Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-01-17
a GREAT CALAMITY.
Reading, Pa, Visited BY the Fun
nel-Shaped Monster.

a SILK MIL Wrecked and Eighty Girls
Knled-Track of the Tornado Mar
row But Terrible-A Night
READING, Pa, Jan. 10.-Last night was
the saddest night in the memory Of Read
ing as the result of the most horrible dis
aster in it's history and hundred house
holds are in mourning as the result of the
calamity. A cyclone swept over the
northern section Of the city in the afternoon
and laid waste every thing in it's reach
with terrible loss Of life. The death and
injury list can only be estimated, but the
most reliable computation at ten o'clock
last night was that not less than sixty per-
sons were killed outright and 100 injured.
1t was raining very hard all morning,
out about noon it ceased almost entirely,
and by four O'Clock there was every indi-
cation that there would be an entire ces-
sation of the rainstorm. Half an hour
o afterward the sun made every effort to
penetrate the clouds, and the rainbow was
. seen in the eastern sky, while
there was clear sky overhead.
This continued for half an hour.
Then the scene changed with sudden
ness that was appalling. The deecy
clouds gave way to the ominous signs of a
coming storm. Dark heavy banks of
clouds marshaled themselves toward the
town, and soon a gloom seemed to have
settled over the city. There was a still
ness as of coming danger. Then the wind
whstled, roared and tore In mad confu-
sion. The storm clouds grew heavier still
and louder rOared the wind. In the west
ern sky the storm was seen approaching
with laundering noise.
The track OF this destructive element
was not more than 200 feet wide, and it is
lucky that it only touched the suburbs of
the city.
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 with O pair of
scissors.
Then the storm cloud hurried across
some fields, took off a portion of the roof
OF j. II. Sternberg's rolling mill and a
number of dwellings were unroofed as
readily as if their tin roofs were paper.
The storm then hurried across the property
OF the Reading Railway Company and
crossed the railroad. Here q passenger
car was standing. This was overturned
as quickly if it had been a toy and it's
splinters scattered in every direction.
Directly on one side of the tracks of the
Reading railway was situated the paint
shop Of the company. 1t was a one story
= building about 60x150 feet in size. Here
about thirty men were employed in paint
ing passenger cars. The building was
struck squarely in the middle and the
bricks scattered about as if they were
playthings. The cars were turned topsy
turvy while the men were buried under
the debris. Some of the bricks were carried
square away. The chamber of each Of
the passenger cars was already filed with
gas as they were ready to be taken out
on the road in a few days. These ex-
ploded one after another and with
the fearful bang of a cannon, they
resounded over the city, causing the
people to run out of their houses, thinking
that it was the sound Of an earthquake.
There was a considerable quantity of gas
Oline in the building and this added fuel
to the flames. A sheet of flame shot up
wards with the roar of musketry. Some
twenty of the men had chance to crawl
out of the debris, but four of their COM
panions were enveloped in the embrace of
the flames. Their cries were heard for a
moment by the terrified workmen and
then their voices were hushed forever.
They were quickly roasted to death. Their
names are John Kahler, Albert Land
berger, Sheridan Jones and George Schaf-
fer.
Then the storm proceeded in its full
fury. Directly in its path, at the corner
OF Twelfth and Marian street, 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 a huge
structure, most substantially built four
stories in height and basement besides
The funnel-shaped storm cloud struck
the building in the center on its broadcast
side, which faced the west, and it fell to
pieces as if composed of SO many building
blocks. Nearly 200 human beings went
down in the awful wreck. 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 confusion,
while amid the hurricane terrible cries for
succor were sent up to Heaven.
Alr.ost simultaneously with the fall of
the building came the awful cries for
lief. Girls with blackened faces, bruised
and broken limbs, their clothing tattered
and torn, dragged themselves from the
rains So probably seventy-ive to a
hundred escaped or were dragged out by
their friends. These, of course, worked
on the upper floors and We're thrown near
the top of the debris. At some places the
bricks were piled twenty feet deep and
underneath are lying human bodies by the
score.
About $50 girls and young women are
usually employed in the mill, but at four
duty for the day and returned to their homes
before the storm came. The most reliable
estimate of the loss places the number in
the building when it went down at about
IT'S, and, as before stated, 100 of these
were rescued by friends or dragged them
selves out immediately after the accident.
Clerk Autenbach stated at midnight that
he believed that fully eighty bodies were
in the ruins under the three floors. His
list of employees is lost. and owing to the
confusion in taking out the injured he was
unable to furnish a list of the killed. But
eighty is conservative estimate of those
rxyh., Loot <hoi,. livos