The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1886-05-21
LATEST NEWS.
Kansas City, Mo-, Visited by Cloud
burst and Tornado Dealing
Death and Destruction.
Thirty-Two Lives Lost, the Court
House Wrecked and a Span
OF the Railroad Bridge
Blown Away.


OF the Railroad Bridge
Blown Away.
KANSAS CITY, Mo-, May 12.-About
IL o'clock Yesterday morning this city
was struck by terrific hurricane,
which lasted for an hour. The rain
poured down in torrents and the wind
howled and screeched as it madly
swept signs, awnings, chimneys, fences
and insecure buildings from its path.
People hastily deserted the streets to
seek shelter from the mass of flying
debris that filled the air. Many who
were slo% in getting to places of safety
were thrown down or swept along by
the force of the wind. Dense black
clouds hung over the city and made
the darkness almost impenetrable.
Carriages, wagons and other vehicles
were overturned in the streets, and
horses dashed hither and thither in
their fright. Manypeople sought their
cellars, and expected every moment to
be buried beneath the ruins of their
homes or stores. AS soon rs the storm
abated sufficiently to enable the people
to venture out on the streets the terri
BILE havoc created 10y the storm became
apparent, and measureswere taken to
remove the dead. care for the wounded
and to rescue those who were buried
under the ruins of fallen buildings.
The LathrOp School. situated aC the
southeast corner of Eighth and May
streets, was the scene OF the greatest
horror. The building was blown to
the ground, entombing hundred help
less children. OF this number seven
teen were taken out dead. eight will
die, and u score are wounded. The
Herr factory collapsed. Nine Of its
employees were killed and SIX are fatally
injured. Four persons were killed at
Smith u MOifaU.S spice factory, and
two deaths occurred at the old Court
House.
The space between the clouds and
the earth presented an almost perfectly
white appearance, made by the rain
blown in every imaginable direction by
the wind as The storm advanced. 1t
swept every small object away from its
path. These filled the air and fell TO
the ground only to be lifted again and
to be carried to still greater distance.
Many people in the city, not aware of
the seriousness of the storm, were
caught in it and lifted bodily from
their feet. Many were hurled fifteen
or twenty feet away, receiving terrible
bruises. In the suburbs of the city
large number of frame houses were
blown down and the inmates barely
escaped with their lives.
The Second street Court House al
ways was noted for its insecurity, and
standing at the top of the incline the
full force of the wind fell upon it with
terrific effect. Two stories of it were
blown down in an instant and then the
walls collapsed. This neighborhood
was absolutely wrecked by the storm.
None Of the prisoners in the Court
House were injured. AT II O'Clock,
during the heaviest part of the great
storm, the factory of Thomas Herr,
10 West Third street, was completely
destroyed. 1t was soon found that
twenty-five employees, male and female,
diately begun. BY l O'Clock five dead
bodies and fifteen dying and wounded
people had been removed from the
ruins, leaving five still missing.
But the most appalling work of the
storm was at the Lathrop School. This
morning the building was crowded with
children, many of whom went nearly
frantic with grief over the appalling
darkness and the stiffness whlc CHI pre-
coded the tempest. The winds swept
midway across Broadway from the
west, and seemed to concentrate it's
force in descent upon the tower,
which yielded with crash, and, carry
ing down the heavy bell, plunged
through the intervening floors to the
basement. The wing was comparative
ly uninjured, and the scholars in it
were not hurt. In the main building,
however, the effect was awful. The
falling floors precipitated the terrified
children to the basement, where masses
of bricks and beams crushed them to
the ground and buried them from view.
Persons near, hearing the crash, made
their way as best they could against
the beating storm to the scene, and the
work of reScuing was undertaken by
eager hands. Owing to the prevailing
excitement the first work was not very
effective, but the fire department and
police soon arrived and an organized
search was commenced. The dead and
wounded were taken out as quickly as
possible and carried to the auditorium
adjoining, which was turned into q
hospital.
Here the parents and friends of the
little ones soon gathered, each search
ing for his or her own, and uttering
in the manned and bleeding forms
those whom they loved. Among the
first taken out several were dead, and
one or two mangled almost beyond re-
cognition, their clothing toYl and their
bodies covered with dust and mortar,
the deathly pallor of the skin showing
in painful contrast against CRIME and
blood stain.
Many heroic scenes were enacted
during the rescue Of the wounded chill
dren, some of whom seemed TO have
GREATER control than their elders. One