Mexico weekly ledger., 1888-02-23

Mt. VERNON, ILL.,, Feb. 90
Alighting from the Louisville and
Nashville railroad depot the Wis
itor's attention is first directed to
the two story Supreme Court build
ing a few yards from the depot
without dome of roof, and shreds
of tin hanging from it's side, mark
ing a pivot around which the storm
seemed to swing. All else in this
direction was untouched. A few
steps eastward, along the railroad,
diseloses to the southwest an APP
palling sight of devastation. 1t
was in this direction that the labor
ing classes had built their little
one story cottages among the tim
Der, and here it was that the cloud
first dropped down, and in whirl-
ing fury twisted immense oaks
from the ground and wrecked the
homes, then gathering the. cIinging
pieces strewed them along a path
tearing down fences and wiping out
landmarks.
Looking northeast across the
railroad the ruin appears more ter
rible because the buildings were
larger, heavier and more compact,
and the wave that swept for 600
yards a clean swath, tearing down
fences and trees, piled up the de,
bris ON either side and left naked
fence posts and foundation walls to
mark the spots of residences. There
still remain on either side of the
| path dismantled frame houses hall
buried with other roofs To the
southeast stand the monumental
ruins of the three-story brick flour
mill, the walls leveled and the
machinery exposed, and on the
north, partially surrounded by I'M
injured houses, the crushed Bap-
fist Church and the large brick
Commercial Hotel, unroofed and
partly torn down. Six hundred
yards further on in the course Of
the storm the post-office corner is
reached, and in front stands the
shattered Court House with dome
thrown over the entrance and the
walls cracked partially tumbled
down. In the Supreme Court
yard lie the tin and timber and
roofs of adjacent buildings. In
front of the post-ofice, across Bun.
yam street, "a brick building was
RACED to the ground and nearly ali
to the south and east Jared like.
wise, but the mail quarters were
scarcely touched. The streets here
are broad, but to-day were filled
with the debris of the bushes:
houses of Bunyan and Washington
streets, along the eastern side
of which not one house re.
NAMED standing or even par
TALLY preserved. Unable tt
thoroughly tear asunder the frame
work of the buildings they were
twisted into useless masses, ths
roofs carried away and the fronts
and rears knocked out. Severa.
brick blocks of three stories CAV,
an air of substantially to tn.
streets. The cyclone ground tn,
walls to a level and the furnace!
set fire to the woodwork and DIES
troyed the last plank. The Evan.
bank on the corner exhibits aburn
ing pit, the safe cracked with tn,
heat. Under the ruins lie tn,
eharred remains OF j. Z. Murray
owner of the block.
There is not, however, to the eye
the desolation that Is presented b,
a row of mansions with the side
stripped off, the roofs carried ava,
and the upper floors let down upol
parlors below, yet supporting wha
shows plainly was a tidy chamber
but now strewn with rubbish, or /,
many places only q portico or step
and a foundation wall and celia
covered BY aswaying floor support
ing all that is left of once luxu
rious furniture.
{, The damage to property vii
reach nearly 81 ,o00, 600, while th
death list Is simply appalling