Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-02-24
ILLINOIS CYCLONE.
The Business Portion Of The Town
PIOughed Up--Thrse-S Story Bricks
Crushed Like Strawberries.
The Fiery Demon Breaks Out in d
Dozen Places and EGectuaIlY Com.
pIeEes the Work Of Destruction.
Thirty Six Victims Taken From the Ruins
Dsad-Many Others Seriously Iuj ored.
The AIoney LoEs Immense,
THIRTY SIX DEAD.

sent TO Mount er1On returned this morn
log sud reported thirty-six found dead u
to O'Clock this morning and grea
many more wounded. The Circuit cour
is leveled and the main business portion
and the churches are destroyed. Til,
fires are oil extihguished.
STORIES OF BYE WITNESSES.
ST. LOUIS, Mo-, Feb. 20.-H. S. Rear
don, conductor of the Louisville aaC
Nashville train, which WIS caught in tbs
cy clone at Mount Vernon last evening
an who h1d his shoulder dislocAted By
having big trunk hurled against him by
the wind, arrived here last night anc
gives the following brief account Of the
scene:
az was all over In 8 minute" said he
1.-THE thing that most impressed me was
the destruction Of the couuty courthouse,
a magnificent, three-sSoTy brick building
II looked to me as though the huge pile
OF brick and mortar had been struck
By gig ntic 1battering ram, or, II
you please by big club In the hands oil
power strong enough 10 knock it down
at single blow. 1t seemed to collapse
all st once, spread cut, crush ard bury
the buildings surrounding it.n
Marcus ASrons, drummer for Phil
sdelphia house, who was passenger on
the train, says: 81. WAS a terrible cslam-
itY. never Witnessed anything SO fr gat-
full IN my life. On reaching. Mount Yer
nonS station p1rtent Gus black cloud,
funnel-shzpsd, WIS seen over our heads.
Some people knew in moment what was
coming, ana began to Cry out words OF
warning. The cloud burs: In minute
after forming. 1t came with
THE ROAR AND CRASH
of migaty baLtle. Houses Of all de-
scriptions went down like wheat before
the fiil. Men, women and children ran
hither and thither, screaming and praying
in their peril and fright. The county
courthouse was utterly wrecked and q
three-story mil was blown across the
rack just behind us. Our train
was lying ia the track Of
the cyclone, and 1t was taken al
q flying rate down the track. The en-
gineer could not control the train, and,
fortunately for US, the brakes were not
on. Trees were uprooted and the cars
were lifted OF their wheels. The passage
of the cyclone must have occupied az
least two minutes. I think that fully ha
the town WAS totally wrecked, and to add
to the horror Of the wind many fires
broke out among the ruins. From the
train we could see smoke and flames ris-
log from dozsn different houses. Our
train did not wait long enough in town
for US to learn the accurate loss Of life
and property, but the devastation was
terrible. A strange thing was that three
minutes after the cyclone the sun was
soinirg brightly and serenely over the
scene OF desolation "
FURTHER PARTICULARS.
MOUNT VERNON, ILL, Foo 2O.-The
cyclone that visited this city yesterday
afternoon at O'Clock destroyed nearly
800 residences and places of business, and
unhoused from 1900 to 1900 people. In
the fall Of the wslIs many per
sons were buried under the debris
and thirty-hve killed, while twice
IS many more we're injured, eight or ten
so seriously that their recovery is des-
paired CT Preceding the destructive
wind was heavy fall Of rain for half an
hour which drove sll the inhG oitants to
shelter. This WAS followed By a slight
hail storW accompanied with lightning
and then furious blow which formed
into funnel shaped cloud. The Cyclone
struck the southwestern portion of the
city unroofiDg everything in it's path,
taking diagonal course through the bus
less portion Of town, unroofing and dts
the Supreme court building
ear the Louisville ana Nashville depot
and skip ping along the Methodist and
Baptist churches, cavipg them
INTO WORTHLESS E4ssKs.
At one point the destructive element
Jumped zpwsrG and missed several stores
1nd residences, but soon bounced down
.gsin aud oegan career Of unparalleled
eroctiy and destruction, tearing down
lesTE 6rack buildihge, wrencnisg and
frame structures cut of SEM
,lsoce End making uselees mass OF solid
Walls. Vne massive court house
hist occupies the publSe seaare IN the
.enter oi the city was literally tora 10
pieces, the walls beiog twisted 2nd crush 1
d. fRe tower was lifted snd dropped to |
be westward and demolish,d the hand |
ONE pillars that supported the entrance. !
This was the extreme points TO the north |
hat the storm reached, although the bus
uess block X which is the ssdt. Vernon /
,4tlenal Bark and other business houses
we're GENE What dismentled by flying
rick and tinsers. Fifty yards south OF
he Court house the storm seemed to be
I its height. Ga the c1rner of Washing. |
on street and the public square was the
'reIs block, three story brick building
ighty feet front occupied BY Evans Bank
) grocery and saloon. This building
WAS THOROUGHLY DENoLIsHED.
nd taen taking IRE all th4 inhlmmsbls
lateral was consumed The owner OF
lie building, P @. Moray, wss caught
the falling walls ana was ers mated.
Ed Hannah, wife and small boy were In
Re bzsementt having taken refuge from
lie storm anu were buried oy the walls.
az the man 5arroHs his way GU. OF the
liEs making d passage for his
lie and child, and then mace
, effort to exIioguisa the flames. The
re w8s intensely hot &nd ct noon to-day
e bricks gave of the heat Of G furnsce. I
cross the street on Washington street
IS row of two story frame and brick i
ildiDgs. The brick buildings were
we'd in and The frames crushed out of /
ape against each other. Near the cor
7 to the south were lot of groceries /
d frame structures which served as
srehouses and dwellings. The storm |
ayed havoc here and then turned the
aced over 20 the blezs, which consumed I
/. last plank. These fires and crushed q
lex buildings leave path which give
good d
VIEW OF TEE DESTRUCTION.
Stores, dwellings, mills and storehouses
nj down in the general mass and left 0