Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-02-20
Cooper. A number of the wounded are

cooper a numDer OF the wounded are
dying.
A number of men struck by falling timb-
ers, and whose names cannot be learned at
present, are reported badly injured and
dying.
The storm was preceded by hail, but not
more than five 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, a total wreck.
The storm south of the City Hall missed
Joe Chaneey's house, but swept away the
third and fourth stories of the Mount
Vernon Mill, and destroyed nearly every
house from the mill north for space of
about 800 yards wide
The Commercial Hotel lost its third
story. The entire west side of the square
was wrecked. The County Courthouse
was struck and the building reduced to
massive pile of ruins. The clerks have
worked into the records, and they are
saved.
MIRACULOUS ESCAPE.
Henry Ellis was covered by the bricks of
this building, but escaped by a miracle.
He was covered up, and Charles Ellis, his
brother, was seriously injured.
r. E. Ryan escaped in manner almost
incredible. He was standing by Murray.
in Crews block, and told him to run, but
Murray remained and was killed. RYAN
ran west, and finding the street full of fiy-
ing timbers, jumped into a doorway and
held to the latch. The building against
which he was standing fell around him,
but he escaped untouched.
A. b. Cox's store, J. B. Morgans lewelry
store, Maxey, Vests and Swifts stores and
Jackson's saddlery store are all in ruins.
The Baptist Church, Cooks drug store,
Marrior's saloon, Perrys hotel and Stratton
d Johnson's brick store were leyelled with
the ground.
The entire east side of the square is de-
stroyed, and in one of the buildings John
Walters and child lost their lives, as did
Henry Walters, father of John. Mrs.
Walters was found with her babe in her
arms, both dead.
On the northeast corner of the square,
Howard Bros grocery was blown down,
and the roof and second story of R. L.
Stratton & Co.'S hardware store blown
away, while frame hotel adjoining was
unharmed. Across towards the northeast
portion of the city swept the storm, and a
number .of people were killed and the
school building blown down.
Not less than $5O0OOO worth of property
has been destroyed by the cyclone and fire.
The south portion of Mount Vernon is
the newest part of the city, and has many
large and fine buildings. 1t is now thought
| the northern portion of the town will es-
| cape the fire, which is confined to the east
and south and west sides, and is being
| fought manfully.
PATHETIC INCIDENT
OF the disaster is the fact that the operator
| at the Mount Vernon end of the Louisville
and Nashville Railroad, whose name is
1earwood, has an uncle and cousin dead
| in the ruins, and the poor fellow, with his
| heart bursting with grief. is sitting man.
fully at his post of duty.
FOUR MEN BURNED ALIVE.
-Four men in the Evans Bank were i'm
prisoned in their rooms and burned to
death. Their cries of pain and distress
were agonizing in the extreme, but nobody
could reach them. Their names could not
be obtained. Twenty-one physicians joined
the relief train from Evansville while en-
route, and they arrived shortly before mid
night.
MoURNFUL SCENE.
EVANSVILLE, February 20th.-A. M.-At
l A. NJ. the fires are under control. Only
the occasional groans of the dying and the
broad track made by the cyclone, tell of
the terrible catastrophe.