The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1889-01-24
THE DEADLY CYCLONE
How 1t Let itself Loose In Pennsylvania and
Killed and ManEled Many People.
AT BEADING, PA.

result of the most horrible disaster in its his
tory. A 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 thfs af-
iernoon and laid waste everything within it's
reach and with q terrible loss of life. The
lives that have been sacrificed and the num-
Der that have been injured can only be esti-
mated. The most reliable computation is
that not less than sixty persons have been
killed outright and 100 injured. How this
terrible calamity occurred is about as fol-
lows: Wa
1t was raining very hard all morning.
Towards noon it ceased almost entirely and
by A O'Clock there was every indication that
there would be entire cessation of the rain
storm. Hall an hour afterwards bright sun
made every effort to penetrate the clouds.
The tints OF o rainbow were seen in. the
eastern sky. 1t portended a beautiful sun
set. There was q clear sky overhead. This
continued forthah an hour longer. Then the
scene changed with a suddenness that was
appalling. The feecy clouds gave way to the
ominous signs of a coming storm. Dark
the town and soon a gloom seemed to have
settled over the city. There was q stiffness
as of coming danger. Then the wind whistled,
roared and torein mad confusion. The storm
clouds grew heavier still and louder roared
the wind sIo,,n J. In %, the s,o western o sky
Nv Woo DCCh g. q uPPio C1
with a laundering noise. The
swath it cut was narrow, but it's effect was
terrible. Persons residing along the track of
the storm say that they saw the first signs of
danger in o funnel-shaped maelstrom which
seemed to gather up everything within it's
reach and cast it right and left. Out in
the country houses and barns were unrooted,
farm outbuildings were overturned, crops
uprooted and destruction spread in every d.
~rection. The track of the destructive ele-
ment was not more thdn two hundred feet
wide, and it is lucky that it only touched the
suburbs of the city.
Meanwhile the rain poured down in tor
rents. The atmosphere became heavy and
oppressive, and it was almost ar dark as
night. Directly on one side the track of the
Reading railroad was situated the paint
shops Of the company. 1t was a one-story
building about 60 by $50 feet in size. Here
about thirty men were employed in painting
passenger cars. There were eight or nine Of
these cars in the building. They had been
built at the ~company's shops in this city at
a cost of $4,000 each. The building was
struck squarely in the middle, and the bricks
scattered about as ifthey were playthings. The
cars were turned topsy turvy, while the men
were buried under the debris. Some of the
bricks were carried away. Thechamber ofeach
OF the passenger cars was already filed with
gas, as they were ready to be taken out on
the road in a few days. They exploded one
after another with the fearful bang o%fcannon.
Bang, bang, bang, they resound ed over the
houses, thinking it was the SOUND of an
earthquake. There was q considerable
quantity Of gasoline in, the building and this
added fuelto the flames. A sheet of fame
shot upward 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 flames.
While this was .all going on the storm was
travelling forward will fearful rapidity.
1t must have Travelled at the rate of one hum
dred miles an hour. 1t struck some more
private houses and unroofed a dozen private
residences. The huge sheets oftin were carried
half q square away and deposited in q lot.
Then the storm proceeded in it's full fury.
Directly in it's path, at the corner of Twelfth
n Marion streets, stood the Reading silk
mill, one ofthe Industries ofthe cityin which the
citizens took the greatest pride. Here about
IFS happy girls were working. The building
was a huge structure, most substantially
built, four stories in height and had a base
ment besides. 1t occupied an entire block of
ground. The 81 re of the building itself was
nearly 800 feet in length and about $50 feet
wide. 1t was surmounted by a massive tower,
fully 100 feet from the ground. The funnel.
shaped storm clouds truck the building direct
" in the center on it's broadcast side, which
faced the west. 1t fell to pieces, as it
composed of so many building blocks.
Nearly two hundred human beings went
down in the awful wreck. Human tongues
cum never tell the terrible scenes O fthat he
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 and whistling, rush
ing, roaring wind, terrible cries for succor
were sent up to heaven. 1t was a. moment
that tried mems souls, and almost stimuli
fanocr1a with Tho foil IF tho hp;l1spor - -
the awful cries for relief. Girls with black
ened faces, bruised and broken limbs, their
clothing battered and torn, dragged them
selves from the ruins. So probably rs to
100 escaped, or were dragged out by their
friends. These, of course, worked or the
upper floors, and were thrown near the top
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 and young WON.
en- are usually employed in the mill, but
at 4.o'clock about eighty were relieved
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 It's, and, as before
stated, 100 of these were rescued BY friends
or dragged themselves outimmediately after
the accident. The alarm for relief was inn
mediately sent out. and in a short time thou
sands of citizens arrived to help out the dead
and dying. The scene was q narrowing one
and beggars deseriptlol. q.
IN work OF rescue WI be pushed oil night,
but itmay be far into tomorrow before all
the bodies are taken out. The rescuers still
have the greatest hopes b some Of those
son for saving them, and the persons who be-
lieve that way are right. All II chaos and
confusion around the mill. The managers
are missing, and the correct number is mere
1y guess work. 1t may not be over forty,
and then again at this hour, there is a like