The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1889-01-25
THE DEADLY CYCLONE
ass u Let itself Loose Ia Peansylvaala sad
KILLED and Aansled Asny People.
AT READING. PA.

AT READING, PA.
READING, Pa, Jan. 9.-This was the sad.
dest night in the history of Reading. A
death-like pail hangs upon the city as the
result Of the most horrible disaster in it's his.
tory. hundred households are In mourn.
ing as the result Of one Of the greatest ca.
lamities in Pennsylvania. A cyclone swept
over the northern section of the city this al.
ternoon and laid waste everything within its
reach i md with terrible loss OF life. The
lives that have been sncrificed and the mum.
Der that have been injured can only be cat.
mated. The most reliable computation is
that not less than rixty persons have been
killed outright and 100 injured. How this
terrible calamity occurred is about as fol.
lows:
1t was raining very hard all morning.
towards noon it ceased almost entirely and
Uy oclock there wus every indication that
there would be entire cessation of the rain
storm. Hall On hour afterwards bright sun
made every effort to penetrate the clouds.
The tints OF . rainbow were seen in the
eastern sky. 1tportendcd beautiful sun
Get. There wes q clear sky overhead. This
continued for half an hour longer Then tho
scene changed with suddenness that was
appalling. The 6eecy clouds give way to the
omtnous signs Of coming storm. Dark
heavy clouds matshaled themselves toward
tho to~nand soon gloom seemed to have
sett!ed over tho city. There wns stiffness
asof coming danger. Then the wind wllistled
clouds grew heavier still and louder roared
tho wind. In the Western sky
the storm was seen approaching
with a laundering noise. Tic
swath it cut was narrow, hut its effect was
terrible. Persons residing along the truck of
the storm sny tl,nt they saw the trstsigns of
danger i'll n fnnnelshapcd mnelstrom which
n hnl lii /,
reach and east it right and loft. Out in
the country houses and barns were unrooetl,
farm outbuildinss were overturned, crops
uprooted and destruction spread in every d.
rectiop. The track of the destructive Gle.
ment was not moro than two hundred feet
vide, and 1t is lucky that it only touched the
suburbs of the city.
Meanwhile tho rain poured down in tor
rents. The atmosphere became heavy and
oppressive, and it was almost as dark M
night. Directly on one side he track of the
Neading railroad WAS situated the paint
shops Of The company. 1t was one-story
building about GO by l5O icet in size. Here
passenger cars. There we're eight or nine Of
these cars in the building. They had been
built ut the company's shops in this city ut
cost of $4,000 each. The building wns
struck squarcly in the middle, and the bricks
scattered daboutasifthcy were playthings. Tho
cars cars we're @ turned topsy turvy while the men
bricks were carried away. The chamber ofeach
OF the passenger cars wns already filled with
gns, as they were ready to be tnken out on
the road in few days. They exploded ono
after another with the fearful bnng ofcannon
Bang. bang, bang, they resoundcd over tho
city. causing the people to run out from their
houses, thinking it was the sound of mn
earthquake. There was considerable
quantity OF gasoline in the building and this
added fuel to the flames. sheet of flame
shot upward with tho rOnr of muskctry.
Some twenty of the men had IL chance to
crawl out OF the debris. but four of their
companions We're envelopcd in tho fames.
While this WIS all going on tho storm was
travelling forward with fearful rnpilitys
1t must have Travelled ut the rntc of one hun
drei miles nm hour. 1t struck some more
private houses and unroofcd dozen private
residences. The huge sheets oftin were carried
hall square away and deposited in lot.
Then the storm proceeded in its full fury.
directly in its path, at the corner of Twelfth
and Marion streets, stood the Reading silk
mill ,one oftheindustrics Of the city in which ne
citizens took the greatest pride. Here about
l75 happy girls were working The building
was huge structure, most substantially
built, four stories in height and had n base
ment besides. 1t occupied an entire block of
ground: The 81 20 Of the building itself was
WIDE. 1t wassurmountedb by massive tower
fuliy lOO feet from the ground. The funnel
shaped storm clouds truck the building direct
" in the center on it's broadcst side, which
faced the west. 1t fell to pieces, us ii
composed of 30 many building blocks.
