Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1889-01-11
ress AMI alakpaalaa
VORk0FYHE WIND
A Mid-Winter Cyclone Visits
Pennsylvania, Spreading
Death and Destruction.
The City of Reading the Scene
of a Horror that Is Almost
Without a Parallel.
A SILK Factory. Filled With Human
Beings, In the Path of the
Terrible Storm.
More Than Eighty Girls Hurled to
Death and Many Others Fearfully
Crushed and Bruised.
A Building Being Erected at Pitts.
I burg Collapses With Awful Effect
The Storm Elsewhere.

READING, Pa, Jan. 10.-1his was the
saddest night in the history of Reading.
"A hundred households are in mourning
as the result Of one of thegreatestcalam-
tiles in the history of Pennsylvania. A
cyclone swept over the northern section
of the city and laid waste everything in
its reach, with terrible loss of life, The
lives that have been sacrificed and the
number of persons injured can at this
writing only be estimated. The most
reliable computation is that not less
than sixty persons have been killed out
right, and over a hundred injured.
In the western sky the storm was seen
approaching with a t%hunderous noise.
The swath IL cut was narrow but the eff
feet was terrible. Persons residing
along the track of the storm say that
they saw the first signs of danger in the
funnel-shaped maelstrom, which seemed
to gather up everything within its reach
and cast it right and left. Out in the
" Civ Nttt I'D
farm out-buildings overturned, crops
rooted up, and destruction spread in
every direction.
The track of this destructive element
vas not more than 600 feet wide, and it
is lucky that itonly touched the suburbs
of the city. 1T caine from the west. but
passed along the northern boundary of
Reading. First it struck the Mount
Penn stove works. Here the corner
building was struck and part of the roof
cut OFF. Then the storm cloud scuiried
across the fields, took off "A portion of,
the roof of J.. II. Sternberg's rolling mill,
and a number Of dwellings were un-
rooted as readily as if their tin roofs
we're atrsr.z5!fh u steriH crossed the rail-
read. Here a passenger car was stand
ing, This was overturned as quickly as
il it had been a toy, and its splinters
carried III every direction.
Meanwhile the rain poured down in
torrents. The atmosphere became heavy
and oppressive. and ii was almost dark
ais night. On one side of the track of
the Reading railroad were situated the
paint shops of the company. 1t was q
one-story building about 60x150 in size.
Here about 1870 men were employed in
painting passenger cars. There were
eight or nine of these cars In the build.
ing, costing $4,000 each. The building
was struck squarely in the middle, and
the bricks scattered about as if they were
playthings. The cars were turned topsy-
,tarvey, while the men were buried un-
der tile debris. The chamber of each
passenger car was already filled with
gas, as they We're ready to be taken out
on the road in few days. They ex
ploded, n after another, with the fear
FIJI bang of a cannon, causing the PEG
pie to out of their houses, thinking
that it was the sound of an earthquake.
There was u considerable quantity Of
gasoline in the building, and this added
fuel to the flames. A sheet of flame shot
outward with the roar of musketry.
Some twenty of the men had a chance
to crawl out of the debris, but four of
their companions were enveloped in the
embrace of the flames. Their cries were
heard for a moment by the terrified
worknen, and hen their voices were
hushed forever. They were quickly
roasted to death. The fire from nine
passenger cars lit up the heavens for
miles around. 1t was a beautiful sight,
and could have been enjoyed but for the
awful calamity wllieh accompanied it.
While this was going on the storm
was travelling forward with fearful
rapidity. 1t must have travelled at the
rate of 100 miles an hour. 1t struck
some more private houses and ~unroofed
a dozen private residences. Huge sheets
of tin We're carried half a square away
and deposited in a lot. Then the storm
proceeded in its full fury.
DIRECTLY in its path, at the corner OF
Twelfth and Madison streets, stood the
Reading silk mill Here about one
hundred and sepenty-five girls were
working. The building was a huge
structure, most substantially built, -four
stories In height, and had a basement be-
sides. 1t occupied an entire block of
ground. The building itself was nearly
three hundred feet in length and about
one hundred and fifty feet wide. 1t was
isulmonnted by a massive tower 100 feet
from the ground. The funnel-shaped
slstorm cloud struck the building
directly in the center on its broad.
est side, which faced west. 1T fell
to pieces as if composed Of SO many
building blocks. Nearly two hundred
human beings went down in the awful
wreck. The walls gave way and the
floors fell one on top of the other and
carried their great mass of human be.
kings to the bottom. The bricks were
piled up in the greatest confusion, while
amidst she hnrrying, rushing, roaring
wind. terrible cries for succor were sent
up to heaven. 1t wa a moment thai
tried mems souls, and almost simultan.
..eous with the fall of the building came
lawful cries for relief. Girls with black,
jencd faces, bruised and broken limbs,
their clothing torn, dragged themselves
from the ruins. Probably seventy-ive
or a hundred escaped or We're dragged
out by their friends. These, of course
worked Oh the upper floors, and were
thrown near the top OF the debris. A
come places the bricks werepiled twenty
feet deep. and underneath them ar,
lying tonight human bodies by the
score.
AboGs 250 girls and young women are
usually employed in the mill, but at 4
O'clock eighty were relieved from duty
for the day. They returned to theil
homes before the storm came.
The most reliable estimate places The
number in the building when it wen
down in the neighborhood of It's, and
as before stated, 100sof these were res
cned by friends or dragged themselve
out immediately after the accident. Al
alarm for relief was Immediately sen
y andsin a short time thousands 0