The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1888-02-24
nEsoLAIloN I%NcARNATE.
MT. vernon, Illinois, Destroyed by a Cy'
oI~one.---Forty Killed.

tANs
cIone.---Forty Killed.
Mr. VERSoN, Feb. 20.-The following
circular was issued this morning and is
now being sent through the mails:
This city was visited by a terrible cy-
CLIQUE Yesterday afternoon which carried
death and destruction in its path. About
forty people were killed outright and
gcores Of men. women and children are
MANNED. wounded and bleeding, and
about 1000 people are made homeless by
tho disaster, Some 300 houses are swept
almost from the face Of the earth, among
which are the county court house, public
school building, Methodist and Baptist
churches. supreme court house, round
house of the Louisville & Nashville rail
road, and many Of the leading business
houses are also a total wreck, their con
tents being buried beneath the debris. A
raging fire, which broke out also, de
stroyed much Of the property which
might otherwise have been saved from the
ruins. We are sorely in distress and are
forced TO call upon the charitable people
of the country for money and such Otheg
timely assistance as they may feel able to
contribute. Money is needed than
provisions. as there are a few bushes,
houses that may be able to supply the de,
mahd. Send cash contributions if posi-
blet to Geo. W. Evans, chairman finance
committee, or Norman N. Moss, secretary
r. THE WORK OF THE WINDS.
The morning trains brought a host of
excursionists who came to see, to render
az and &c comfort stricken friends,
Nearly a thousand strangers are here and
the town is full of reporters. Artists
are on the scene s~ketching the ruins
and the pencil in a hundred hands is jOt-
ting down fscts and stories from a thou
sand mouths. The telegraph operators
have been industriously at work all night
and today, their force at this place having
been reduced by the death of two of their
number in the destroyed city. Mt. Yer
non is a beautiful city of 1000 inhabitants,
the county seat of jefferson county. 1t is
considered one of the most thriving ana
beautiful Of southern Illinois cities. It's
streets are broad and well lined with shade
trees, and the residences are trim and
homelike. It is situated on the Louisville
Il Nashville, about s~eyenty-eight miles
from 81. Louis. The surrounding country
IS rolling. Cyclones or heavy storms have
never before visited this region and ii was
considered safe fror1 such destructive Wis
i~tations. Alighting at the l.. 81 N. rail
way depot the storm seekers attention is
first directed to the two story supreme
court building a fewgards from the depot
without dome or roof but shreads Of tin
hanging from is side, marking a point
around which
THE TORN SEEMED TO SWING.
All else in this direction is untouched. A
few steps further along disclosed TO the
eye an appalling sight Of devastation. 1t
Is in this direction the laboring classes
have built their little one. story cottages
as4seas the timber. and here il was that
the cloud first dropped down andin whirl-
ing twisted immense oaks from the ground
and mashed the homes fiat; then gathering
the clinging pieces scattered them along
It's path, tearing down trees and wiping
out land marks, Scarcely can the direc
ton Of the streets be traced for in this
poorer quarter grading had not been at
tempted. How many houses were here
destroyed Is not known, for nothing is left
to mark the spot. Fifteen foundations
SSH remain on six acres, formerly well
built up. But three houses are standing
III tie path 81 the storm and these are
wrecked. On the right and left of the
path the debris plunged like eatapults
into houses more fortunate, Looking
northeastward, across the railroad, il APP
pears more terrible because the buildings
were larger, heavier and more compact,
anu the wave swept for six yards d clean
swath, tearing down fences and trees,
piling up the debris on either side and
leaving the naked fence posts and founda-
ton walls to mark the spOrsof residences.
There still remain on either side Of the
path dismantled frame houses, half buried
with other roofs. To the southeast
STANDS THE M0-sMESrAL Ruins
q 9 three-stury brick -four min. Tie
walls are stripped down and the machin-
cry e exposed and on the north partially
~surToundedby nninjured houses. The
crushed Baptist church and the large
brick Commercial hotel are unroofed and
partially torn down. Six hundred
yards further on III the course
.at the storm, brings you
~ the pgst0iice corner and Ia frant stands
TIRE shattered court house with dome
thrown down over the entrance. the walls
cracked and partially tgmbled down, and
~ the supreme court yard lie the tin and
timber and roofs ossadjacent buildings In
front Of the p0stoflice. across Bpnton
street, 2 brick building was RACED to the
ground and nearly all 10 the south and
taied likewise, but Eneie sam quar-
ters were scarcely ianched. The streets
helEe are brpai, but today are flied With
me denris'of the business houses Of Bun
ION aud Washington streets, along the
eastern side Of which not ono house re-
mains standing or even partially preserved,
Unable u thoroughly tear asunder tho
fraEna work OF buildings, they were
mashed and twisted into useless masse&
hoofs We're carried away and front and
rear shocked 0ufl Several brick blocks
% three stories gave an air Of Stability to
fhe streets, but the cyclone ground the
wallsto y level and THE furnaces set fire
Ia the tt1n3uort