St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-04-18
SCENE OF SORROW.
Sketches Made on the Field OF the
Storm Demons Signal
Victory.
The Bodies Of Lulu Carpenter and
Mrs. Fletcher Tenderly
Buried.
Hon. E. G.. Halburt, Brought to st. Paul
Unconscious, Dies at His
Late Home.
st. Cloud Magnantmously Urges That
All Outside Aid be Used at
Sauk Rapids
The Relief Fund Already Sent to the
Stricken District Amounts to
Nearly $4,000.
Immense Crowds OF People Expected
to Visit the Sorrowing Cities
To-Day.
ST. Cloud Magnanimously Urges That
All Outside Aid be Used at
Sauk Rapids.
The Relief Fund Already Sent to the
Stricken District Amounts to
Nearly $4,000.
Immense Crowds of People Expected
TO Visit the Sorrowing Cities
To-Day.
The Scene of the Catastrophe.

SAUK RAPIDS, April 17.-Seated on the
summit of hill that lifts its modest pro-
portions over the eastern limits OF this
fated city, in full enjoyment of health and
strength, bathed in world of golden sum
light that falls from an azure sky, hardly
fiecked by single cloud, one is hardly ca
pable of realizing the great amount of des-
titution and suffering that fills the valley
below, where but few days ago lived and
thrived a happy community, little dream
ing of the avalanche of death that was
about to precpitate itself upon them. But
it came and it is little short of a miracle
that there was left one TO tell the tale, so
completely has the work of demolition been
carried out. To the east from the point of
ground on which the writer sits to the bank
of the river stretches a wide waste of
broken timbers and torn and twisted trees.
1t is
WORLD OF sHAPELESs MASSES,
a wilderness of debris. The Army of the
Potomac in all its might could not have
made more total wreck of the town with
its grape and canister and its ponderous
cannon balls in days work than did the
cyclone in the brief space of three minutes.
The walls and pitiful cries of the dying and
wounded are no longer heard; the soft
breeze no longer brings to the ear the sobs
and means of the afflicted; there are no eX-
ternal signs from which can be gathered the
story of death and destruction of human
life but the broken homes; the somber ruins
tell only too plainly of the fearful plllage
carried OH by the aerial enemy that so
quietly and unexpectedly marched up the
valley in all its awful grandeur and satisfied
its hunger for vengeance SO perfectly on the
helpless little hamlet, whose glarng skel-
eton now lies in CHASTITY shreds. While l
write l am seated on the massive bell that
for ten years had performed its sacred duty
of calling worshippers to the prudish little
Methodist church that sat upon the hillside
; and watched over the city below, as though
a sentinel placed there to guard its morals
and good being. The bell lies several hun
dred feet from where the church sat, half
buried in dirt and broken timbers. Its
tongue lies
LIMP AND SPEECHLESS,
torn from its fastenings by the cruel hand
of the invader. Just to my left, lying in
the dirt, its white sides glistenng in the
sun, is convincing proof and powerful
illustration of the terrible might of the
demon of the air. 1t is a monument OF
white marble, torn from its base, in the
Masonic cemetery at st. Cloud. three miles
distant. and cast down here as though the
devastator had in its wild fury sacrelig-
iously plucked this marble plinth from the
city of the dead and after hugging it to its
callous breast until its wicked freakishness
was satisfied, had cast it down in disdain
and gone on seeking fresh fields for its
devilish work. The stone will weigh sew
eral hundred pounds and the side bearing
the inscription is buried in the sand. The
brick vault of the court house is still stand.
ing, while around it lie the ruins of the
walls that but few days ago sheltered it.
1t was in these ruins that three men met
their death, when by the exercise of little
presence OF mind had they stepped inside
the vault they would have escaped. Just
back of where the court house stood lies a
one-story frame building resting on its
caves and ridge pole and
LYING FRUSTRATED
near it is q mOnStTous oak tree that was
twisted like reed from the ground. The
trees that are still standing look as though
they had been swept by a besome. Their
branches were torn off and bereft of twigs.
The bark is stripped and hangs in shreds
that flutter like banners of distress in the
wind. Piles of broken lumber stand arounC
them, almost reaching to their lowel
branches, and they appeal mutely to th'
sympathy of those who pass them. There
are probably 500 visitors among the ruin
to-day. They have come, many of then
l. -
devastation, and they wander aimlessll
about awe-stricken at the sight that meet:
their eyes. I'VE have read of il. but could
not believe that it was as bad as it has beer
pictured, and it is even worse" they say
and it is true. The half has never beer
told, nor never can be. The eve is the
only medium through which one can get al
adequate idea of the terrible work that ha.
been done here and the fearful amount O.
suffering it has entailed upon the people
The more curious and less sympathetic ar,
filling their pockets and traveling-bags Will
mementoeS and souvenirs to take away
with them.
BIBLES ARE EoUND
and carefully treasured; also other books
Pieces of cut glass, bits of parlOr ornament
and bric-a-brac; fractions Of marble slabs
mantle pieces and tops of dressing-cases
county records and bill heads are eagerl,
gathered and zealously watched by the herd
OF men and women that have been brough
In by the trains. And many of them cam
much aS.they would attend picnic on SOM
holiday, bringing baskets of provisions wit
them, and as L write, party of three ladie
are seated on the ground under tree but
few feet away, discussing the features o
the calamity as they fill their mouths wit
cold meats and draw deep draughts of mil
from a long neck bottle. The authorize
ana old residents now say that there is n
one missing, and it is quite probable tina
all the bodies have been recovered from tn
ruins, that of A. Z. Schenver, which wa
found Yesterday afternoon being the last
though there may be some among the debri
yet who were strangers in tie city and ther
presence here was not known, if this is s
the fact will soon be learned as there is a
present a force of $50 men at work cleanin
up the debris. and as they are paying par
ticular attention to the great piles first
they will soon be levelled.
ROCKED AND BROKEN
walls that are Understanding are being tor
down, and the rough and jagged edge O
the ruins is being slowly taken off. Tn
roller rink, heavy frame building, 1O0x2
feet, was swept away with the exception Q
the floor, which remains intact. Hardl
board of the upper structure can
found.
The enterprise and determination mani
Tested by this afflicted community is won