The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1889-01-19
A CYCLONES WORK.

uon-Tour Men Cremated at Reading
Pain the Same City Az immense sill
Sfill Is blown Down Burying 900 Pee
pie In tho Ruins - Eighty of Then
Thought to Have Boon Killed, an,
Nearly All of the Rest Injurcd-sevcp
Lives Lost and Over Thirty Pcrsoni
wounded by the Demolition OF Sovera
Buildings Mt Pittsburgli-Loss of Life nj
Suubury Tho storms Work in Ohio
Illinois ana Indiana.
READING, Pa, Jan. 10.-A cyclone swept
over the northern section of this city
Wednesday afternoon and laid waste
every thing within its path, with terrible
loss of life. The number of lives that
have been sacrificed and the number oi
persons injured can only be estimated
The most reliable computation at midnigh,
is that not not less than sixty and perhaps
eighty persons have been killed outright
and 100 injured.
1t rained hard all day until about p.
M, when the sun shone for about half an
hour. Then the scene change with sud
denness that was appalling. The feecy
clouds gave way to the ominous signs of O
coming storm. In the western sky the
storm was seen approaching with q
laundering noise. Persons residing along
the track of the storm say that they
saw the first signs of danger in Il funnel
shaped cloud which seemed to gather up
every thing within its reach and cast il
| right and left. Out in the country houses
and barns were unroofed, farm outbuild-
ings were overturned, crops rooted up
and destruction spread in every direction.
The track Of the storm was not more
than 200 feet wide, and it is lucky that il
only touched the suburbs of the city. 1t
came from the west and passed along the
northern border of Reading
First it touched the Mount Penn stove
works. Here the corner of the building
was struck, and portion of the roof was
cut off as nicely as if done by pair of
scissors. Then the storm crossed some
| fields and took off portion of the root
of j. II. Sternberg's rolling mill
A number of dwellings were un-
rooted as readily as il their tin
roofs were paper. The storm hurried
across the property of the Reading
Railroad Company and crossed the rail
| road. passenger car was overturned
as quickly rs II it had been a toy, and its
| splinters scattered in every direction.
Meanwhile the rain poured down in tor
rents. The atmosphere became heavy and
| oppressive, and it was almost as dark as
| night.
On one side of the track of the Reading
railroad was situated the paint shop of the
| company. 1t was a one-story building
1 about 60 by $50 feet in size Here
| about thirty men were employed in paint
| ing passenger cara The building was
| struck squarely in the middle, and the
| bricks scattered about us If they were
| playthings. The cars were turned topsy-
turvy, while the men were buried under
| the debris. Some of the bricks were
| carried away. The chamber of each of
| the passenger cars was already filled with
| gas, as they were ready to be taken out on
the road in few days. They exploded
| one after another with the fearful bang of
n cannon. Bang, bang, bang, they re-
| sounded over the city, causing the
| people to run out of their houses
| thinking that it was the sound of
| an earthquake. There was q con-
| siderable quantity of gasoline in the build
ing. and this added fuel TO the flames. A
sheet of fame shot upward with the roar
of musketry. About twenty of the men
had n chance to crawl out of the debris,
but four Of their companions were en-
veloped in the flames. Their cries were
heard for moment by the terrified work
men and then their voices were hushed
forever. They were quickly roasted to
death.
The department was called out, but its
services were unavailing. The building
and cars were consumed in fifteen minutes
and nothing left but biackened, smoking
ruins, under which lay four human beings
burned to a crisp. Their names are:
John Kaller, Albert Landberger, Sheri-
dan Jones and George Schaffer.
IT was rumored that several others had
been killed, but these are the only ones
known to have lost their lives. Aaron
Dewalt, one of the employees Of the paint
shop, had his arm broken, and George
Knabb was injured internally, no doubt
fatally. The loss to the railroad company
is fully $4,000.
When this was going on the storm was
travelling with fearful rapidity. 1t must
have travelled at the rate of 100 miles an
hour. 1t struck some more private houses
and unroofed dozen private residences.
The huge sheets of tin We're carried half
square away and deposited in q 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 of the industries of the city in
which the citizens took the greatest pride.
Here about 175 girls were working The
building was huge structure, most sub
stantially built, four stories in height, and
had basement besides. 1t occupied an
entire block of ground. The building
itself was nearly 800 feet in length and
about $50 feet wide. 1t was surmounted
by massive tower fully 100 feet from the
ground. The funnel-shaped storm-cloud
struck the building directly in the center
on its broadest side, which faced the west
1t fell to pieces rs If composed of
30 many building blocks. Nearly 200
human beings went down in the
awful wreck. Human tongue can never
tell the terrible scenes of that hour. The
walls gave way, the floors fell down, one
on top of the other, and carried their great
mass of human beings to the bottom. The
bricks were piled up in the greatest con-
fus on. Amid the hurricane the whistling
and roaring OF the wind, terrible cries
for succor were sent mp to Heaven.
1t was moment that tried mems
souls. Girls with blackened faces, bruised
and roken limbs. their cl, thing tattered
and torn, dragged themselves from the
ruins. So, probably, IS to 100 escaped
or were dragged out fy their friends.
These worked on the upper floors
and were thrown near the top of
the debris. At some places the bricks
were piled twenty feet deep and under
meath are lying human bodies by the
score. About $50 girls and young women
were usually employed ia the mill, but at
O'Clock eighty were relieved from duty
for the day.
The alarm for relief was Immediately
sent out, and in short time thousands of
citizens arrived to help out the dead and
the dying. The scene was narrowing
and beggars description. The mill is
situated near the foot of Mount Penn,
high mountain overlooking the city.
When the people arrived every thing