The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1889-01-17
THE DEADLY CYCLONE

AT READING, PA.

deSt night IN the history OF Reading.
death-like pail hangs upon the city as the
result Of the most horrible disaster in its his
tory. hundred households are in mourn
ing as the result of one OF the greatest ca
lamities in Pennsylvania. cyclone swept
over the northern section of the city this af
ternoon and laid waste everything witt hin its
reach and with q terrible loss of life. The
lives that have been sacrificed and the num-
ber that have been injured can only be esti-
mated. The most reliable computation is
that not less than fixty persons have been
killed outright and 100 injured How this
terrible calamity occurred is about as fol
lows:
1t was raining very hard all morning.
Towards noon it ceased almost entirely and
by 4 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 rainbow were seen in the
eastern sky. 1t portended a beautiful SUN
set. There was a clear sky overhead. This
continued for halt an hour longer. Then the
scene changed with a suddenness that was
appalling. The aeecy clouds gave way to the
OminouS signs of a coming storm. Dark
heavy clouds marshaled themselves toward
the town and soon q gloom seemed to have
settled over the city. There was q stiffness
as of coming danger. Then the wind whistled,
roared and tore in mad confusion. The storm
clouds grew heavier still and louder roared
the wind. In the western sky
the, storm was seen approaching
with laundering noise. The
swath it cut was narrow, but its effect was
terrible. Persons residing along the track of
the storm say that they saw the first signs of
danger in n funnel-shaped maelstrom which
seemed to gather up everything within its
reach and cast it right and left Out in
the country houses and barns were unrOofed,
farm outbuldings were overturned, crops
uprooted and destruction spread in every di-
rection. The track of the destructive ele-
| ment was not more than 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 dark
night. Directly on one side the track O: he
| Reading railroad was situated the paint
| shops of the company. 1t was OnC-stOry
| building about so by 80 feet III size Here
about thirty men we're 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
| cost of $4,000 each The building was
struck squarely in the middle, and the bricks
| scattered about as ifthey were pla ythings. The
cars were turned tOpsy turvy while the men
| were buried under the debris. Some of the
| bricks were carried away. The chamber ofeach
| of the passenger cars was already filled with
| gas as they were ready to be taken out on
| after another with the fearful bang ofcannon.
| Bang, bang bang, they resounded over the
| city, causing the people to run out from their
| houses, thinking it was the sound of an
| earthquake. There was a considerable
| quantity of gasoline in the building and this
| added fuel to the flames. A sheet of flame
| 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 with fearful rapidity.
| 1t must have Travelled at the rate OF one hun
dred miles an hour. 1t struck some more
| private houses and unroofed dozen private
| residences. The huge sheets oftin were carried
| half a square away and deposited in 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 ofthe Industries ofthe cityin which the
| citizens took the greatest pride Here about
| IT'S happy girls were working. The building
was huge structure, most substantially
| built, four stories in height and had a base
ment besides. 1t occupied an entire block Gf
| ground, The 81 re of the building itself was
nearly 800 feet in length and about 80 feet
| wide 1t was surmounted by amaSsive tower.
| fully 100 feet from the ground. The funnel
shaped storm clouds truck the building direct
| ly in the center on it's broadest side, which
faced the west 1t fell to pieces, as if
-.
Nearly two hundred human beings went
| down in the awful wreck. Human tongues
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 confusion
while, amid the hurricaneand whistIing, rush
| ing roaring wind, terrible cries for suecor
| were sent up to heaven. 1t was a moment
that tried mems souls, and almost stimuli
| taneous with the fall of the building came.
| the awful cries for relief Girls with black
ened faces, bruised and broken limbs, their
| clothing tattered and torn, dragged them
selves from the ruins. So probably T5 to
100 escaped, or were dragged out by their
friends These, of course, worked on 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 O'Clock about eighty were relieved
from duty for the day. They returned
| to their homes before the storm came The
most reliable estimate of to-nighhpl2ces tho
number in the building when it went down in
| the neighborhood of 175, and. as before
| stated, 100 of these were rescued by friends
| or dragged themselves out Immediately after
the accident. The alarm for relief was i'm
| mediately sent out, and in a short time thou
1
! and dying. The scene was narrowing one
| and beggars description. = a."
| The work of rescue will be pushedall night
but itmay be far into tomorrow before all
the bodies are taken out. The rescuers still
| have the greatest hopes that soma OF those
inside are still living and there is every rea-
| son for saving them, and the persons who be-
| lieve that way are right All is chaos and
| confusion around the mill. The managers
are missing, and the correct number is mere
ly guess work 1t may not be over forty,
| and then again, at this hour, there is a like;
lihood that it will reach sixty or eighty.
THE STORM Ap RIEFsBuRe.
| rITTsBURG, Pa, Jan. "a terrible storm
of wind and hail! the worse known for years,
swept over the city shortly after noon to-day,
carrying with it death and destruction. The
| storm was formed with q suddenness that
| was overwhelming, and as the wind, accom-
! panied by hail and torrents of rain, swept
along the streets, pedestrians were hurled be-
fore it, and barely escaped being crushed. un-
der vehicles passing along the thoroughfare
Suddenly, in the center of the city, there was
| terrible crash, and few minutes later the
| central fire alarm sounded from the corner of
| Diamond and Wood streets. Hundreds of
! people hurried to the scene, ,whenitWasfound
that the cyclone had caught the new building
on Diamond street, owned by G. L. Wiley,
| and hurled it to the earth, covering up two
4 score of human bodies.
Within five minutes after the collapse of
the building the streets were filed with an
excited crowd, notwithstanding the fact
/ perfect delugs. With tie arrival Of the fy4..
men the work of rescue was begun Ladders
were run up to the second and third stories
| of the Weldin building and the first one taken
out was ayoung lady employed as a type-
| writer, who fortunately had escaped
serious injury. Crowds Of willing hands
eagerly took up the work of rescue, and
every little while fresh localities where men
4 had been caught were found. AT the time of
the disaster about Twenty-Five men were at
/ work on the building and none escaped in.
/ fury. The list Of dead identified up to Ii
| O'Clock was as follows: Samuel Stringer,
aged sixteen years, printer; Thotnas Jones,
bricklaTeI; Charles Fritch aged sixteen
i years; George Mason, carpenter; eolored hog
i named Tergga. hootbIack in the barber shop;
4 George Kirsche, barber, nged eighteen years.
The lemains of one man have not vet been