were torn up and carried along
with the wind, which moved slowly in
O. northeasterly direction. 1t wrecked
the Catholic Chapel and several
houses in it's course across the prairie
| adjoining the town. 1t completely
demolished John Schwartz's large
| brick house and scattered fifty or
more smaller frame houses like feath-
ers. In most cases nothing was left to
mark the site of the dwellings but the
cellars. The prairies were strewn with
timber, furniture and clothing. The
freight depot of the Manitoba Road
was q total wreck. Numerous cars
loaded with freight were blown half g.
mile, and the rails were wrenched from
the ties. It passed the limits of the
town just west of Lieut.. Gov. Gilman s
residence, killing several horses. and
crossed the Mississippi at the Sank
Rapids wagon bridge, which was de-
molished. It here widened to 600
feet, and leveled Stanton's grist mill.
From thereit swept through the center
OF the town, taking the best of the bust
ness portion, including the court-house,
hotel, public school and every i'm
pOrtant business building in the town
except Woods store. The village is
virtually wiped out, four-ffths of the
buildings in it being leveled. The ia
talities in st. Cloud, though great, are
not equal in number to those in Sank
Rapids. In every house most all the
inmates were more or less hurt. The
dead in ST. Cloud, so far as known, are
as follows: Nick Junemann, Mrs.
Weisman and little girl, g. 4-year-old
son of B. O. Werski a 7-year-old son
OF Frank Gernskoffskis Mrs. Stein, g.
4-year-old son of P. Waldorf, S. A.
Young, a railroad man; his brother
William had both legs smashed
and they had to be amputated;
an unknown railroad employee;
J. Van Horsen; two young children of
M. Ceno; q baby of August Knolls.
The dead at Sank Rapids SO far heard
from are: J. Berg, merchant, and his
two children; John Kenard, county
auditor; Geo. Lindley, county treas
urer; two children of G.. G. Wood; Ed.
gar Hill, president of the German
American National Bank. Abner
Styr, a child of P. Carpenter, and
Judge Beaupre, of the probate court,
were all fatally injured.
From Sank Rapids the storm went
to Rice's station, Benton County, de-
molishing the village and killing or in
luring nearly the entire population.
Nearly all the buildings in St. Cloud,
demolished by the cyclone, were small
frame houses occupied by workingmen
who were absent and only their wives
and children at home. The pecuniary
loss will reach about 100000 at st.
Cloud. More damage was done at
Sank Rapids, where the property de-
stroyed was of a more valuable char
acter.
What is supposed to have been the
same storm struck the town of Extra,
Ia, the same afternoon, destroying q
number Of houses. A brief dispatch
from Council Bluffs says the village of
Coon Rapids was laid in ruins by the
same agency.
A dispatch of the 18th says between
forty and fifty bodies have been recov-
nr,06 r bor
The work of devastation in the
district visited by the recent cycloneis
complete. For a width of about 600
feet, running from southwest to north
east, scarcely a vestige of any struct-
ure remains, the ground being literally
covered with all kinds of timbers, pro-
miscuously tangled together. It is es-
timated that 400 structures were
blown down in the neighborhoodo of ST.
Cloud. The loss will exceed $4,000.
The final muster of casualties at
Sank Rapids, it is thought, will swell
the total deaths to 100 and the
wounded to over 200. Edgar
Hull, president of the bank, was
killed in front of the courthouse.
The rumor of the destruction of we'd
ding party near Rice Station is veri-
fed: About forty persons sat down
to the supper after the ceremony. The
cyclone struck the house, scattering
the timbers in every direction. Three
persons, including the groom, were
killed, and ten others injured. The
course of the cyclone after leaving
Sank Rapids, was norGheasterly
through the towns of Wartub, Longo-
la and Buchanan, the latter being in
Morrison County. Reports from this
section of the country are very meager,
but enough is learned to show that
death and destruction mark tie
course Of the cyclone. There are just
enough houses left in Sank Rapids to
form a fringe around the village limits.
The debris is not piled in heaps, but
scattered far and wide. The damage
to public and private property will
amount to 100000. Fourteen of
the dead were buried at Sank Rapids
on the 10th. The pecuniary loss at
ST. Cloud is estimated at $4,000.
rTbo N;+r N0,ro1i 0e NF;~ooo~o1;o -,