The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1886-04-21
TERRIFIC CYCLONE.
St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, Day.
astated by Tornado.
Scores of Houses in the Track of the Storm
Entirely wrecked-Thirty Persons
Killed and Forty.Ffve Seri-
ously Injured.

ST.. PAUL, Mimi, April 14.-St. Cloud and
Sauk Rapids were swept by a terrible de-
structive cyclone about 80 this afternoon.
The first knowledge Of the disaster was con-
tanned in the following telegram sent to
Mayor Ames from st. cloud asking for help:
To Mayor Ames, Minneapolis:
A destructive cyclone passed over st. Cloud and
sauk Rapids late this afternoon. There has been
terrible destruction here. Please send up all the
assistance you can Immediately by special train.
Send physicians and surgeons.
kilograms to the following effect were re-
ceived from Sauk Rapids:
To Mayor Ames, Minneapolis:
Can you send special train with physicians TO
this city. cyclone passed over the city this
afternoon. A great many are believed to have
been killed, but the number is not yet known.
(Signed) SAUK RAPIDS
Immediately upon the receipt of these
messages preparations were made to respond
to the call for help. A train for st. Cloud
left at o'clock. The information at hand
is very meager, and sensational reports are
current that 100 people were killed. It is
believed at least forty persons have been
killed and about seventy-Gve wounded but
it is impossible to get much information as
yet. All is excitement, and the streets are
filed with excited men and women and
children. The disaster is certainly
appalling. As nearly as can be learned
scores of houses have been entirely wrecked.
The following physicians were aboard the
relief train which left for st. Cloud: Drs.
Ames, Kilvington, Freeman, Quinby, Lee,
Bunker, Gibson, Hoffiin, Allen and VAN
cleave. The city is full of rumors, and it is
| difficult to obtain reliable news. The storm
struck st. Cloud between the round-house
| and the freight depot and swept path sew.
eral hnndred yards wide through the city,
leveling between 80 and 200 houses. N. H.
| Clark, a well known lumber man, who lives
| in st. Cloud, says eighty persons were killed
| in that city and more than hundred in.
| jured, many very seriously.
Superintendent Wakeman, of the Mani
toba Road, says that between thirty and
| forty persons were killed at Sauk Rapids, a
small town on the Manitoba and Northern
Pacific Road, few miles from St. Cloud, and
nearly double that number injured. The
telegraph wires west of this city are all down,
and no news direct from either st. Cloud o.
Sauk Rapids has been received since z
o'clock.
| A terrible thunderstorm passed over Min
neapolis and st. Paul about 6 O'Clock, and a
heavy hail-storm followed, though of but
| short duration.
Near Fergus Falls house was struck by
| lightning and Clement Crogan and hired
man were severely injured. Several times
| lightning struck in Minneapolis terrifying
| people, but so far as learned doing no par
! ticular damage. The storm is the worst
known in the State since 1873, when R0ches-
ter and Elgin were devastated by tornado.
Latest reports from the cyclone give num-
Der of killed in st. Cloud, as fifteen, and in.
jured about twenty-five, and at sauk Rapids
fifteen killed, and twenty injured. Another
terrific thunder storm is now prevailing here
which interferes greatly with wires.
The cyclone began about O'Clock in the
basin of the Masonic Cemetery, forming a
whirlwind about 1000 feet in diameter. 1t
| took most every tree in a circle from the
X.
Great stones were torn up and caEied
| along with the wind, moving slowly in
northeasterly direction. 1t wrecked the
| Catholic Church and several houses in its
| 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 feathers. In most
| cases nothing was left to mark the site of the
| dwellings but the cellars. The prairies were
! strewn with furniture. The freight de-
| pot of the Manitoba Road was a total
wreck, Cars loaded with freight were blown
a mile, and the rails wrenched from the ties.
| The storm crossed the Mississippi at the
! Sauk Rapids wagon bridge, which it demol-
ished. StaHson's grist mill was also lev
eled. From where it swept through the
| center of the town, taking the best of
the business portion, including the Court
| house, hotel, public school, and every i'm
| portant business building in town except
| Woods store. The village is virtually wiped
| out, for fifth of the buildings in it were
leveled. The fatalities in st. Cloud, though
| great, are not equal in number to those in
| Sauk Rapids. In every house most all the
| inmates were more or less hurt. The
| dead at ISt. Cloud, so far as known, are as
| follows: Flick Juneman, Mrs. Weisman and
! little girl, four-year-old son of B. o. Wres-
| XII a seven year-old-son of p. Waldorf, S. A.
| Young. a railroad man. His brother Will
/ ian has both legs broken, and they had to
be amputated. An unknown railroad man,
| s. Vanhorsen, two young children of M.
! Ceno and babe of Mrs. Knolls were also
| killed.
The dead at Sauk Rapids, so far as heard
from, are: ]. Berg, merchant and his two
| children; John Kenard. County Auditor;
George Lindley, County Treasurer; two chill
dren of c. G. Wood, Edgar Hill, President
| of the German-American National Bank
| Abner Styr, child of p. Carpenter, and
Judge Beaupre, of the Probate Court, were
all fatally injured.
| From Sauk Rapids, the storm went to
Rices Station, Benton County, demolishing
the village and killing or injuring nearly the
| entire population. The wires are all down,
and no definite information is obtainable
| from there.
Nearly all the buildings in st. Cloud de-
molished by the cyclone, we're small frame
houses occupied by workingmen who were
| absent, and only their wives and children in
the houses. The pecuniary loss viii reach
about 900 at st. Cloud.
More damage was done at Sank Rapids.
where the property destroyed was of more
valuable character. Its impossible to OBJ