Nearly two hundred human beings went
down in tho awful wreck. Human tongues
cum never tell the terrible scenes ofthat our.
The wills gave way, the floors fell down, one
on top of the other and carried their great
mass OF human heings to the bottom. The
bricks were piled up in the greatest confusion
while. amid the hurricane md whistlng, rush
ing, roaring wind, terrible cries for succor
TINT tried mems souls, and almost stimuli
tancous with the fall of the building came
the awful cries for relief. Girls with black
ened faces, bruised md broken limbs, their
clothing tattered and torn, dragged them.
selves from tho ruins. So probably "a to
ioO escaped, or were dragged out by their
upper floors. and were thrown near the ton
of the debris. At some place the bricks
were piled twenty feet deep, and under
meath are lying tonight human bodies by
the score. About $50 girls md young wom-
en- are usually employed in the mill. but
at o'clock about eighty were relieved
rom duty for the day. They returned
to their homes before the storm came. The
most reliable estimate Of tonight places the
number in the building when it went down in
the neighborhood of 175, and. as before
stated, 100 of these were rescued by friends
or dragged themselves out Immediately after
the accident. The alurm for relief wns inl-
lnediately sent out. and in short time thou
sands OF citizens arrived to help out the dead
and dying. The scene was narrowing one
and beggars description.
Thswork ofrescde will be pushed nll night,
nut ltmay he Tar into tomorrow before all
the bodies are taken out Tho rescuers still
have the gle;ltest hopes that some OF those
inside are still living, und there is every rea-
son for saving them, and the persons who be-
lieve that way are right All IL chaos 81 and nd
confusion around the mill. Tho managers
are missing, and the correct number il mere
ly guess work. 1t may not be over forty
und then again, at this hour, there is like
lihood that it will reach sixty or eighty.
THE STORM AT pITTsBURG.
PITTsbuRG, Pa, Jan. GA terrible storm
OF wind and hal, the worse known for years,
swept over the city shorty v after noon to.dny,
carrying with it death and dcst strllction. The
storm was formed with IL suddenness that
was overwhelming, and as the wind. accom-.
panied by hail and torrents of rnin, swept
alOng the Etreets, pedestrians were hurled be-
fore it. and barely escaped heing crushed un-
der vehicles passing along the thoroughfare.
Suddenly, in the center Of the city, there was
IL terrible crash. and n few minutes later the
central fire alarm sounded from tho corner of
Diamond and Wood streets. Hundreds Of
people hurried TO the scene, when it was found
that the cyclone had caught the new building
OH Diamond street, owned by &. l.. Wiley,
and hurled it to the earth, covering up two
score Of human bodies.
Within five minutes after the collapse of
the building the streets were filled with nn
excited crowd, notwithstanding tho fact
that the rain and hail was pouring down in
perfect deluge. With the arrival Of the fire.
men the work of rescue was begun. Ladders
we're run up to the second aud third stories
of tho Weldin building and the first one taken
out was young lndy employed ms u type
writer, who fortunately had escaped
serious inury. Crowds Of willing hands
eagerly took up he work of rescue, and
every little while fresh localities where men
had been caught were found. At the time of
the disaster about twenty-five men were Mt
work on the building and none escaped in.
jury. The list OF dead identified up to II
o'clock was as follows: Samuel Stringer,
aged sixteen years, printer; Thomas Jones,
bricklayer; Charles Fritch, aged sixteen
years; George Mason, carpenter; colored boy
George kirsche, barber, aged Eighteen years
The remains of one man have not yet heen
identified. Inspector of Police McAleesc
stated at n late hour tonight that he was of
the opinion that from fifteen to twenty five
persons are in the ruins, and he would not
he surprised if the death list would lie in
creased to fifteen or twenty. Forty man.
gled and bruised bodies have been taken from
the ruins.
AT sUNBuRY. Pa.
SUSRURy pa Inn GA terrible occ;,lont