St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-01-19
THE CYCLONES PATH.
Terrible Devastation Caused by d
Cyclone in Pennsylvania.

Buildings Demolished in Pittsburgh and |
Beading, Btrying Scores Of yic-
Tins in the Debris-Many |
Lives Lost. |
PITTSBURGH, Pa, Jan. 9.-There was an |
awful catastrophe at 2:30 this afternoon. |
The high wind that struck the city at that
hour completely demolished the large
brick building in process of construction
in Diamond alley, Immediately in the rear
of Weldon g. Co.'s store. The building
was as far up as the seventh story. The
building is complete wreck, and as 1t
went down, it crushed in its fall
the barber shop Immediately next to it.
The force of the crushing building was
thrown against Weldon & Co.'s store, and
pushed out the front into Wood street.
The whole street in front of j.
R. Weldon e. Co.'s is full of .'rbris.
At least five men are killed and
ten to fifteen injured. There were
at least twenty men working on the new
building. The rear of all the stores on
Wood street as far up as the hat store OF
Paulson Bros. were wrecked. Six men
were in the barber shop, two of whom
have been removed alive, two dead and
two are still under the debris. There
were at least fifteen printers in the rear
of Weldon & Co.'s, on the second floor,
and many of them were badly injured.
AS fast as the injured could be dug out
they were carried on stretchers to the
various hospitals. One man, on the top
of the new building, fell into the base
ment. His skull was fractured and both
legs broken.
The number of killed and injured can
not be definitely stated at this time, as
many are supposed to be still in the ruins.
1t is believed, however, that twelve have
been killed and thirty-eight injured, six
of them fatally. Among the injured were:
John Fl. Gearing, fatally hurt.
Miss White, a school-teacher, fatally
hurt.
Jerry Hookenstein, very serious.
William Sankon, leg and thigh frac-
tured.
Samuel Brown, very serious.
Rose Mccartney, little girl, badly cut
and bruised.
Richard r. Dabney, cut about the head
and body; serious.
Thomas Mckee, boy; layer; crushe to
death.
Weldon Mason, very seriously hurt.
Charles Petticord, badly bruised.
Dennis Mccartney, probably fatally.
Owens Donnelly, serious.
Elmer McKoewen, probably fatally.
Two 1aborers and boy, whose names
have not been learned, were badly in
| jured.
Hundreds of willing hands, needless of
danger to themselves, went to work to
extricate the victims of the terrible acci-
| dent. To to this hour (2:30 o'clock
| twenty persons have been taken
| from the ruins. How many more
| are underneath the debris, which
is piled fully twenty feet high
| on Diamond street, can not be stated, but
| it is believed that at least a score more
are still held prisoners or perhaps are
dead. As fast as they are taken from the
ruins they are being conveyed to the vari-
GUS hospitals in the city.
| The storm lasted about thirty minutes
and was the heaviest known in this sec
ton for years. The wind blew a hurri-
cane, while the rain and hail fell in tor
rents. A number of other buildings were
damaged by the high wind A portion of
| the foundry of Mcintosh, Hemphill & Co.,
| on Thirteenth street, was blown down,
but as far as known no one was killed or
| injured.
Up to O'Clock p. M, twenty -eight per-
sons had been taken from the ruins. Of
these four were dead and several so badly
injured that recovery is almost impossl-
BILE. A large number are still buried un-
der the debris.
PITTSBURGH, Pa, Jan. 10.-The storm
which passed over this city yesterday
afternoon and wrought such frightful de-
struction to life and property possessed
every feature of tornado. United States
Signal Officer Stewart said that the storm
came from the southwest. 1t made its
first appearance in Texas on Monday
reaching Arkansas on Tuesday, and
struck Chicago at eight O'Clock yesterday
morning The storm then swerved In 9
direct line for Pittsburgh, which, however
escaped the greatest severity on the tracl
Of its fierce strength, and the
storm lay just north Of the city
When it struck this city the barometer
recorded 29.Os. At half-past twelve
O'Clock the velocity of the wind was four
teen miles an hour. Five minutes latel
it had attained twenty-five miles, which
rapidly increased in force until the great
est velocity, that of forty miles an hour
was reached at 1915 pm. After the first
shock, lasting only five minutes, the fury
Of the wind subsidized, and ten minutes
later had decreased to thirty two miles al
hour.
Pittsburgh was never before visited by
a storm so furious. There was also a re-
markable change in temperature. Be
tween twelve and two O'Clock the tenn
perature changed from 81 degrees to A
degrees.
At the time the whirlwind struck tn,
building, most of the men were on th,
first floor. it being the dinner hour, ant
were sitting around the fire, eating. Tn
rear of J. r. Gallinge's store was crushes
| in.
The sight was heartrending and movet
many to tears in the midst of the work o
| rescue. There is nothing left standing
but the rear wall and part of the sid
toward Market street. Toward Woo
street there is nothing left but mass o
broken brick and shattered timbers-
The new Iron City Nut-works building
at the corner of Forty y-sixth and Hadfel
streets, was entirely demolished by tn
wind. Wm Heinz, shafting rigger, wa
instantly killed. Loss on the building
$4,000; insured.
The historic Fort Pit Foundry, at tn
corner Of Etna and Thirteenth streets, j
badly wrecked. The Thirteenth stree
side was blown out entirely. Loss, $7,OO(
Telegraph, electric light and telephon
wires throughout the city are badl
broken and tangled. Several houses i
the west end and south side of the cit
were more or less damaged, the mos
! serious being the destruction OF the roc
Of the South Side Market-house. and pal
OF the roof Of Oliver Bros. & Phillips Mil
There was but little damage to propert
In Allegheny City.
The killed recovered up TO eleve
O'Clock were:
Annie Reidnour.
Ella Long.