Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-02-22
4 FEARFUL CYCLONE.


At 4.45 P. M, last Sunday, a cyclone
struck the town of Mt. Vernon, Illinois,
sweeping around from the northwest in a
semi-circle, and leyeling half the town.
twenty-five persons are known to be
killed, and in the long list of wounded, at
least twenty are fatally injured. The
storm swept with fearful fury, and fire i'm
mediately broke out all over the city amid
the ruins, spreading rapidly, owing to the
damage done to the fire engines by the
wind. A dispatch of Sunday night, des-
cribing the situation says:
The sky has cleared and no clouds give
any %intirnation of the disastrous storm OF
a few hours ago. 1t is growing colder and
many homeless people will suffer if the
weather becomes severe. Reports are
coming in from the country, and the storm
seems to have swept everything for miles.
Incalculable loss of life and great suffering
will follow unless outside assistance is Civ
en- Mayor G. H Harnell, who will give it
to the proper committee. A meeting OF
business men was held and committees APP
pointed to care for the dead and wounded,
and protect property as much as possible.
Many are walking the streets with no
home to 60 to. ,
The dead and dying are scattered
throughout the city. All the doors of the
remaining houses have been thrown open
to the less fortunate. Three-fourths of the
business portion of the city is ruined finan-
cially. The public square is in the centre
of the town the court house is in the cen
tire of the square; the school building is
in the northeast part Of the city, and all
the dwellings in that portion of the city
are destroyed and the ruins of some are
still burning. In all, five hundred build
ings are destroyed and many others in
iured. The dead are now being gathered
at the Supreme Court House, which has
been converted into a hospital TOR the
dead and wounded. This building is also
damaged, but not seriously. Latest re-
ports show tWenty-nine dead and about
one hundred injured, some of whom will
die before morning. The storm was pre-
coded by hail, but not more than five
minutes elapsed until the fearful destroyer
| had swept over the doomed town. Build
ings were wrenched and twisted and then
dashed into pieces, total wrecks. The
storm passed a little south of the City
Hall, missed Joe Chances house, swept
away the third and fourth stories of the
Mount Vernon mill and leveled nearly
every house from the mill north, a space
of about 500 yards. The Commercial no.
tel lost the third story. The entire west
side of the space was wrecked.
The south portion of Mount Vernon is
the newest part of the city and has many
large and fine buildings. The court house
has not been injured, but it stands alone.
All around it is ruin and desolation, and
it is now being used as a hospital for the
wounded. Many are suffering greatly.
1t is now thought that the northern por-
ton of the town will escape the fire, which
is confined to the east and south and west
sides, and being fought mantully.
A pathetic incident of the disaster is the
fact that the operator at Mount Vernon, OF
the Louisville and Nashville wire, whose
name is Yearwood, has an uncle, aunt and
cousin dead in the ruins, and the poor fel-
low, with heart bursting with grief, is sit
ting manfully at his post of duty. -Four
men in the Evans bank were imprisoned
in the ruins of the building and burned to
death. Their cries of pain and distress
were agonizing in the extreme, but moth.
ing could reach them. Their names could
not be obtained.
LATER.
A dispatch of Monday says the cyclone
destroyed nearly three hundred residences
and places of business, and %unhoused
twelve to fifteen hundred people. In the
fall of walls, many persons were buried in
the debris, and IS were killed, while twice
as many more were injured, eight or ten
so seriously that their recovery is despair
ed of.
Preceding the destructive winds was a
heavy fall Of rain for half an hour, which
drove all inha Infants TO shelter. This wa
followed by a slight hail storm, accompa'
MED with lightning, and then the furious
blow, which formed into a funnel-shaped