Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-02-20

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Court House Square is injured
considerably. No buildings are
wrecked except Howard & Stratton's.
The wounded are being cared for by
the physicians In the best possible
manner. The railroad shops are badly
damaged and number Of houses de-
stroyed.
SORRY SCENES.
The dead and dying are scattered
throughout the city. All the doors of
the remaining honses have been
thrown open to the less fortunate.
Three-quarters of the business portion
of the city is ruined. The public
square is in the center Of the
town, and the courthouse is in the
center of the square. The schoolhouse
building is in the northeast corner. All
the dwellings in that portion of the
city are destroyed and the ruins of
some are still burning. In all 500
buildings are destroyed and many
others injured. The dead are now be-
ing gathered at the Supreme Court
House, which has been converted into
hospital for the dead and wounded.
This building is also damaged, but not
seriously.
TIR LATEST REPORT
Shows that 29 are dead and about 100
injured, some of whom will die before
morning Later rep rts say that two
more have died. They are Eddie
Maxey and Mrs. Col. Cooper. A
number of the wounded are
dying. A number of men struck
by falling timbers. and whose
names cannot be learned at present
are reported badly injured and dying.
The storm was preceded by hail, but
not more than few minutes elapsed
until the fearful destroyer had swept
over the doomed town. 1t came
from the southwest. Buildings were
wrenched and twisted and then dashed
to pieces in total wrecks. The storm
passed south Of the City Hall. Joe
Caney's was swept away, also the
third and fourth stories of the Mt.
Vernon mill. 1t destroyed nearly
every house from the mill north for a
space OF about 500 yards. The Com
mercial lost its third story. The entire
west side of the square was wrecked
The County Court House was struck
and the building reduced to a mas
sive pile of ruins. The clerks have
worked into the records and they are
saved. Henry Ellis was covered
by the brick Of this building, and
escaped by miracle. re was
covered up and Charles Ellis, his
brother, was seriously injured. r. E.
u Qxyov ,a6 in a nj,
credible. He was standing by MUIR
ray, on Crews blork, and told him to,
run, but Murray renamed and was
killed. Ryan ran west, and find
ing the street full of flying tim bers,
jumped into doorway and held to
the latch, and the building against
which he was standing fell around him,
but he escaped untouched. A. B.
Cox's store, g. w. Morgan's
|jewelry store, Maxey, West 4
Swift's store, and Jackson's
saddelry store are all in ruins,
and on the south side Of the square
frame buildings although injured, e.
caped destruction The South portion
of Mt. Vernon is the newest part of
the city, and has many large and fine
buildings. The court house has not been
injured but stands alone. All about
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
portion of the town will escape the
fire which is confined to tn. cast and
southwest sides and is being fought
manfully.
A PATHETIC INCIDENT
OF the disaster ia the fact that the
operator at the Mount Vernon end of
the Louisville and Nashville road,
whose name is Year wood, has All
uncle and cousin dead in the ruins,
and the poor fellow. with heart hurst
ing with grief, is sitting manfullv at
his post of duty. Four men
in the Evans bank were imprisoned
in the ruins and burned t.
death. Their cries CT pain and distress
were agonizing in the extreme, but
nothing could reach them. Their
names could not re OBJ b'ained. Twenty
one physicians joined The relief train
from Evansville enroute. They ar
rived shortly before midnight.
Hassman's bakery, the Baptist
Church, Cooks dug store, Marion's
saloon, Perry's hotel and Stratton &
Johnson's brick store were
leveled to the ground. The
entire east side of the square
is destroyed, and in one of the build
ings John Walters and child lost
their lives, as did Henry Walters, the
father of John. Mrs. Walters was
found with her babe in her arms,
both dead. Howard Bros grocery
was blown down, and the
roof and second story of r.
L. Stratton & Co.'s hardware
store blown away while the frame ho-
tel adjoining was unframed. Across
toward the northeast portion of the
city swept the storm and number of
people were killed and the school
building blown down.
MORE UNFoRrUNATEs.
The following additional dead
bodies have been found: Mrs. Col.
Cooper, Eddy Matly, s. j. Waters,
Geo. Pierce, Mrs. L. F. Legge and
two telegraph operators. Among
the wounded are Mr.. and
Mrs. Gordon. It is growing
colder and many helpless people will
suffer If the weather becomes severe.
Reports are coming in from the coun-
try, and the storm seems to have
swept everything for miles.
Mono of oil thasa promipopt Do,no.