River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1886-04-22
MINNESOTA SCOURGED
By the Cyclones Fateful Breath.
The Dead, Dying and
Injured.
Graphic Recital Of the Scenes at st.
Cloud, Sank Rapids and
RiceS Station.


ushered in between a p. N. on the '4th inst.
Northern Minnesota was the scene OF the calam-
lty and St. Clond. city OF 6,OOO inhabitants,
sauk Rapids, town two miles distant and
Rice's. a small railroad station sixteen miles far
Their North were the scene Of the greatest disas-
ter, though immense damage was done in the
surrounding country. correspondent OF the
St. Paul Globe, writing in the evening of the
18th Of the calamity in st. Cloud said;
A few minutes past 4 o'clock the skies be-
came overcast with dark clouds, and great
black mass rose over the hills southwest Of the
city and came with terrible velocity towards the
western outskirts in a direct line for the Manito-
ba freight yards. The clouds hung low and
rolled over and over like smoke over battle
field, and were accompanied by loud roaring
and cracking that resembed holocaust in its
fury. The cloud was Handicapped and the
point dragged along the ground like the tail Of
huge aereal beast, lashing everything that
came in its path into atoms. Citizens hardly
had time TO flee TO their cellars and seek other
points OF refuge before the whirwind was on
them and the air was filed with flying boards,
shingles. bricks and other debris that was
strewn over the country and piled in promiscu-
Gus heaps. The cloud came from the
southeast and moved in a northeasterly di-
rection until it reached the river, where its
course was diverted and It followed the
river bank until it reached Sank Rapids, where
il diverged TO the left and passed directly
through the center OF that town. The utmost
excitement prevailed. Women and children
ran from their houses and fled aimlessly about
I fv4 ,F h. yclow 49, ns M
avalanche OF boards and bricks. Men lost their
presence of mind and stood awed into silence
and inactivity 1" - presence of the wind
= .On. 1t was hardly noticed before it was on
the city in all its fury, and the people were not
warned Of their danger before it was upon them,
and they fell like grain stalks before the reap
ers sickle. The portion of st. Cloud struck by
the cyclone was the southwest, and was the res
idence portion occupied by the laboring class OF
people, the majority OF them being foreigners
employed on the railroads. Their dwellings
were light board houses, and became easy prey
to the monster that had so viciously pounced up
on them. They were like cockle-shells in the grip
Of the whirlwind, and were picked up, tossed in
the air, rent into ten thousand pieces, and scat
tered to the four winds of heaven. The earth
] Was p4ONtu up III Aut 4lilt Ol tue NiClOUts anu
the track over which it passed to the width Of
nearly quarter of a mile looks as though it had
been upheayed by a terrible volcanic eruption
II had hardly begun its terrible work before it
/ was finished, and the scene that greeted the
eyes of those who had escaped its fury, was one
that caused the stoutest heart 10 shudder. The
I cries and shrieks of the wounded rent the air,
| and the ground was strewn with the bodies of
the dead, among whom were stalwart men, weak
women and weaker children. The citizens al
most TO a man rushed to the demolished district,
and summoning physicians began their work Of
rescuing those who were still living, from be-
| meath the piles of dirt and fallen buildings
Brainerd was promptly telegraphed for medical
help, and she promptly responded by sending a
dozen physicians and surgeons by a special train
but it was late in the evening when they arrived
on the scene. st. Pau and Minneapolis were
also appealed TO, and special car was sent out
with twenty-three surgeons and physicians for
the scene OF disaster.
The scene on the streets after dark was an i'm
pressive one. Knots of men stood on corners
discussing the features OF the disaster and
speaking touchngy Of their friends and ac-
quantances, who had either been killed or terri
bly, wounded. On the ground the scene was a
CHASTITY one. Rain poured down in torrents, and
hundreds OF men wandered over the ground,
many OF them carrying lanterns searching for
bodies among the ruins. Hotel Hobbies were filled
with excited citizens, many OF whom yet sus-
pected that some portion of their family or their
friends had fallen victims to the terrible mon
ster. Women seemingly unconscious OF the rain
that was falling and converting cutters into tur-
ibid streams glided through the streets sobbing
and moaning in their fright The scene defes
description. In the track Of the cyclone
stood the Manitoba freight house, and cars
filed with freight. Down on them the whirl-
wind bounced, and, grasping the heavy cars,
lifted them from the tracks and cast them in
shapeless masses. Iron rails were torn from the
ties and twisted like the smallest wires. TEL
egraph poles were torn up and wires twisted in
10 curious masses. The freight house was to-
tally wrecked. The roof was lifted and blown
several hundred feet. The sides next sue
cumbed and over $4,000 worth Of freight was
whired through the air and thrown into heaps
and scattered by piecemeal over an area of a
quarter of a mile: Fifteen freight cars were de-
molished. Operators in the telegraph office and
employees at the freight depot saw the cyclone
coming and fled to the cellars and thus escaped.
II was $3.50 in the evening when the special
car arrived from s.. Paul and Minneapolis,
bringing Drs. j. II. Murphy. W. W. Day, Ritchie
Abbott and Denslow OF st. Paul. and II. C. Ives
/ of the Manitoba road and Lieut.. Gov Gil
man and ex-senator Mcdonald, from this city,
! who were in st. Paul when they learned of the
calamity. The train was drawn by engine $780,
uuder Engineer olafson and in charge of Con-
duetor Dyson, and the run made in two
hours through terrible thunder storm, and the
night was so black that during most of the way
the engineer was unable to descry objects on
the track five feet ahead of the engine. At
Minneapolis Mayor Ames, accompanied by
eighteen city physicians, boarded the train, also
members of the police and detective forces.
Mr.. Gilman was laboring under terrible appre
hension that his family had suffered, his
dwelling stood almost in the direct line the
storm, as it was reported to have moved hythe
specials sent to st. Paul, but he learned upon
arriving here that his property had escaped u,
touched, and he Immediately turned b 3
sttentiOn to the aiding the sufe
At 9:2O all the bodies that could be found
I were taken from tue RUNS ana cared Tor. Inc
dead were taken to the Little Giant engine
house and stretched out on the floor, while the
wounded were sent TO st. Benedict hospital,
where they we're promptly cared for by the
| corps Of physicians and nurses, among whom
were several ladies who had volunteered
/ their services. There were twenty-eight
wounded stretched out on cots in the various
wards, aud every facility Of the hospital was
tested to its utmost to Gil the requirement.
The scene in the hospital was heart-rending.
Men. women and children lay in broken
shapes, bathed in their own blood,
their faces blackened and grmy
and their arms and legs broken and their scalps
torn and their bodies lAcersted. The scene at
the engine house was more horrible. Eighteen
lifekess bodies were stretched the floor in two
rows, draped in sheets and blankets, while
around and among them moved men with Ian
I terms. uncsvering faces and trying to recognize
ir the distorted features some familiar outline in
which they might trace relationship. The bodies
presented terrible spectacle. The clothes they
had worn were torn into shreds, their faces were
black with dust, and gravel was ground into the
checks, while the scalps were torn, and blood
flowed from gaping wounds and covered the
floor. Skulls were crushed, eyes torn from their
sockets. and tongues protruded from between
Inns that we've rrnelTv rut and uutilat-