Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1888-02-25

the yells many persons were buried under
the debris, and thirty i've were killed While
twice q many moro were injured, eight or
zen 20 severely that recovery il dispaired Of.
rrece@ng the destructive wind was q
! heavy fan Of rain for half an hour. which
drove al tho inhabitants TO shelter. Thie
was followed BY slight hail storm, accom-
panied by lightning and then the furi-
GUS blow, which formed into q
funnel shaped cloud. The cyclone struck
the southern portion of the city,
1nroofing everything in its path, taking q
diagonal course through the city, unroofng
and dismantling the supreme court build
ing near the Louisville & Nashville DEPOT,
and skipping along to the Methodist and
bapnst churches, caving them into worthless
masses. Atone time the destructive element
jumped upward and missed several stores
and residences, but soon came down again
and began career of unparalleled ferocity
and destruction, tearing down heavy brick
buildings, wrenching and twisting frame
structures out of shape and making q
useless mass Of solid banks. The massive
court house that occupies the public
square in the center of the city was literally
torn to pieces, the walls being crushed. The
tower was lifted and dropped to the west
ward and demolished. The handsome pill
lars that supported the entrance was thrown
down. This was the extreme point to the
business block in which is the Mt. Vernon
National bank and other business houses
was somewhat hurt by flying brick and tim
bers.
Fifty yards south of the court house the
storm seemed to be at its height On the
corner of Washington street and the public
square was Crews block, a three story brick
building eighty feet front. occupied BY
nvpay h0n a~l< ~
building was thoroughly demolished; then
taking fire all infamable material was con-
sumed. The owner of the building, r. @.
hurry, was caught in the falling walls, and
was cremated. Edward Hanel, wife and
snail boy were in the basement, having
taken refuge from the storm, and were
buried by the walls, but the man burrowed
his way out of the ruins, making passage
for his wife and child, and then made an eff
fort to extinguish the flames. The fire was in
tensely hot and at noon to-day the bricks gave
the heat of a furnace. Across the street on
Washington street was row of two story
frame and brick buildings, aud the brick
buildings wore caved in and the frames were
crushed out of shape against eacn other.
Near the corner, to the south, were q lot of
groggeries and frame structures, which
served as warehouses and dwellings. The
storm play I'D havoc here and then turned
the place over to the flames, which con-
sumed the last plank. These fres and the
crushed brick buildings leave path which
give good view of the obstruction. Stores,
dwellings, mills and storehouses went down
in the general mass anc left the streets OBJ
structed.
ALL OVER IN THREE MINUTES.
The storm was all over in three minutes,
ond the brave people rushed out of their safe
retreats and unframed homes to give as
sistance to the needy. The flames shot up
with devil1sh enmity, and the fire COM
pany, aided by citizens who had organized
in squads, began the rescue which was car
ried out.
BACKING INTO THE CYCLONE.
w. A. Foster, of Fairchild, ILL.,, who is an
agent of the Louisville Air line, was a pas
senger on the train, and was standing on
the platform when the cyclone swept over
the town. 81 don't think it lasted over two
hailing during the afternoon, and by the
time we reached Mount Vernon it had
changed to rain. We had been at Mount
Vernon ten minutes, and the Louisville,
Evansville d st. Louis section was backing
down to couple on, when the cy-
clone came over from the northwest.
The train was backing right across
would have put us exactly in its track. As
il was, we had gone only far enough for it
TO get the rear coach. The track Of the cy-
clone, I think, was about 200 yards wide. It
hardly missed the depot and went on through
tho town, followed by the crash of falling
houses, the rattle of falling bricks and
planks, and shouts and screams from the
people in the houses. Such scene never
saw in my life. We could see from the de-
pot men, women and children crawling from
1nder the houses, and could hear them call
ng for help, and when several of the
falling houses began to break out in flames,
wild with terror. Our train
eft for st. Louis it ten minutes after the
shock of the cyclone was felt, and as we left
he depot, it seemed to US that the flames in
he town were spreading.
THE MAYOR DOES GOOD WORK.
The mayor filed his place admirably and
u short order had called for assistance
from the neighboring towns. Fire engines
md physicians were walked and Centralia,
Nashville and Evansville, Ind, responded
generously and quickly. The citizens
threw open their houses to the homeless and
heir bedrooms became hospitals which the
worthy matrons turned into expert nurses.
What was left of the supreme court build
ng was turned into Q morgue.