Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-02-21
THE CYCLONE.
THB NUMBER OF KILLED PUT AT THIRTY
FIVE.
Several Times That Number Wounded, Eight or Ten
Of Them Fahlly-Scanss Along the Path
Of he Terrible StOrn-fhs Lass
Half z Million.

Nashville train which was caught in the
cyclone at Mt. Vernon, Ill, last evening
and who had his shoulder disloested by
having big trunk hurled against him by
the wind, arrived here last night and
gives the following brief story of the
scene:
at was all over in 8 minute" said he.
''The thing that most impressed me was
the destruction Of the county Court House,
a magnificent three-story brick building.
The Court House stood in prominent
place and could easily be seen almost from
the tower to the ground. 1t looked to me
as though the huge pile of brick and NOR
tar had been struck by agigantic battering
ram, or, if you please, by a big club in the
hands of power strong enough to knock
it down at a single blow. II seemed to
collapse all at once, spread out crush,
and bury the buildings surrounding it.
Marcus Aarons, drummer for Phila-
delphia house, who was passenger on the
train, says:
at was terrible calamity. never
witnessed anything 20 frightful in my
life. On reaching the Mt. Vernon station
10 began to thunder and lightning. Pres
| emily it began to rain and hail, driving
every one to shelter. Just about this
time
A PORTESTIOUS BLACK CLOUD,
funnel shaped, was seen over our heads.
Some of the people knew in a moment
what was coming, aud began to cry out
words of warning. The cloud burst in a
minute after forming. 1t came with the
roar and crash of a mighty battle.
| Houses of all descriptions went down
like " hcat before the fail. Men,
women and children ran hither
and thither, screaming and praying in
their peril and freight. The county
Court House was utterly wrecked and Il
three-stoIy mill was blown across the
track lust behind Us. Our train Was lying
| in the tracl of the cyclone, and il was
| taken at a flying n down the track. The
engineer could not control the train and
| fortunately tor Us the brakes were not on,
Trees were uprooted and cars lifted clear
off their wheels. The passage of the
cyclone must have occupied at least two
minutes. ! think that fully half the town
was totally wrecked, and TO add to the
horror of the wind, many fires broke out
among the ruins and from the train We
could see the smoke aud flames rising from
| a dozen different houses. Our train did
not wait long enough in the town for us 10
| learn the accurate loss OF life and property,
but the devestation was terrible. A strange
thing was that three minutes after the
cyclone the sun was shining brightly and
serenely on
THE SCENE or DESOLATION."
J. W. Wallace, agent of the Southern
Express, at Shelbyyille, Tenn, also saw
scribed it thus:
~ beheld q fearful black cloud coming
| from the northwest 1t was in the shape
of Il large inverted cone, and it could plaioly
be seen to be revolving around an imagin-
ary AK IS and at the same time to be bOuDc-
| ing up and down through the air with won
derful and frightfGl speed. 1t grew denser,
and the blackness assumed fieTcCness that
was appalling. The wind in Our immedi-
ate vicinity was now blowing with an al
most incredible velocity, causing the
standing coaches to rock aud sway
Oh their trucks like a cradle.
Men and women on the streets
were blown to the ground. IN
moment the whirhpg cloud arrived at
the town, and it could be seen dipping
down here and there and tearing of house
roofs, and then, rising higher into the air
again, like a swaying balloon, it would
float along with lightning-like rapidity,
but soon
SwOOP DOWN AGAIN
upon the defenseleSS little town in another
spot, raising the houses and trees, licking
the sides of the buildings and tearing great
holes in them, and leaving devastation
along every part of its course. As The
cloud would dip down a2d rise again 1t
would carry trees upward into the air and
throw them to the ground with mighty
force a hundred yards away. Parts Of
house roofs, trees, boards, bricks, with all
kinds of debris, were flying through the
air at fearful rate and LETT
piled in incongruOus heaps along
the track of the cloud. The passengers or
our train were frightened and veritable
panic ensued. WoHen screamed from
fright and rushed into the arms OF their
husbands and escorts for protection. The
cloud dipped down ON the north side OF the
train and demolished house, but Just be-
fore it arrived at our position it arose and
passed over rs with magical swiltness and
dropped down on the earth to the south OF
the train, where it completely destroyed
another building, and passed on in the town
in it's work of destruction. Thus you can
see that our train had miraculous escape. "
The Storm In kentucky.
LOUISVILLE, February 20 special TO
the EreHing Times, from Nortonville, Ky,
states that the cyclone did little damage
there. At New Haven, KY, however, it
blew down the Bardstown and Green
River Turnpike Bridge, the original cost
Of which was over ST, 600.
From the Ruined Town.
Mt. VERNON, III, February 20.-The
cyclone that visited this city yesterday
afternoon at fve O'Clock, destroyed nearly
three hundred residences and places of busi-
ness, and unhoused from twelve 70 fifteen
hundred people. 10 the fall OF the walls
many persons were buried under
the debris, and thirty-fve were
killed, while twice az many
more were injured, eight or ten so serious
ly that their recovery is despaired OF. Pre-
cediug the destructive wind was heavy
fall OF rain for half al hour, which drove all
the inhabitants to shelter. This was fol-
lowed by a slight hailstorm, accompanied
with lightning, and then the furious blow,
which formed into tie funnel-Shaped
cyclone, struck the southwestern portion OF
the city unroo6ug everything in lis path,
taking diagonal course through the busi'
ness part of the city, unroo6ng and dis
mantling the Supreme Court building, near
the Louisville and Nashville depot, and
skipping along to the Methodist and Bsp-
tist churches, eaving them into worthless
masses. What was left of the Supreme
Court building was turned into morgue.
The citizens, as soon as the injured had
been released from their perilous positions
and the wounded turned over to the care OF