The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-03-07
A CYCLONES FURY.
Mount Vernon, Ill.,, a Mass of
Burning Ruins.
Many People Killed and Over a
Hundred Wounded.


Mount Vernon, I'LL, town of about 3,O0o
inhabitants, located sixty miles east OF St
Louis, was visited by terrible tornado at
AS P. NJ. Sunday afternoon. A dispatch
says:
1t had been laundering and raining for
some time, when suddenly low rumbling
noise was heard and black dense cloud that
seemed to touch the earth swept over the
the city, and it became very dark.
As soon as the cloud passed the
sky frightened and people realized
the shock and loss they had sustained. Hun
dreds Of houses were blown down, and many
people were crushed in the RUNS; AT leaSe
half of the town is in ruins. The south
and east paris of the square are COM
pletely destroyed. The large buildings
known as the Crows block, ownel by j. Z:
Murray, was entirely demolished and caught
fire in q short time, and is now burning. The
Methodist Episcopal Church is almost mass
of ruins The roof is entirely gone while the
lower part is badly damaged. The Baptist
Church is also wreck and beyond all hope
Of repair. The east end Of the public school, 1f,e
house is sad sight. The once fine building
is now razed to the ground, and heap or
bricks and stones are all that remains to
tell the story. Hundreds of houses
are heaps of ruins. and the city
in the tornado visited district presents
a scene Of the most horrible devastation and
ruin. The town is about two miles long, east
and west, and the course Of the tornado TOOK
In about two-thirds Of the east end, the
western portion Of the town escaping. Out OF
a row of buildings about 200 yards long
there is none that is not more or less IN
iured, while most of them are entirely
burned, or will be- for the fire is raging now
in that street, and unless help soon arrives
the buildings will lie doomed. These are al
business houses, and the goods are entirely
destroyed. The east side OF the, the square
pearance, for there nothing is left.
That side Of the square was also occupied by
business houses, and nothing is saved, not
single building being left on the row. The
north side is badly damaged, but tn, wreck
here is very light compared to that on
the east and south sides. The damage
to the business part OF the town
is so great that it is completely ruined. Inc
town looks as though an earthquake had VS.
tied it. The County Court House is one of the
most complete wrecks. 1t is two-story build
Ing and stood in the centre Of the square, but
being directly in the path Of the tornado Is
now utterly demolished. There IS no alarm
felt in regard to the records as they are easily
accessible, and unless fire should spring
up in the ruins, they are perlectly saIe;
Twenty-nne deaths and over one hundred
wounded are reported. Many more deaths
are probable, but owing to the confusion an
accurate list cannot be given. The debris IS
burning and under it lie men, women and
children, some dead, others injured, and the
flames are fast creeping up on them
Children whom mothers are power.eeS to
aid are in the ruins. The shrieks Of women,
the eroans of the injured, the pleadings Of
the air with the wailings of this terrible
calamity. Following is a partial list Of dead
and injured:
child, Mr.. Cummings Miss Martha West
brook, Mrs. r. Duvey. John Year
wood and wife, Mrs: Holcomb,
D. F. Yearwood and wife, Samuel Year
wood and wife, j. G. Murray, George Ppr.
cell, Mrs, VIM. Jones and child, John
Dobson, Mrs. l.. E. Egg, Miss Josie Sutton,
John Shew; blacksmith, name unknown; two
telegraph OPERATORS. james Pearson. In,
iured: Mrs. Henry Waters, Steve May and
brother, Chas. Ellis and Henry Ellis,
Mrs. Laura Seisenby, Mr.. j. G. Hambrick,
Miss Corinne Hamhrick, Mrs. Albright,
Mr.. Silicrap. Lizzie Bennet, Charles Wehr,
Amanda Berdon, Mr.. and Mrs. {; Calvin.
cannot live and others on this list will die:
There will be at least thirty-ive deaths and
the list of injured will probably reach two
hundred. =,
Everything that can I've done for the
wounded is being done, and the hundreds who
are rendered homeless are being looked after:
Many families are likely to be destitute OF
food and clothing, as they have lost all they
possessed in this misfortune.
YpTotlU
and sent men and fire engines to the scene,
but the fire is now under control, and no
further trouble is expected. The
city is we'll guarded by beth %sa
scene in the stricken city at midnight
was peculiarly distressing. Through the
great heaps Of ruins, men, women and boys
were struggling in their efforts to reach those
imprisoned beneath timber and bricks. Cries
came from every pile of debris. In
some of the streets where the great
clouds swept with resistless force,
the dead lay in the warm rain which
mingled with their blood Above the scene
of desolation the sky was red from the con-
fiagration, and the wind, which was blowing
from the south, was laden with blazing
brands Such a picture appalled, the stout
est heart
For hours the survivors thought Of nothing
but themselves. With flames roaring behind
and upon all sidss Of them, there was no alter
native but to fee over the bodies of the dead
and the wounded and the mass OF ruins which
pinned them to earth. For an hour it looked as
though the victims of the blaze would be
burned where they lay. As the night wore on
the survivors became braver and plunged
into the ruins of the east end, where many
hapIess creatures lay groaning and praying.
Torches, lanterns. and lamps flikered over
the desolate tract as far as the eye could
reach. Men and women who had not yet
removed their Sunday raiment worked nobly
in the falling rain and wreckage.
There was no means of identifying many OF
the dead and wounded. All were so horribly
crushed and thckly distributed that some Of
the hysterical searchers bore their own dead
without being able to distinguish their
CHASTITY burden. In some places the east end
blocks of houses were blown down as though
they had been made of cards.
1t was in this district that the most dis
tressing scenes were witnessed. Whole
families were buried under their roofs with
out warning, save that given by the storm
cloud as it bounded over the earth like an
immense rubber ball The slaughter here
was appalling.
Some place the loss of life as high as forty.
The wounded lay in the remnants of over
hundred houses, and every few moments a
dead body, battered out of all semblance to
humanity, was tenderly dragged from it,
prison and borne to place of safety.