The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-02-21
In THE WINDS WAKE.
Results of the Mount Vernon
Cyclone.
DEATH AND DESTRUCTION
Scenes of Devastation In the Swath of
the Terrible Cyclone-Gsn-
eral News Notes.
The Terrible cyclone

The Terrible cyclone.
MOUNT VEREoN, February 29.-The
following circular was issued this morn
ing. and is now being sent through the
mails:
MOUNT VERNON, Ill February co.
To Mayors aad Citizens:
The city of Mount Vernon, Illinois.
was visited by terrible cyclone on
yesterday afternoon, which carried
death and destruction in its path.
About thirty people were killed out
right. and scores of men, women and
children were manned, wounded and
bleeding, and about 1000 people e
made homeless by the disaster. Some
of these houses are swept almost from
the face of the earth. among which are
the county court house, the public
school building, the Methodist and
Baptist churches, the supreme court
house, the roupdhouse of the Louisville
and Nashville Railroad, and many
of the leading business houses, are
also total wrecks. their contents b.
ing buried beneath tbs debris. A
raging fire which broke out
also destroyed much Of the property
| which might otherwise have been saved
from ruin. We are soreiy in distress,
and are forced to call upon the char
liable CT the country for money and
such other timtly assistance as they
may feel able to contribute. Money is
needed more than provisions, as there
are few business houses that may be
aoIe to supply the demand. Send cash
contributions if possible to &c re w.
Evans, chairman OF the finance com
| mlttee. t.
(Signed) NORMAN H. Moss, Sec'y.
Alighting at the Louisville & Nash
vile Railroad depot, attention Is first
| directed to the two-Story Supreme
Court building. few yards from the
| depot, without dome or roof, but shreds
of lin hanging from its sides, making a
pivot around which the storm seemt d
| to swing All else in this direction is
untouched. A few steps eastward, along
| the railroad, discloSes to the southeast
an appalling sight of devastation. 1t
| is in this direction that the iaboriOg
classes have built their little one-story
here it was the cloud first
dropped down in whirling fury.
| II twisted immense oaks from
| the ground, and mashed the homes f1aG
then, gathering the clinging pieces,
strewd them along the path. tear
| ing down fences End wiping
out the landmarks. How many
| houses were here destroyed is not
known, for nothing is left in many
places to mark the lot. Fifteen
foundations still remain. In six acres
are standing in the path of the storm,
| ond fhnan oil wrQ0RpH I'm tho
right and left of the path the debris
plunged like a catapult into the homes
of the more fortunate. Looking north
eastward, across the railroad, the ruin
seems more terrible. There the build
ings were larger, heavier and more
compact, and were swept for go yards,
a clean sweth tearing down fences and
trees, piiing up the debris on either side
and leaving the naked fence posts and
foundation walls to mark the spots of
the residences. There still remain
on either side of the path dis
mantled frame houses, half buried
with other roofs. To the southeast
ands the monumental luins of the
three story brick -four mill, the walls
stripped down and the machinery ex-
posed. On the north, partially sur
| rounded by uninjured houses. is the
crushed Baptist Church and the large
brick Commercial Hotel, unroofed and
partly torn down. six hundred yards
farther on, in the course of the storm,
brings on to the postoffice corner, and
IN front stands the shattered court
house, with the dome thrown down
over the entry, the walls cracked and
partially tumbled down, and in the Su-
preme Court yard lie the tin and tim
Ger and roofs of the adjacent buildings.
In front of the postottice, across Bun
! ton Street, brick building was RACED to
! the ground, and nearly all to the south
and east Jared likewise; but Uncle
Sans quarters were untouched. The
streets are broad here but to-day they
are filed with the debris of the business
houses Of Bunton and Washington
streets, along the eastern side of
of which not one house remains stand
ing or even partially preserved.
Along N ashington Street, just back
of the court house it was hard t tell
where one building began and the other
| left off. Floors, roofs. sides of buildings
AID partitions were shuffled up in con-
fusion, and crashed against the few
| brick walls that still renamed standing.
Everything along here was a dead loss,
not even protection OF fire insurance
being available.
| Bunton Street, east of Washington,
was completely blocKe by the walls of
Stratton and Johnson's fallen block,
from the rear of which the destruction
of the large warehouses and handsome
residences is much like an abandoned
lumber yard and rubbish lot.
An able corps of physicians that re-
sponded to the first call, was quickly
orgarized. and all day long have moved
from place to place..
A complete list of the dead and
wounded has not yet been compiled.
The property loss will aggregate nearly
$500. 900. and falls heavily upon the
thriving community
An efficient corps of physicians and
surgeons are on the ground rendering
all the assistance possible. Cash dopa-
tons to the amount of 81 eco have been
received this evening and promises Tor
much more. None of the buildings
n q 90 insurance against storms and the !